Your website is one of the most important parts to your business. Internet usage has significantly grown in the past year with so many of us being forced online. Therefore, you want to be sure to get the design of your website right the first time. To help you achieve this, you need to know exactly what you want from the design and functionality of your website.
As web design specialists, we like to ask our clients what they see the website becoming from its look, to the content within it. Knowing this information helps us create a customised website that meets each client’s unique preferences and requirements.
However, sometimes it can be hard explaining exactly what you want. Especially if you have limited knowledge on what features will benefit your business the most, and which will just slow your website down. So here are some of our top tips that you need to consider when building a website for the first time or redesigning it.
What is the purpose of the website?
The first question to ask yourself, what is the main reason for having a website? If you don’t know why you need a website you’re going to find it difficult to define its key elements. Web design agencies will find it challenging to build a website if the core purpose of the site is unclear.
Most websites will fall into two categories; websites built to generate leads or websites built to inform and build trust. However, your website could also be a combination of both. By being clear as to the purpose of your website, your web design agency will be able to build you a site that meets your needs and the needs of the user.
Who are your target audience?
Who is most likely to visit your website, and what do they want to get out of your site?
It is important to think about who you are targeting your website at. If you don’t know who your website is aimed at, it can risk being unsuitable for your target audience, it could encourage a poor user experience, and will limit it’s success. Give consideration to both your current customers, as well as potential new customers.
Clarifying exactly who your website is built for will impact the structure, page layout, fonts and colours, and content. This is why questioning who your target audience is, is crucial for any web design project.
Have you made considerations for your SEO?
This can be dependent on whether or not you are building a website from scratch or rebuilding from an already existing website. Whichever category you fall into, you always want to ensure that your website’s SEO is optimised. If you are designing a WordPress website, Yoast is a fantastic plugin that allows you to build your site’s SEO over time. Something worth bearing in mind is that it can take longer to see SEO results if you’re building a new website from scratch. Once your website is live, it doesn’t always necessarily mean that users will automatically find and engage with your website. The amount of traffic to your site can take time to build up, which comes down to many SEO factors.
If you are redesigning a website, considerations must be made to ensure that your new website stays optimised. It is important to ask your new web designer questions around the impact of changing your site structure and page links on the site’s SEO. It is not uncommon for web designers to fail to check for all of the relevant pages that need to be accounted for and apply redirects where necessary. This can hamper how your website appears to users in the SERPs (search engine results pages).
SEO can become overwhelming if you are not familiar with it. This is where SEO professionals can help.
What content is needed?
Content is key! Knowing what content to include on your website is just as important as deciding what your website is for. It helps you define your company’s personality and is the information you’ll feed to your audience. Content can come in a range of formats, including text, photos, videos, logos and tag lines. Take enough time to decide what you’d like your content to include as it will make up the majority of your website. If you already know this, it will give you a head start in designing your new website.
It is important to work closely with your web designer around aspects related to content. You should work collectively to create a content plan that both aids in the structure of the site and the writing of the content.
What is your budget?
Building a website can vastly vary in cost, and will generally depend on what you want the website to do. Choosing to use a template can sometimes be cheaper if you have a budget you need to stick to. However, this could jeopardise the look, feel and functionality resulting in a website that is often not on brand, slow and difficult to maintain.
On the other hand, building a site completely from scratch can be expensive and unnecessary at times depending on your requirements. It is wise to speak with your developer about the options available to you to ensure you and your future web users are getting exactly what you need within your budget.
A website should be viewed as a long term investment. There are many factors to consider, so it is important to be open with your developer as to how much you have to spend. Additionally, listen to the advice from your web developer and be open to recommendations that may stretch your budget. Your website will most likely be the first impression any user gets from your business.
Many web design specialists offer website packages that you are able to choose from. This is to accommodate most client’s requirements and budget.
Regardless of whether you are having your website built for the first time or having it redesigned, there are many things you need to consider from the outset. The five things we have noted above are just some of these considerations. As with most things in business, planning is crucial. So if you are about to start engaging with a web developer or web agency, make sure they are asking the kind of questions we have listed above.
Alternatively, get in touch with our local team of developers and marketeers and let us put a plan in place to develop and design your new website. You can get in touch with us by clicking here.
