It is tempting to rush into designing a website so your business has an online presence, especially with web builders available. However, taking the time to understand exactly what your needs are will ensure your site serves its purpose. Before you jump into the development stage, Nicada Digital suggests you consider these questions to keep your team focused.
Q1 – What are Your Business Goals?
You or a developer cannot create the perfect website without knowing your business plan. Without knowing what your goals are, analyzing the effectiveness of your site is impossible. Therefore, create an outline of what you want from your site and what the budget is. Professional designers use your brand identity and combine it with your goals to create effective webpages.
Q2 – What Function Does the Website Have?
Your business plan should cover every aspect of your company, including what role your site plays. Different functions include:
- Generating leads
- eCommerce pages
- Classes or courses
- Provide information
- Connect to social media
Q3 – What is Your Target Audience?
The type of website you create varies based on the target audience. Consider your good/service and who you expect to purchase it. Developers use analytic software to watch demographics to ensure the site is effective in reaching potential customers. Webpages from ten to 15 years ago required extensive coding knowledge but still looked very similar. Now, content management software (CMS) allows a designer to make sites that are: easy to navigate, versatile and accommodating.
Q4 – How Do You Plan to Measure Success?
From the very beginning of your company creation, you will be setting milestones to reach goals. The same is true with your website. Developers want to know your long- and short-term goals so they can assist with adjustments to your site. This area ties back into the function your site will have. If you are looking to generate leads, how many a week/month are you expecting.
Q5 – What Research Have You Done?
When you decided to start a business, you likely performed in-depth research of the industry. Building a website requires studying how features affect your traffic. You want a site that is unique but competes with other companies in your trade. Visitors should visit your webpage and find the answers they need without feeling overwhelmed. Before you talk to a developer, analyze your competition, and take notes about what aspects you like.
Q6 – Who Will Manage the Site?
The complexity of your site is dependent on who will be managing the project. If you are planning to hire a development team to handle every aspect of your webpage, a complex site is no problem. However, if you prefer to handle the maintenance, then you want something you understand.
Q7 – What is Your Budget?
Finally, you will need to set a budget for your website. It is easy to lose focus on the project and incur extra expenses quickly. Set a budget for the development team to stay under. Consider the following aspects that incur costs:
- Web Host
- CMS
- Domain Registration
- Specialty themes/plugins
- Development team
- Any software (newsletters, social interaction, accept payments, etc.)
- Site security
Once you have the answers to these seven questions, you are finally ready to begin the project.