So, you've decided that your business needs a website —great choice!
Every business or organization needs a website that communicates its values and resonates with its overall branding.
To make sure your website hits the mark, it's essential to team up with your web designer and provide them with some key information.
Even if you're a DIY (Do-It-Yourself) person, and you're designing your own website, it helps to have this information at hand before you start the designing process.
In this article, we'll explore the ten things your web designer would absolutely love to know about your business.
Let's get started.
10 Things You Need to Provide Your Web Designer
#1. Your Business Goals
Let's start by sharing your big dreams and goals for your website.
Are you looking to boost online sales, capture leads, share information, or simply establish a strong online presence?
When your web designer knows your objectives, they can align the design and functionality of your website to help you achieve those goals.
#2. Your Target Audience
Knowing your audience is like having a secret weapon.
Tell your web designer all about your ideal customers—their demographics, preferences, and what makes them tick.
With this valuable information, your designer can craft a website that captivates and resonates with your target audience.
#3. Your Brand Identity
Your brand is unique, and your website should reflect that! Share your brand guidelines with your web designer—the logo, colors, fonts, and imagery that define your identity.
Consistency across all your marketing materials, including your website, will strengthen your brand and make it instantly recognizable.
#4. Content
Content is king!
Collaborate with your web designer to determine what content should grace your website. From flyers, brochures, images, videos, forms, and text.
Provide them with all the content you have available so that they can scan through to find the pieces that best work for your website.
#5. Functionality Requirements
What cool features do you want on your website? Maybe you need an online store, booking forms, a calculator, currency conversion, or a user-friendly content management system.
By sharing your specific functionality requirements with your web designer, they can work their magic and bring your vision to life.
And if you don't have an idea of what functionalities are needed, the business goals you shared earlier can help the designer identify what kind of features are important.
#6. Competitor Websites
Let's play detective now!
Share the URLs of your competitors' websites with your web designer.
Are there any design elements or features that caught your eye from them? Mention those. This information will help your designer create a website that stands out from the crowd while keeping an eye on what your competitors are up to.
#7. Technical Requirements
Are there any tech-savvy details you'd like to share?
Let your web designer know if you have any preferences for web development platforms, integrations with existing systems, or compatibility needs with different browsers and devices.
By giving them the laydown on technical requirements, you'll ensure a smooth development process.
#8. Budget and Timeline
The money and time talk!
It's crucial to have open conversations about your budget and timeline expectations.
Share your budget constraints with your web designer so they can recommend the best solutions within your means.
Personally, this conversation sometimes gets uncomfortable. Because most clients don't usually make sense of why they should pay 2X more for the same website.
Let me give two reasons why it's important to mention the highest possible budget you can afford.
- A higher budget allows your web designer to dedicate more time to your project. That means a better design in the end. (Good design takes time)
- It also makes it possible for the designer to use the best tools and plugins available. Using the best tools helps your website's performance, security, and so on. A lower budget limits the designer to opt only for free or cheaper options.
And about the timeline,
set a realistic timeline together, so you can stay on track and celebrate milestones along the way.
#9. Web Hosting and Domain
Got a domain name and hosting provider already? Great!
Share the necessary access details with your web designer.
If this is your first time to hear about all these, fear not! Your designer can guide you through the process of securing a domain name and choosing the perfect hosting provider for your website.
I provide web hosting for most of my clients. The benefit of that is they don't have to deal with hosting support as I take care of that for them. If you'd like me to help you with your hosting and domain registration, feel free to get in touch here
#10. Communication
Building trust through great communication is key to a successful partnership.
Talk to your web designer about your preferred communication channels and how often you'd like to touch base.
Being responsive and open to feedback will help keep the collaboration smooth and ensure your vision is translated into an incredible website.
Conclusion
Working hand in hand with your web designer is an adventure that will lead you to an amazing website.
By sharing essential information like business goals, target audience insights, brand guidelines, content ideas, functionality needs, competitor research, technical requirements, budget, and timeline, and maintaining open communication, you'll create a website that wows your audience and helps your business thrive.
So, let's team up, unleash your vision, and make your website dreams come true!
