Web Basics - what's your site for?

Before starting to develop a website, it is essential to have a specification of what you want it to do.

The first question to ask is the purpose of the site. That may sound daft, but too many sites are launched without objectives - and it shows in the lack of clarity in the home page and the structure.

The objectives you set may be the same as those of your organisation, or they may be a sub-section. They might include fundraising, campaigning, capacity building, service provision, recruitment and so on. These are broad brush strokes, but they will help to define what the site needs to deliver.

Once you have a list of objectives, put them in priority order. This will help define both your navigation and your home page.

Brand building is one underlying purpose of having a site. But people who visit your site are actually users who come to do something. What you want them to do defines the objectives of the site and should define the content and signposts of your home page.

Defining your objectives will also give you both an outline of the functionality your site needs and a measure against which to judge it when it is done. You may find that you cannot afford or manage everything in one phase, and prioritising gives a structure to what is most important.

If you want people to use your services, you shouldn't be burying them under a welter of content and clicks. A link to your services should be at the forefront of the whole site, and in bold.

What makes Amazon, eBay and Google so successful is a clarity of purpose. When you visit their sites, you have no doubt what they are for. We need the same clarity of purpose to make our sites usable for visitors.