Top 6 Things to Discuss With Your Web Designer

 

Getting your own website doesn’t have to be hard work. Once you find a good web designer, the process becomes easy. Below are six key topics to discuss with your designer to make sure that they design the perfect website for your business.

 

1. What is your business about?

This is the most important thing – period. You know more about your business than anyone else. Make sure you describe what you do, why you do it and how you do it in a succinct and exciting way. You may have heard of an ‘elevator pitch’. This is exactly what your web designer will find useful. Think about how you would describe your business in the time it takes to ride in an elevator to the top of a building.

Describe your target audience as well. This will help your designer create a website design that your audience will find appealing. A website that designed for professional men aged 70 won’t get much traffic if looks like it’s for women in their 20s!

Specifically think about:

• Male/female ratio
• Average age
• Locality – are you a local or national business?
• Do you have a specific niche i.e. Mums, Dads, Grandparents, Sportspeople, Businessmen/women, hobbyists etc
• If you’re B2B – industry type and size of company are good starting points

 

2. Do you have a logo?

The colours and style of your logo will really help your designer to understand what you want your website to look like. If you haven’t already got one, find out if your web designer can design you one or point you in the direction of a good graphic designer. Your logo is your brand identity and will help to shape your business as well as your website design.

 

3. Who is your competition?

Google your competition and sneak a peek at their websites. Make a few notes on what you like or don’t like about their design and how they work and tell your designer. By letting your designer know who you’re competing against they’ll have a much better chance of creating you a website that will stand out from your competition.

 

4. What are your ideas?

Very important! If you have specific ideas about how you want your website to look, let your designer know, they’re not mind readers and won’t come up with the picture in your head unless you share it with them. Designers will always do their best to incorporate your ideas into the design as well as give you advice on what will look good and guiding you when they disagree.

Equally as important, let them know what you don’t like, so they know what to steer clear of.

 

5. What images would you like on your website?

Gather together some images that convey what your business does by looking at them. Images help to break up the text on your website as well as communicate your message in a powerful way to your audience. People take in and process images far faster than reading words.

Don’t worry if you are struggle to find images, a good designer will be able to help you with ideas for images and there are numerous places you can source images from such as online image libraries. The images from libraries vary in price from free to quite expensive, so be sure to check the price before setting your heart on one.

 

6. What is the purpose of your website?

Be clear about the purpose of your website. What do you want your customers to do when they come across your website? Do you want them to:

• Contact you by phone?
• Contact you by email?
• Download a document?
• Buy an item?
• Visit you at your address in the real world?
• Find out more information about your product/services?
• Find out what time you are open?

 

You may well have multiple things on this list. Put them in priority order and focus all your efforts on item number one.

Website designers know their trade inside out, but they don’t know your business. So, it’s your job to ensure they understand your business before they start designing. The good news is that you don’t need to direct them about colours, fonts, or layouts. A good designer will instinctively create what you need if you are descriptive about your business.