You’ve decided you need a website, or maybe you have one that isn’t working for you and you want a redesign.
Before making any decisions, please take some time to think about your site. Here are some questions to get you started.
You may also download this checklist in PDF form here. AOL Users: Right click on the link and choose “Save As” in order to download the PDF to your computer.
1. What do you want your site to do?
- Sell products?
- Attract lots of visitors (perhaps so you can sell ads)?
- Build your name recognition (perhaps to sell classes or services)?
- Offer information?
- Hours/Location/Menu for a restaurant
- List of services for a repair company
- Entertain?
- Build a community of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
- Earn permission to follow up with a newsletter or membership offer?
2. What would make it a success?
- Sell a certain number of products per year?
- Increase profits by x% over last year?
- Increase membership by x% over current levels?
3. Who are you trying to reach? Is it everyone? Your current customers? A certain kind of prospect? Do you know what they want from your site?
4. What feedback have you received from visitors concerning your current site? What works? What doesn’t?
5. Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to your visitors?
6. Do you want people to call you, or would you rather be contacted by email?
7. How many times a month would you like people to come by your site? For how long?
8. Do you need or want people to spread the word using various social media tools?
9. Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
10. Is your site primarily of interest to local customers, or will you have a nationwide/global audience?
11. How often should the site be updated?
12. Do you want to update it yourself, or do you want your designer to update it for you?
13. Who is responsible for providing update material to the person doing the updates?
14. Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms (keywords)?
13. Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
14. How much money do you have to spend? How much time? Please include key dates such as proposal due date and desired website launch/relaunch date.
15. Please provide a list of five websites you like, and if you wish, five websites you hate. They do not have to be competitors — it may just be a site whose looks you enjoy.
Once you’ve come up with some answers… or more questions! give us a call or email to discuss your website needs.
Toll-free: 1-866-942-5146 or 205-945-1148
