If you’re a small business owner who needs a website you might have questions about the web design process and what information a web designer or developer may need from you. This article will go over some common questions you should ask yourself before contacting a web designer and some information you should gather before you reach out for your free consultation.
Does this describe you?
You’re a small business owner who knows that you need a website for your business, but you’re not sure what the web design process entails or what a web developer will need from you. You might be asking yourself, “What will a web developer need from me?”. You’re hesitant to reach out to a web developer because you’re afraid you might be unprepared.
Well, you shouldn’t fear reaching out to a web developer. Even if you only have a vague idea about what you want or need for your small business’ website, a good web developer should have processes in place to help guide you through the web design process and get you thinking about what your new website should look like.
Typically there is a process called discovery where the web developer will work with you to determine the goals for your project as well as the scope of the project, which determines what is included with the project and how big the website will be. In fact, here at Your Right Website we have our own unique process for helping clients determine which website solution will be best for them. That said, there are a few things you can prepare in advance as well as some questions you can ask yourself that will make the discovery process easier if you want to get a head start.
What is the goal of your website?
The first thing to think about is why you want a website for your small business. Ask yourself, “What am I hoping to achieve with this new website?”. Depending on your business you might have very different goals you wish to achieve with your new website. For instance, is your primary goal to gain new customers or to build trust with existing customers? Is your goal to sell products online or to sell a service? Do you want customers to book or purchase something directly from the website, or do you want to pre-educate your customers before they reach out to you for a consultation?
Think about the problems that your business faces and how you hope a website will help solve them. Being able to articulate these problems to your web developer will help them come up with a custom solution that will work for your business.
What is your budget?
The next question to ask yourself is “How much am I willing and able to invest in my business’ website?”. With web development, like anything else, you get what you pay for. If you only have $500 to build a website, the solutions that are available to you are going to be a lot more limited than those that are available if you have $5000 to spend. Knowing upfront what you are willing to spend on a website will help steer the conversation with your developer as to how you can get the best bang for your buck given your stated goals for the website.
To give you an idea of pricing, here at Your Right Website our web design packages start at $3500, which will get you a small custom built website designed to showcase your small service based business. For an idea of what this looks like in practice, you can view the website for Across the Border, which is a four page website we built for a small business that specializes in steel building construction in Utah and Arizona. You don’t need to have a huge budget to get a quality website, but knowing what you’re willing to spend and knowing how flexible you can be will determine the solutions available to you and knowing this upfront before scheduling a call with a web designer will make the web design process easier.
What do you want your customers to learn about your business from the website?
One of the questions I always ask new clients when planning out their website is “When a customer comes to your website, what are the three most important things you want them to learn or remember about your business?”. I ask this question because it really helps to narrow down the focus of the website and highlight the areas of your business that are important. The website shouldn’t tell everyone everything there is to know about your business, instead it should be a gateway to allow your customers to take another action you want them to take, such as filling out a contact form, making a phone call or purchasing a product or service. By knowing what is most important about your business and focusing on those key points it will help your web designer build a website that is designed around the goals you want to achieve with your website and one that ensures your customers take the actions you want them to take.
Are there any design aspects or must have features you want on your new website?
One aspect of web design that is sure to come up in any conversation with a web designer is how your new website should look. Start asking yourself if there are any design styles that you like from other websites and make a list of three to five other websites that you really like from a design perspective. These can be websites from competitors or just websites where you like the way they look. Maybe you like the way a website uses big, bold imagery to tell a story. Or maybe you like the color scheme a website is using. When you see something you like, make a note of the website and why you like it. This information will help your developer figure out the unique style that you want for your website and your brand.
Also start thinking about functionality and if there are any must have features your new website needs. For instance, do you need a way for your customers to book an appointment with you online? Or maybe you need a way to display a map of your locations. Knowing up front if there are any special features you need will help your web developer determine the scope of your web design project, as well as the timeline and cost that may be associated with your desired features.
Are there any pieces of content or brand elements you can prepare ahead of time for your new website?
As a web developer, one of the hardest parts of any web development project is content. Content can be words, images or other media that will display on the final website. Content is hard because writing content is hard and clients often struggle with providing content that can be used on the website.
When a website is being built, ideally the way to build a website is to structure the layout of the website around the desired content. This allows the developer to lay content out in a way that is visually appealing while still keeping true to the intent of the client’s original message. However, often clients struggle with writing content about their business, which can lead to cases where the layout of the website is determined first and then content is filled in later. This approach can work, especially in the age of AI generated content, but it is always easier having content and images up front rather than trying to backfill these elements once development has started.
If you want to be ahead of the game compared to most clients, start writing your content early. It’s always better to have too much content than not enough. It’s easier to take content away then to try and backfill areas with missing content. If you’re not a writer that’s ok, modern AI tools such as ChatGPT and Gab.AI make it where anyone can craft well-written content with just a few simple prompts. Start working on content early as it will help you and your developer further refine the message you want to send with your new website.
You should also start thinking about brand elements at this stage, such as if there are any special logos, fonts or colors you want to use on your website. Does your business have a logo? If yes, great! If not, you should start thinking about what sort of logo you may need. So much of your website’s identity is tied up in your logo, because the logo is a focal point for the website. Often, the colors and fonts that are used on your website are inspired by ones used in your logo, so having a good logo before web design starts makes the process of picking the fonts and colors for your website much easier for you and your developer.
Don’t let missing items hold you back from contacting a web developer.
If you’ve just read through this article and are thinking that you will never be able to get all of the above information together, don’t worry. Not having some or even most of the above figured out is not a reason to put off having your website built even longer. Any good web developer will help you gather any missing items and will ask you the right questions to get you thinking about these and other elements needed for your final website. The more you can prepare in advance, the easier the web design process will be, but good developers understand that clients often don’t have most of this information ready at the start of a project. It is the job of the developer to ask you the right questions to ensure that you get the website that is right for you, even if you’re not quite sure yourself what that website looks like.
If you want to learn more about the process of how a website gets built and what will be required of you, check out our unique web design process. When you’re ready to have a site custom built for you, schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll guide you through the web design process step by step and hold your hand every step of the way.