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It seems like you should be able to call up a web designer and order a web site like a pizza and have he or she deliver it according to schedule. But a web site is not an over-the-fence type of project. For a web design project to be successful, the client should be involved, informed, and making decisions every step of the way. And that includes preparing for the project before it even starts.
Know What You Want
Spend some time thinking about why you want a web site and what purpose it will serve. Will you sell products and services through the site? Use the site to communicate information about your brick and mortar business? Publish articles to share your knowledge and establish yourself as an authority? Will your site visitors be able to post content and interact with one another? Will be you be looking to build an online community around a purpose or topic?
If you’ve already got a web site but it’s falling short of its goals or has grown outdated, think about why it’s falling short, and how you’ll approach the next site differently.
Spend some time looking around the web at your own site, at your competitor’s sites, and at sites completely not related to your field. Spend some time using them, trying out different features, and see what you like and what you don’t. Get some ideas for some features you’d like to include on your own site.
Look at designs of other sites. Most people don’t spend a lot of time talking about design, so it can be a bit challenging, but try to put words to what you like or don’t like about different designs. A lot of the time, you’re going to be talking about colors and emotions because design can resonate with us on many different levels. Don’t go looking for the perfect design that you can just copy – but look around to get a general idea of what types of design seem to fit the look and feel you’re looking for.
Know who your target audience is – designers are experts at tailoring an idea or a feeling to appeal to certain target audiences. And don’t be fooled into thinking your target audience is ‘everyone’. That’s a temptation for all of us, but it’s not useful. Think about the demographic that your most enthusiastic and loyal customers fall into. Also think about the demographic you’d really like to reach but haven’t yet.
Know what your message is. It should be clear and concise – something you could explain to someone in the time it takes to ride an elevator from the first to the fifth floor. Why should someone be interested in doing business with you?
Establish a Budget
A well-done web design is an investment in your business. It can help to increase visibility of your business and increase sales. It can establish a presence. So think about how much you can afford to spend on a web site. If you’re looking for a simple site, then probably somewhere in the $1000-$2000 range is suitable and upward from there as you add complexity to the site.
Once you know what you can afford, don’t keep your budget a secret from web designers that you might talk to. Web designers can tailor a project to fit a budget and can often find ways to build you a great site within your budget with a few small compromises. If you keep your budget a secret, then hiring a web designer turns into a game of Price is Right where the one with the estimate closest to your budget wins the job. Be up front about your budget and hiring a web designer becomes a question of who can get the most mileage out of your money. Sometimes a few relatively small changes turns an expensive project into an affordable one.
Gather Information and Assets
Remember, the person you’re hiring to build your site knows little or nothing about you or your business. You’re going to have to provide all of the content that will fill the site up. Think about what kinds of things you’d like to include – testimonials from your customers, contact information, a biography of yourself, biographies and photos of your staff, news articles and press releases, information about your products, photos of your store front, staff or products.
It can be an overwhelming task, so think about hiring a copywriter or a copy editor to help you put it all together. Figure out if you need to hire a photographer for the photos you’ll need. If you want to include video, start planning for that – who will appear in the video? Who will shoot it? Who will edit it?
Keep an Open Mind
Once you’ve found the web designer you’d like to hire, be sure to keep an open mind. Have a good idea of what you want, but be open to suggestions or modifications the web designer might have. You should be hiring an expert that you trust. Get your money’s worth by considering the ideas that he or she might have for improving your site or streamlining the process of building it. You might be surprised by the things you didn’t know.
By the same token, remember that you’re the expert on your business and your product or service. If something doesn’t feel right to you, speak up. Make sure your web designer listens to you and understands your message, your target audience, and the goals you’d like the web site to accomplish.
Be Involved
Stay involved in the process as it goes along. There will be many points in the process where you’ll be sent designs or site maps to review and approve. Ask questions about anything you don’t understand, and try to answer emails and phone calls promptly. Sometimes work on your project comes to a standstill waiting for an approval or a photo or a bit of content.
I try to remember to tell my clients at the beginning of a project that at least half of the work of building the site is theirs – gathering up content, writing biographies and product descriptions, reviewing designs, sending photos, logos, and videos. You can hire help for some of it, but in the end, nobody knows your business as well as you do, so some things have to come from you. You’ll be glad at the end when you’ve got a web site that conveys your message and accurately portrays your business – it’s the first step toward having a successful web site.
