It is common for small business owners to think that they can hire a web developer and have a completed website with little input. While I will agree that this is possible and it does happen, I don’t recommend it. You are building the image of your business. Customers will visit your website and you want to make sure that the image that is built is what you want. With that said, it is not uncommon for web designers and business owners to disagree about what should be on a site. It is the job of the web designer to educate the business owner on what will convert visitors into leads/paying customers. That however is a topic for another time.
There are certain things that a business owner must decide and know before building a website. Having these decisions in place will make the website build go smoothly. Here are 6 decisions that need to be made:
Purpose:
What is the purpose of the website?
- Do you want to sale products online?
- Do you want to increase brand awareness?
- Do you want to educate visitors about your products and services?
Knowing your purpose ahead of time will allow the designer to appropriately design and layout the website. The last thing you want is to decide you want an eCommerce site after the designer has built a site focused on brand awareness. Making decisions like that late in the development process will delay completion of your site and likely cost you more money.
Target Audience:
Who is your target audience? The design of the site will heavily depend on who you are trying to reach. Your target market will drive everything from copy to images to the actual layout of the site.
Competitors:
What are your competitors doing? Go spy on your competitors. Get on their websites and see what you like best. No you are not going to copy what they are doing, but you will know what they are doing and you will be able to build a better site.
Search Engines:
What are people typing into Google to find business like yours? These search phrases are know as keywords. You will want to know what keywords you want to rank for so you can incorporate those in your site design, content, and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) settings. It is not a complicated process to figure out. You usually will start out with keywords that are industry and location related. For example, if you were looking to have printing done in Poplar Bluff, you would type in “Printing in Poplar Bluff” or something close to that. If your site is not proper optimized for the search engines, you will not be found.
Commitment:
Are you willing to commit to the development of this site? Often it is to easy to get caught up in the rest of your business and forget about the fact you have a web designer waiting on your input or for you to provide information. If you want your site built in a timely manner, then your commit is necessary.
Content:
Who is going to supply the copy and images for the site? As a web designer, I prefer when my clients supply both copy and images. To clarify when I say images I mean pictures of the business, products, services, and such. I will create the graphics on the site. You will accelerate the design process by providing the copy and images. Now if you are my client, I will review your copy and most likely suggest changes. I will take your copy and optimize it for readability and conversions on the web. The benefit is it reduces the work the designer has to perform, which translates into savings for you.
Once again, having these six decisions already made will help save you time and money in having a website designed. Things like keywords and copy can be discussed with your designer, but need to be nailed down prior to starting.
If you have an questions or would like to know more about having a website built for your business, call me at 573-785-0931.
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