You want a new website and you’ve chosen some boffins to build it for you.
Now the boffins want to have a meeting and you don’t know what you’re going to talk about – after all, you don’t know anything about how websites are built and what information is required! You also don’t know What To Bring to Your First Website Meeting.
Don’t worry – the meeting is for the web design team to learn as much as they can about your business and what you want from your website.
As with any meeting, you get the best results if you go in prepared – and it helps the team to deliver the website of your dreams!
What are the best things you can think about before the meeting?
Why do you want a website?
On the face of it, this probably sounds like a silly question, but it’s actually very important.
Obviously the main purpose of a business website is to increase revenue, but there are a lot of ways a website can approach this goal and knowing which way you want to go is a key guiding factor for design.
Do you want customers to buy stuff through your site?
Will it describe your services and how customers can contact you?
Or
is it there to boost visitors to your bricks-and-mortar store?
The main question to ask yourself is what benefit will your site provide for visitors as well as your business – why will they want to visit and what do you want them to do once they are there?
A profile of who your website visitors will be
Websites are a visual medium.
The way they look and the language they use are key to the types of viewers they will attract.
If you know who you want looking at your site, it can help shape the design – and the more specific you can be, the better.
Design can go deeper than just the look and tone of the site, as well.
It can also influence the kinds of features it has – for example, if your audience is elderly your designers might add larger text and more sensitive buttons.
If your products are for children, your site is likely to use brighter colours and more interactive features like videos and games.
The images you want on your website
Do you already have a collection of images or photographs that you want to use on your website?
If not, do you have an idea of what kind of pictures you would like?
For example, if you’re an accounting firm, do you envision a “serious” image with pictures of people in suits and calculators, or do you want to appeal to small businesses with colourful “action-shots” of people in their workplaces?
Another aspect of this is branding. Do you have a brand presence that you would like communicated on the website, through logo, colours and taglines?
The date you want the website finished
The answer to this question will have a big impact on your website design and development.
Many people find that websites take more time and work to complete than they realised, and the available time-frame makes all the difference to the features that can be included.
In some cases, this may even be negotiated during the meeting.
Examples of Websites You Love – and Hate
It’s useful to look at what’s already out there for inspiration, especially within your own industry.
Exemplars don’t have to come only from competitors, however.
Think about the websites you like to use in your everyday life – what is it that keeps you coming back? Is it the look of the site? The way it navigates? Or do you enjoy the content?
Thinking about the websites you hate can be just as helpful – this shows your team what to avoid in their design. Either way, good or bad, providing concrete examples makes sure that everyone is on the same page.
We’re here to help
And remember – we’re here to help! Feel free to ask as many questions as you like – we want to feel comfortable throughout the process of developing your website.
