Knowledge Base

You have decided to create a new website for your manufacturing business or re-design an out-dated website, and you don't know where to start.  Don't worry; there is a process that you can follow to make sure your website adds value to your customers, and represents your manufacturing business accurately and in a professional manner.

The analogy of building a house describes this process well.  You plan the architecture and the design of the house - down to each room - before the builder starts construction.  You review illustrations and drawings and look at other houses.  It is critical that you and the builder are on the same page to make sure you get the house of your dreams.

So it is with constructing a website. The key is making sure that you and the web designer understand the needs of your customers, your company and its value proposition, and the design and archicture of the website - down to each page.

There are three major phases to the planning and design, before construction starts:

1. Web Work Plan
2. Site Map
3. Information Architecture

The steps to plan and design your manufacturing website are:

1. Conduct a SWOT review of your manufacturing business and its web presence
2. Create a web work plan that outlines the following information:
   • Company Goals
   • Website Goals
   • Customers Profiles
   • Company and/or Products Benefits
   • List of Competitors and their websites
     • Also a list of websites you like
   • SEO and Technical Requirements
   • Creative Requirements
   • Marketing Collateral
   • Copy
3. Create a Site map showing each page
4. Create the information architecture of the home page
   
   • Navigation
   • Marketing Imagery and Copy
   • Calls-to-Action
5. Gather digital collateral including vector image of logo
6. Create 2 to 3 different home page compositions
   • Based on the Information Architecture
   • Showis color scheme, graphic treatments, and design elements
7. Select your favorite design composition
8. Create  the information architecture of an interior page
9. Create the interior page design composition
10. Review plans and designs.  Set the production budget and schedule.

By planning and designing your manufacturing website following these steps, you know what the website is going to look like and how customers interact on the website - before construction begins.  You also know the budget and schedule. Just like building a house, once construction starts, changes are costly.