The Impact of Thoughtful Planning
One of my goals for this blog is to talk about how my Instructional Design (ID) experience impacts how I work with my Pack W Digital Design clients to help them with their digital presence. This week, I’m also thinking about the importance of planning and how it can impact what you do to move forward.
In my work as an ID, I collaborated with a wide variety of instructors to create online courses and to help them solve tech challenges. Many of them were new to online teaching, hadn’t had help when they were developing their past courses and often weren’t confident about their tech skills.
One important thing I stressed was doing some initial planning. A big part of the plan was measurable objectives.
I know – it doesn’t sound very exciting and it’s not one of the “shiny” fun things about ID work, but it’s essential and can impact your success.
Without a way to measure if objectives are met, it’s tough to know that what you created is providing a solid experience for your users and accomplishing your goals.
This concept applies to web design as well as ID work. If you jump in and start developing a website or even your social media presence without planning and considering your objectives, you could end up with something that doesn’t lead you where you want to go. It can also use up value time and resources.
Getting started can be as easy as asking yourself a few questions.
- Why do I have a website?
- What am I using my website to accomplish – share information about my services, sell products, sell or provide resources for my users, or perhaps something else?
- Who is my target audience?
- What specific problem am I solving for my audience and how am I addressing their pain points?
- How will I measure success?
Taking the time to reflect on and answer these questions can lay the groundwork for a website that genuinely aligns with your goals, steering you and your business in the right direction and moving you in a positive direction.
Dee
Pack W Digital Design