So you want to revamp your current site right? Or maybe you want a new site but can't put your finger exactly on what you need.

Here are a few things to consider which might help you decide on the details. I'll also run through a test scenario of a small photography company as an example.

1. What does your organization do?

If you understand the goals of your organization you'll be able to better focus your website to accomplish those goals.

It's easy to say "I want a website with a shopping cart, blog, and customer testimonials, but will those things actually improve the site's focus or detract from it?

If I had a company that specialized in portriat photography then I can justify the need for a gallery of my work, but a shopping cart to sell photos might be a stretch especially considering the amount of work that would go into setup.

(By the way, setup and configuration of a shopping cart can easily take up half the work-effort of a small to medium sized website. Effort that could easily be invested elsewhere.)

2. List your objectives for your business (by order of importance).

The idea with listing these objective is so that you'll ignore many of the details and focus on the abstract needs of the site.

Instead of a specific objective like "my site needs a gallery" pick something more abstract like "visitors should see examples of my work", or even "inspire visitors to purchase my services and/or recommend me to others".

Here are a few that would apply to my imaginary photography company (in order):

• Inspire visitors to desire my photography services
• Answer the majority of the questions a visitor might have
• Offer visitors a way to contact me
• Reduce time needed for a visitor to make a decision

3. Why will people use this kind of site?

Each industry has trends and whether you follow the trends or set them you need to be aware of their underlying purpose.

Let me clarify with yet another example.

People will visit photography sites like mine because they are looking for a photographer in their area, usually for a wedding.

Here we focuse on the general industry trend as well as why it is there. Generally people find photographers in two ways, either online where they'll usually pick a handful in their area and compare them or by word of mouth. So people will use this site to answer the questions of people in these two scenarios.

4. Why will people choose your site over your competition's?

If you're organization is a business then you probably have this one memorized.

"Because our company offers the best deals on 15-year fixed rate mortages!"

"Because I have 10 years of experience shooting portrait photos."

"Because I have friendly advice about personal finance."

Know your competition and find a way to beat them, then make sure your website conveys that message.

5. Start to put these ideas together and outline what the site might look like. What features will support your objectives and audience?

Up until now we've been pulling apart ideas until you get only the ones you want. Finally though we're get to start adding details onto these basic ideas.

For my photography site, since one of my objectives is to "Answer many of my visitor's questions," I might want to have a page with information that will answer their questions (maybe even on the front page).

Conclusion

These are some tips that are intended to help you discover your future site, it is not a magic formula for instant success. There are a lot of sites that can benefit from this analysis but hundreds which might not. If anything I hope that I've helped you consider new options even if you don't use them.