Forum Moderators: phranque
Usability & Marketing
stage one: decide what you are selling and to whom
this is where the vast majority of web developers blow it...get the first stage wrong and there is no way back no matter how much money you throw at the problem...you have to have something worth buying...you have to have somebody in mind who will buy
stage two: decide on your core and peripheral markets, and identify core opinion formers
chasing opinion formers is a very powerful marketing method...it's all very well me saying that a site is full of useful SEO info, it means more if somebody like Brett says it...find the knowledgeable and honest experts and convince them you have something to offer...if they tell you you don't have something to offer then listen to them and change what you provide, they are the experts after all...if you can get the people your core market listen to using your site as an example/reference then you are well on the way
stage three: find out where your potential customers spend their time and what they do with their time
you should do this before looking at which SE is most used and so on...it's no good making a huge effort to be ranked number one on Google if (for whatever strange reason) your main target market are mostly using AOL to search...make sure they search before concentrating on SEO, maybe they only go to sites they read about in magazines...target your initial effort
stage four: keep it sharp
make things happen...keep making updates...set yourself a high standard and don't let it slip...check for dead links frequently...you can waste a lot of effort by letting a site get moribund
a lot of work...and basically boils down to doing a damn good job of filling a site with great content and telling people about it
