Questions Your Web Designer Should Be Asking You

Getting a website up and running *should* be a straight-forward process but have you ever had that feeling when working with someone (and not just with websites) that you just don’t know whether they really “get” you, or understand quite what it is you’re looking for?

Whilst some web design firms may tell you not to worry, sit back and relax and they’ll cook you up something snazzy, in our experience it doesn’t quite work like that…unfortunately, if you want a website that actually does something for your business (generates leads, answers prospect’s questions, helps keep leads warm) rather than just look snazzy, it will require you to give some input.

These are some of the things your web designer should be asking you… What’s the purpose of your website?

To design an *effective* website (one that does what you want it to do), this should be the first question a designer asks you. The purpose of your site (to attract interested people, the showcase your wares, to interact with prospects, to provide additional support etc.) will determine the functionality, lay out and even the look and feel of your site.

If your designer doesn’t ask you this, how can they build you a site that will do the job?

Who is your target market?

Another crucial question which can determine the navigation, layout, contents and look and feel of the site; web designers who don’t ask this will usually design something they think looks great - and you may even think so too - but will your target market think the same or will it just turn them off?

What messages are you looking to convey on your website?

Like the above question, the kind of messages and the way you want to convey them is something your designer needs to know; if you’d like to convey a modern, high tech, ‘with the times’ approach then using video or audio to do this may be a great choice to share your message; if you’d rather convey a more traditional, old-fashioned message, then this may not be such a great choice.

It once again all comes back to your target market and the way they’ll respond most effectively to the messages you’re looking to convey.

How often do you think you’ll need to be able update your website?

If you’d like your site to be a living, breathing work in progress or you’re not quite clear on your message or whether you’ve honed the copy correctly - and you’re likely to want to make frequent updates to the site even once it’s built - then think about how expensive this might get when you have to pay your web guy to make the tiniest of changes for you. They will (and should be) charging for this and therefore asking this question before they get started on anything may determine the web platform they build your site upon.

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