Armed with an idea of the type of site you'll build, and who you are building it for, it's time to gather content.  Here's where we introduce a new term: Assets.  Assets are the pieces that, when combined, form the content on your site.  They are the text, calendar items, images, audio, video . . . basically the pieces that create the whole.

Here's one of the most dangerous phrases in web site design;  "When people come to our site, we want them to  . . . ."  It's dangerous because it doesn't address the real reason a person comes to your site in the first place . . . to get something he or she wanted - not what you wanted to give them.

Before  the first meeting with your web designer, it will be beneficial to address the question, 'When people come to our site, what are they looking for?  Actually, a better way to phrase that question is, 'When a person comes to our site, what is he or she looking for'?  Now, you have a better handle on the user experience.  Design with a single person in mind.

You may have different types of people visitiing the site.  This is where creating personas comes into play.  A persona is simply a profile of a single user.  For example, say your site sells garden supplies.  Consider the person who comes to your site.  What gender, age, level of gardening experience, might this person have?  You may find that you have two or three persona's to design toward.  That's fine.  At least you have a better idea of who your site is targeted toward.  This makes future design and usablity decision easier.  Also, please note that I made no mention of what he or she might be specifically shopping for.  Our focus is on the person, not the product. 

Let's say you develop the persona of an experienced gardener, female, and retired.  Now you have a reference point which you can use when gathering content.  It allows you to consider the relevance of each piece of information.  You may also discover that the content (which may be products) don't truly serve the persona.  Time to readjust either your persona or offerings.

My background includes two decade in radio broadcasting and audience research.  While every radio station has an audience, we would always design our format and deliver content targeted toward a single persona.  At one station, we had a full size stand-up image of a well-dressed lady in her mid-thirties placed directly across from the microphone.  Written on a sign above her were the words, 'TALK TO HER.'  Everything song we played, every contest we ran, and everything we talked about was directed at her.  The result was the station was extremely successful in that target demographic.

Who Does What?

With a robust content management system like Drupal, you can define roles pertaining to who can do what on your web site.  Getting a handle on roles early in the process, if not right from the start, smooths out both the design and development phase, along with training people as to what their role is and what it can do.

One of the most often asks questions when creating a web site is, 'how long will it take?'  If we've followed the steps previously outlined, we have the materials we'll need to understand what we're building.  But only after we finish putting it all on paper can we get an estimate.

When defining your site's purpose, the first thing to establish is if will be a personal or business site.  This may sound obvious, but many times a business site, especially those for one-person shops, becomes blurred with personal information such as a political opinion blog or photo gallery of pets.  So, from the start, establish if your site will be personal or business. 

Let's focus on business sites and drill-down further on the types of sites.  Basically, they are:

• E-brochure
• Informational
• E-commerce

Granted, elements of all three are usually found in some form in each type.  But, from a content management perspective, it's important to choose one primary type because it will drive the design, development, and administration of the site.

E-brochure:  Consider an E-brochure site to be much like a print brochure or catalog.  It's relatively static, meaning once it's up and running, content does not change very frequently. Here, content management is not an essential apsect of the site. But, if you want to get found by search engines, this is not good.  Search engine optimization (SEO) requires fresh content on your site.

Informational: This is like a newspaper or newscast where the content changes or is updated with more frequency.  An Information site is a perfect candidate for a content management system.

E-Commerce: This is a site that sells goods.  The phrase most often associated with this type of site is Shopping Cart.  The focus may be more on ad copy than information. 

The temptation may be to say, 'I want a little of each,' which is fine.  Most sites are hybrids.  But from a content management perspective, you should establish from the start what type of site you're building and how much time you want to invest in manageing the content.  For example, if you just want to sell garden supplies, chances are a shopping cart will be your focus.  Ad copy, once written, won't change often.  But, if you want to establish yourself as an expert in gardening, and hence build credibility in both yourself and the products you sell, consider setting up an informational site which includes a shopping cart.  Keep in mind that you will be investing more time in content creation with an informational site.  But if your goal is to get good rankings on search engines, fresh content is critical. And, you're building up your reputation as a subject authority.

Site design takes a number of steps.  The challenge going through the steps is to not be thinking about the site itself, but to focus on the people who will be using it and the content they want. 

If you've been through the process of building a web site, creating a Drupal site is a bit different.  Many design processes start with layout.  With Drupal, or any content management system, it's best to focus on what you offer and to whom, not how it looks.  Not in the beginning, anyway.