For any small business investing in a new website or a redesign of your existing website can be a big investment so compiling a detailed brief will ensure you get the site you dreamed of without any extra unforeseen costs along the way.
There is a fair bit of info your web designer and developer will ask of you so this should help you to prepare!
Firstly, your web design agency will need to really understand your business. It is crucial for your web designer to get a detailed understanding of the profile of your company which includes things such as what industry you are in, whether you are a new or existing business, if you are an established business how long you have been established, how many employees you have, what products or services you provide.
Who. The next thing the designer and web developer will need to know is who this website is targeting. Who is your target audience? What is the age, sex and location of your target market?
Why? Give your designer a background on why you want to develop the website. Maybe you were looking for a product or service and noticed it’s not available so you are being the pioneer, maybe you found the product or service and noticed no one is giving the right information.
Goals. Make sure you have clearly defined goals and aims for the website. Is it to increase sales, create product awareness, offer an eCommerce website etc.?
Specs. Think functionality. The one way to make sure you don’t get sprung with any unexpected fess down the track is to clearly outline all of the specs and possible functionality you would like with the website. Everything from a sign up newsletter box to advanced custom applications to automate systems.
Listing your competitors is another important factor you will need to brief your web designer on. Try to list at least a handful of competitors. Feel free to elaborate on things you think the competitor sites have done well or not done well.
Take the time to research other websites. One thing clients sometimes don’t provide to their web designer are websites that they like or dislike. The reason this is so important is that it allows the designer to really get an understanding of the type of look and feel you like and dislike. This in turns allow for a shorter design turnaround time so take the time to research other websites. Even if they are sites that aren’t in your industry it will still help your designer so be sure to reference what you think is good or bad about each of the sites.
All in all, the more detail you can provide the more chance you will have of a beautifully designed custom website that looks and functions exactly as you had envisioned!
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