Nathan Yerian
There are too many web design companies (mainly the low cost providers) that design useless websites for their clients. Some of the blame can be placed on the client for having a lack of direction, but ultimately, it is the job of the web designer to bring these issues to light before designing anything, let alone a brand's online storefront.
Great design originates from a full understanding of a company's goals, culture, products, services, & market. If you find yourself at a web design company and the first thing out of their mouth is about a solution, politely get up, push in your chair and run for the door. It's just not possible to present a real solution without first understanding the challenge.
Make sure you are at least given the opportunity to answer the 5 W's of web design before you get to the "how" the website will be designed (the solution).
1. Who is your website communicating with?
Your website is a branch of your overall marketing effort. For it to be effective, you have to know who this communication is aimed at. Profiling your visitors into different groups allows you to segment your site into relevant areas that should move toward an action (subscribing to your newsletter, filling out a contact form, or requesting a proposal).
A good example of this would be a mortgage website that has identified 3 main target profiles: The First Time Home Buyer, The Experienced Home Buyer, & The Home Refinancer.
2. What does your website need to communicate?
Each different buyer persona requires different information in order to validate that your company's solution is the right fit for them. Now that you have segmented them, you can present the value you offer to them specifically.
In our mortgage website example, by identifying buyer personas in the begining, it will be easy for the company to construct their website's content and navigation structures around these three groups
Because your content is segmented, you can adjust your approach, tone, topics, and calls to action around that specific customer profile. Want to stay relevant to each visitor? Talk to them specifically.
3. Where are your customers?
Is your product/service local, regional, national, or international? It is essential that the answer to this question be discovered prior to the formation of any website strategy.
If you primarily serve local customers it will be necessary to build localized keywords into the website (ie: Houston mortgage company), and to be listed on local directories like Google Places, Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Yelp, etc. Building local keywords into your website, and having your site submitted to local directories will increase the likelihood of getting found by your local potential customers.
On the other hand, if you have international aspirations, you will need to take a whole new set of characteristics into consideration. If you are being visited globally, you may need your site in multiple languages; if you have an ecommerce website, you may need to support multiple currencies.
Disclosing the location of your target market allows your web design company to appropriately plan your site to reach that market. If you don't have a plan in place to reach your target market, what's the point of designing the site in the first place?
4. When does your web design need to be finalized?
Sometimes clients have unrealistic expectations of how quickly a web design can come together. It is best to discuss an expected launch date once a full understanding of the scope has been unveiled.
By allowing everyone to get a feel for what the site will entail, it gives your web design partner an opportunity to give you an informed prospective timeline, so that you can decide if it will meet your expectations.
5. Why are you designing/redesigning your website in the first place?
Outlining your goals for the new website will determine its success. If you have no stated goals for the site, it will be impossible to know if you have achieved success.
This question can spark a very in depth conversation. We have previously written a 3 post series on Reasons to Redesign a Website that you can explore for more details on this topic.
Now that you have some of the core questions concerning your website answered, you may be ready to talk about a solution, or "how" the project will come together.
When designing/redesigning a website, make sure that you are partnering with a web design company that takes the time to understand exactly what you are looking for. Without this understanding, your project is doomed to failure before it ever begins.
What additional questions do you find to be important prior to a web design?