When you first meet a Web Designer, you shouldn’t go empty handed otherwise you may waste your time and theirs. Here are 9 topics you should consider.
1. Define your business
Say in no more than 2 sentences what your business is about.
2. Describe your brand
- What is your reputation?
- How are you perceived?
- What’s your company culture (if applicable)?
3. Who are your customers?
- What are their demographics : location, socioeconomic status, gender, age, family status?
- How do your customers communicate : phone, social media, email?
4. Who are your competitors?
- List your main competitors.
- What makes you different from them?
5. What is your current online presence?
Do you have:
- A registered internet domain name?
- A web host?
- An existing website?
- Social media accounts? (eg Facebook page)
6. Why do you need a new website?
What are the goals of your website:
- To inform or entertain?
- To promote your goods and/or services?
- To sell goods/services online?
- To take bookings? Sell memberships? Sell an online course? Other?
7. Any design thoughts?
- Which websites do you like?
- Which websites do you dislike?
- What do your competitor’s websites do well? What could you do better?
8. Who will manage your website?
Once your website is built, your web designer can manage your website for you or you can share the responsibilities.
Will you :
- Update content yourself?
- Update the software (WordPress, plugins & theme) yourself?
- Monitor your website ? Run backups ? Run regular security checks?
9. What to bring (if possible)
Your web designer will need this content before they start designing. So the sooner you can provide it, the sooner they can start your new website:
Your logo
In high-resolution format, ideally PNG, SVG, EPS or AI.
No logo yet ? Your web designer may be able to design your branding.
Your marketing material
Bring any promotional material you have: brochure, business card…
Your photos
In high-resolution format (at least 1920 pixels wide).
Make sure they’re your own photos or free from copyright.
Copy (page content)
You need to write the text of your pages.
The best way is to provide it in a Word document(s).
Web designers usually factor in a revision or two but to save time (and your money), make sure to provide pages with their full content rather than piecemeal.
Social media
Provide links to all your social media accounts.
