So you want a website? -Top 5 questions for businesses that want to get online

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June 2005
By Daniel Fogg

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Almost everyone has a website and you're ready to get online but you're not sure how to start. Here are my top 5 questions every business should ask themselves before they approach a designer or design studio for a new website. Also, read my article on Defining a Good Designer for tips on finding the best creative expert for your company. If you're not sure of some of the terms included in this article then you should check out the Designer's Terminology resource to bring yourself up to speed on the lingo designers use to create your website and graphic solutions.

1. What do you expect to gain from a website? (Think before you jump.)
This is a key question that many individuals and businesses often overlook as they rush to the web without necessarily considering their business and marketing strategies. Understand that a website should be one tool out of many that you use for marketing and customer "draw". Consider what print, TV and other forms of media are at your disposal and study which ones are most effective at communicating your message/brand to your target audience. Define how you will build relationships between your existing marketing materials e.g. business cards, brochures, ads etc. and your new website. Posting a website online does not automatically guarantee a sudden windfall of new customers. A cohesive and effective approach to launching your brand online includes the integration of traditional marketing materials with your online media. The sheer number of websites on the Internet means that you will need to create a compelling reason for visitors to surf to your online presence. Consider drafting a budget to cover the costs of updating old materials that do not include your website URL as well as new advertising that helps to drive traffic to your new website.

2. What is your long-term website support solution? (Website Adoption Policy.)
A good website is like owning a pet. You must make a commitment to maintain and refresh content on your site on a regular basis. Create a long-term plan that lists the type of content you intend to add ot the site on a regular basis and define the schedule of those updates. Once you know how often you intend to update the site, establish who is responsible for carrying out those tasks. Do you have someone on staff that is computer and web savvy who can edit website pages or will you need a content-management system to aid you in making no-brains changes to your content? If you want the website designer to provide long-term support for your site then consider proposing a service agreement that includes regular compensation to cover continuous technical and editorial support. Believe it or not, many design decisions are impacted by the person that will eventually take over control as the caretaker of a website. A good designer will consider altering his/her designs to best balance ease of maintenance with artistic vision.

3. Did you do your homework? (Get an "A" grade by planning ahead.)
You're already doing some of the research by reading this article but here are some important steps to take so you have all the right answers that a designer will (and should) ask you:

• Identify your major competitors - just one or two is sufficient
• Note which websites you like and which ones you dislike.
• Gather all your existing marketing materials for reference.
• Have your brand colors readily available. E.g. Pantone colors or general hues.
• Create a customer profile.
• List a set of goals for your company and your website.
• Burn your logo and font files to a CD.
• Define the time-frame for when you want your site to "go live".

There are many other items that can be added to the list but these are the essential "nuts and bolts" a designer needs to know in oder to draft an accurate draft design and cost proposal.

4. Have you written your text? (Content is key)
Understandably, content writing is often the least exciting part of developing a website but it's a crucial element necessary for the designer to design the layout of your website pages/screenss. Although most designers won't need to see the specific text content of your site before they start working on designs, you'll eventually need to have all of your written materials ready for inclusion on the final site. You might think a designer doesn't need to see the text content until the last minute but many visual design decisions are based on how many pages of text appear in each section and the kind of text included in the site. Bullet points, headers, subheads and lists all need to be thought out in terms of visual hierarchies so consider using Word to create a clearly formatted text version of your site. One last note on content, be sure to make it final. You should not give "temp" text to a designer and then request lots of grammatical and editing changes later. You may end up paying for quite a few hours of a designer's time that is better spent working on the tasks you absolutely can't do yourself.

5. Who will be the points of contact? (CC for Carbon Copy e-mails)
Clear and efficient communication between you and the designer is important to reducing wasteful misdirection and repetitive explanations. Pick one or two people who will be the points of contact between your business and the designer and define the best methods for communication e.g. e-mail, phone or in-person. Make sure the staff you assign to the designer are all on the same page and have time to spend in communication and collaboration with the designer. To prevent yourself from being left out of the loop in the event that you simply don't have the time to be on top of every minuscule detail then request specific check-in times that you can meet with the designer and your staff to be brought up-to-speed on the status/progress of the work.