Alright, your work has slowed down and you're finally finding the time to devote to a new website. Great! But.. it takes some initial work on your end so don't go putting your feet up just yet. I'm going to task you with 'things to do' before we even have a chat about hiring me.
I'll give you a gold star (with a frog on it) if you already have the following taken care of before we connect:
- What goals are you setting out to accomplish with your new site?
Yes, I mean what business goals are you trying to achieve. You have already thought about this, right? Is your goal to increase sales? Is it to build awareness? Is it to reduce costs? Whatever your goals may be, it’s good to start thinking about them now.
- Design-wise, what type of site are you looking to have created?
Pro Tip: Try to be specific. Avoid saying anything like 'something that pops' and please don't say 'a simple site'. That really doesn't help me. Something you can set out to do is to find a few sites that you like. All a designer needs to know is what you like about each one. They don't have to be competitor sites, although they certainly can be. They just need to be the sites that YOU are into.
- Content, Content, Content!
Start writing now. You could even stop reading this post and open Microsoft Word. Content is always the hold up for any project I take on. You're going to want to start writing from the moment we begin. The sooner I have finalized copy, the better your design will turn out. Trust me. When up front, I have the actual text to design with, I get a better sense of how to layout a page.
- Websites are not built in a week.
Every second client wants a website ASAP. That's all fine and dandy, but, well designed sites take careful planning, creating and developing. I've built sites in two to three weeks, but on average websites take about four to six. Often, the hold up is content. See point #3...Remember? You should have stopped reading there to start planning. The task here is simple. If you can have a rough estimate of how many pages you may need on this new site, it will help me in creating an appropriate timeline.
- Know your budget.
Websites don't cost 'a few hundred bucks'. Yes I'm sure your nephew (who's in high school) can throw together a wordpress site based off a template in a few hours. But like any industry on the planet, you get...what you pay for. Good designers solve problems. It takes time to plan out how to solve these problems before we even begin a creative concept. It's all about creating the right user experience for your brand, and making sure you have a usable, professionally designed web site at the end of the project.
