Website Pre-Build Questions

Purpose: your objectives vs visitors objectives

What do you want to accomplish and what does a visitor to your site want to accomplish? Get clear on this and then design your site to provide them what they need which leads to your getting what you need.

Market

Who is your market? Are you sure? Are there other markets you may be missing? Now, determine what sort of design and feel each market wants. What are they most comfortable with? Over 50s may not want the same interface that 20-somethings do.

Requirements

What do you really need the site to do? This is different from selecting software. It is very easy to over buy programs for your site. Get to the core functionalities and then determine if you can do those manually until you are certain what you need to spend money on.

Maintenance

Really? This is an upsell that many developers add on and you may not need. Anyone contracting you for a set amount per month for “maintenance” is possibly not playing straight. Websites shouldn’t need much upkeep if properly set up to begin with. If you are doing a few updates here and there you should be billed by actual time.

Budget

Get written bids from several developers. Make sure you are talking apples to apples. Leaving out one small thing can have huge effects on the cost. Now look at how much you can spend. Know that until a firm cost is contracted for you should plan on 20% more than the initial bids are.

Time

How much time are you willing to spend on helping with the website? A good developer will want to have an open line of communication with you. Are you willing and able to write content? Can you take time to discuss design details? If not, then you should find someone on your team who is. This is important.

Experience

No one person is going to be an expert on all areas of web development. Building a website is like building a house, if you are pretty confident you can outsource the work yourself. Otherwise, hiring a quality “general contractor” is your best bet.

Growth

What are the growth phases for your business? How will this affect your website? Will the site you are contemplating be “scalable”? Would you be better off building your site in phases, or all at once?

Marketing it: SEO, SEM, traditional

All too often this is left as an afterthought. Any internet expert will tell you that you marketing plans need to be viewed as an integral part of your website and that they should be a part of the website development from the very beginning.

Design needs

What level of design integration do you need? Do you have a rock solid corporate look that must be adhered to down to the smallest detail? Or, are you pretty open minded and able to consider different looks and feels? Need a cutting edge design, or a safe, cross generational look?