Image by Freepik.
You have the funds and the vision for a new website. You want to get straight into planning it with your chosen website designer; Ginormous Websites, but a little planning goes a long way. If you can have an initial conversation with answers to some of the key questions in place, then the project will run so much more smoothly.
1. Define your website’s goals and target audience:
- What do you want your website to achieve for your business? Generate leads, establish brand awareness, be a knowledge base? Having clear goals helps the website designer tailor the website to your specific needs.
- Who are you trying to reach with your website? Define your ideal user’s demographics, expectations of the site, and online behaviour. Understanding their needs and preferences helps create a relevant and engaging user experience.
2. Outline your website’s functionality and features:
- What specific features do you need, contact forms, e-commerce capabilities, membership facilities? Listing them clarifies your expectations and helps us understand the project parameters.
- How do you expect users to interact with the website? Do you have your customer journey mapped out and how will the website connect into that and other aspects of the business?
3. Prepare design guidance:
- Share websites you like (and dislike) in terms of design, functionality, or user experience. Providing examples (existing websites, mood boards) helps us, your website designers, understand your vision.
- Highlight specific features or elements you want to incorporate in your own site. Not sure about your own design ideas? Sharing websites with features you find appealing or unappealing helps guide us towards your desired outcomes.
4. Gather existing content and resources:
- Organise existing brand materials like logos, fonts, and colour palettes. Prepare any content you already have, like text, images, or videos.
- Who will be creating the website content? Knowing this helps to determine likely timescales for receiving the content we need to create your website.
5. Establish clear timelines and budgets to discuss with your website designer:
- Determine how much you’re willing to invest in the project. A long list of “nice to have” functions that you may not use for several years will add to the cost, when they could be added further down the line, allowing your website to grow and keep pace with your business.
- Set a realistic timeline for completion. Consider development complexity and your own availability to contribute to the project.
And that last point is perhaps the most important. Many website builds have stalled because of over ambitious expectations about how much time can be committed to creating content, sourcing images, and shooting videos, when a more realistic assessment would have been to outsource at least some of the content provision.
By planning ahead and coming to an initial meeting with at least some of these questions answered, we, as your website designers, will be well-equipped for a productive conversation and a successful project.
The Ginormous Websites team have been building websites that sell for clients for two decades. We have the experience and the professional team to deliver a website that will delight you and your customers, without breaking the bank. Get in touch for that initial conversation and start the journey to your best ever website.
