No one knows your business as well as you do and giving the Web Designer as much information as possible at the start is vital for a smooth relationship.
What’s needed to start?
To start the Web Design process your Web Designer will need supplying with information and materials.
- Business Branding – logos, letterheads, brochures
- Company Information – mission statement, history, unique selling proposition, accreditation
- Customers – target market, typical users, location
- Competitors – list your main competitors and some example sites in your industry that you’d like to emulate
- Products/Services – list of things your business offers to produce a sitemap
- Photos – any images of your products, employees, premises
- Text – write a couple of pages about your company, including the who, where, why, how etc. keep it jargon free and use a friendly tone of voice.
You may also be asked to complete a questionnaire to help the Web Designer answer some questions about your requirements for the new website.
All information should be supplied in digital format if possible (including Word files, PDF, jpg etc.). If you don’t possess any photos hire a photographer or instruct your Web Designer to source some stock photos.
Not everyone can write well, so don’t worry about typos and grammar mistakes – just write as much as you can about your business, the Web Designer will edit the text to ensure good readability for the web. You can always hire a freelance copywriter to write blog posts or articles for you.
Web Design Contract
Its important to set out your exact requirements in a project specification before starting, this will help with setting the projects schedule and costs and will also help to avoid any ‘scope creep’ (new features requested during the process resulting in increased cost and timescale).
Once the website specification has been agreed a deposit will be requested to start the process, this is standard in the industry and typically 30%-50% of the design fee is required upfront to start work. This deposit helps to commit both parties to the project and a contract will be signed to protect both sides in the event of any disagreement.
Communications
Clients must remember they are part of the process and during the development will be asked for feedback via email, delays in answering queries will result in delays with the project timeline.
It’s usually recommended to have a one-to-one meeting at the start of any project and often helps if the meeting is held at the client’s premises – this will give the Web Designer a better ‘feel’ for the client, meet some of the employees and gain a better overall understanding of business operations.
Contact us today for your free web design quote
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