Christian Web Design – Creating Your Website Blueprint

Part 1: Before Your Begin Building Your Website

Thank the Good Lord for engineers and architectural engineers.  Seriously.  My brain can’t begin to fathom how to build or piece together anything.  I’m the guy who, on Christmas morning, you’ll find sitting in his recliner and watching his wife assemble all the new toys Santa brought our son.  Not because I’m lazy or a mean old Grinch.  Rather, it’s because, even with “how to assemble” instructions, I still struggle to assemble anything.

And blueprints?  I couldn’t even begin to try and understand how to read a blueprint, let alone design one.  Why do we even have blueprints?  Come to think of it, could you imagine life without blueprints? 

Can you picture what our living and work arrangements would be like if housing and commercial builders just threw up houses and buildings with no blueprint?  After all, a blueprint contains all the information a construction team needs in order to lay a strong and reliable foundation, along with an infrastructure of high integrity.  Which brings me to my point. 

In several different pieces of literature, I’ve mentioned how Google’s goal is to take our reality and turn it into an exactly duplicated virtual reality.  It would be like taking a physical retail business at a physical address, along with every single product inside that business, and perfectly replicating it inside of a virtual world. 

Therefore, let’s say you’re the owner of a ladies clothing boutique.  When it comes to building your ecommerce website for your boutique, don’t think of it as though you’re just building a website.  Rather, envision that you’re getting ready to build an actual boutique… only, you’re doing so virtually.

That being said, would creating a blueprint not be the perfect starting point?  After all, is that not the starting point of commercial builders in our real world?

In just a moment, we’re going to dive headfirst into what your perfect blueprint should look like before you ever start building your site.  But first, please allow me to save you from making a huge blunder, by helping you to better understand exactly what it is you’re looking for. 

I understand all too well that getting a website up and running can be downright frustrating.  Especially if you’re new to the concept of website building.  And one of the biggest mistakes you can make is “searching” for something you’re not really “looking” for.  Confused yet?

When I say, “searching for something you’re not really looking for,” what I mean is:  you’ve gone to Google Search and literally entered a keyword phrase such as:

• Christian Web Design
• Christian Website Design Companies
• Christian Website Development

… or one of several other closely related search terms.  But what you’re searching for, isn’t necessarily what you’re looking for is it?  Let me explain. 

Let’s say you’re a Christian Business Owner.  Yes, you’re searching for someone to design a website for your business.  But you’re not simply looking for a business website.  What you’re truly looking for (whether you’re consciously aware of it or not) is a business website that:

• Gets tons of quality traffic (search engine optimization)
• Converts that traffic into tons of leads and/or sells (web page optimization architecture)
• Automatically responds to the site visitors who have questions or are in need of your products or services (email automation)

Sound about right?

And that’s the big mistake so many Christian business owners make when launching their websites.  They go to Google searching for “Christian Web Design.”  Then, they hire a Christian Web Design company to design a website.  However, once the site is launched… nothing happens.  There’s no traffic.  No leads or sells.  No automated email marketing.  Nothing. 

Why?  Because the website is not optimized to do business online.  And so often, the web design company gets the blame even though they’ve created a beautifully designed business website. 

Therefore, don’t allow yourself to get caught in this trap.  More often than not, when an instance like that of which I’ve just described happens, the blame falls upon the one who found exactly what he/she was “searching” for, and not what he/she was subconsciously “looking” for. 

And this is exactly why, starting now, I’m going to educate you on everything you need to know in order that you will be able to launch the business website you’re LOOKING for.

View This Quick 1:52 Video to Better Understand this Section

I previously stated that Google wishes to turn our reality into a virtual reality.  Well, this is where it all begins. 

Above you will notice an image of what I call a website blueprint (click on the above blueprint to save your own pdf image).  Specifically speaking, it is a blueprint for a client of mine who owns and operates a clothing boutique.  More specifically, it is a blueprint containing some of the Categories and Sub-Categories of the products my client retails out of her boutique. (you can learn more about Categories and Sub-Categories in my recent book release, SEO 2020 for Christian Business Owners)

Now, if you were to visit my client’s boutique, you would find tons of products that are:

• Hanging on walls
• Neatly layered on rows of shelves
• Uniquely showcased on tables

Inasmuch, you will also find signage displayed next to certain products – describing exactly what the products are. You may also see signage stating specific sizes and colors.  Now look back to the blueprint I’ve provided. 

What we’ve literally done is, we have taken her store signage a step further by turning them into a Categorical Hierarchy Blueprint.  This is a blueprint showing several top-level product categories of the boutique:

• Apparel
• Shoes
• Jeans
• Gifts
• Services

Then as you look further down, you will notice how we’ve implemented 2nd, 3rd and 4th level subcategories below the “Top Level Categories.”

Therefore, as you hover over the boutique website’s 5 tabs (Categorical Hierarchies), you find there is a drop-down menu revealing even more tabs… or (Sub-Categories). 

What does this mean?  What just happened?  We completed one of the first steps in transforming our client’s real-world boutique into a Virtual Boutique.  We’ve begun the process of taking reality…. and turning it into a VIRTUAL REALITY.

Now that you hopefully better understand the 1st step to Christian Web Design, it’s time for your first assignment. 

If you’re a Christian Retail Business, take a look at your products and form a hierarchy of categories, followed by sub-categories – like what you see in the blueprint I’ve provided.

However, let’s say you’re a Christian Business Owner who owns an auto repair shop that also sells parts, tires and wheels.  What would your top-level categories and sub-categories look like?

Just as an example, your top-level categories might be Routine Maintenance, Parts, Tires and Wheels.  Then, your subcategories may look like what I’ve put together in the below diagram.  “Click” a tab to view the sub-categories:

I hope this article has been helpful.  Please feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comments section at the bottom of this article.

In Part 2 of this series, we’ll be discussing the importance of choosing your website’s domain name and hosting company wisely.

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