I had a meeting with a client last week to start the process of creating a new website for one of their businesses.

It quickly became  apparent that they hadn’t actually thought about what they really wanted from the website.

Instead they had exactly copied the layout of another site we’d done for another business in the group and then tried to put some words around it.

As you might imagine the meeting was slightly awkward.

I have since supplied them with a crib sheet covering the steps involved and the areas to consider to create a website.

First things first

The starting point is to remember that in most cases the purpose of a website is to generate business either from new prospects or existing customers and that visitors visit a website because they have a problem that they want to solve.

With that in mind, the question to be asked is what messages should prospects be exposed to and what experience do you want them to have on the site., always remembering that visitors want to find the information they’re looking for as quickly and with the minimum number of clicks as possible.

Another key point to remember that your website isn’t about you, but what you can do for your visitors.

The questions you must answer

Before any design or build work is undertaken or even before the main body of copy is written, you need to have answered the following questions and to have done the relevant pieces of work:

1. Identify the target audiences who will be visiting the site.
   Are they B – B or B – C or both. Are they all the same sort of people or do they need information tailored to their specific requirements or even or even completely different information?
2. What are the objectives of the site – what do you want it to achieve? Is the website’s purpose to educate, to establish credibility,  to collect contact details, to make a sale immediately off the page etc.
   This is absolutely fundamental. If you don’t know what the site is trying to achieve, there’s no chance of it deliverying.
3. What action do you want visitors to take? Do you want them to make a purchase, to leave their details, to phone you, to fill out the contact form etc.
   Whatever action you want this should be your call to action on every page.
4. What devices will your audience be accessing your site from? If you have a predominantly mobile audience accessing your site on their phones, this will influence the content and quantity of information on your site.
5. Research your competitors’ and other relevant sites. What can you learn both in terms of content, design and functionality?
6. Decide the basic structure and what pages you will need to achieve the site’s objectives. Remember the simpler your site is to navigate, the more chance you have of success.
7. Identify the keywords for each landing page. These are the words that visitors type into Google in order to find the services that you provide.
8. What functionality do you want:

• Video
• Audio
• Downloads
• Data collection
• Enquiry form
• Blog
• Social media links

9. Define what your company does so that visitors can quickly decide whether they’re on the right site. You have approximately 8 seconds when a visitor lands on your site. They must be able to decide immediately whether they are in the right place or not.

10. Articulate the benefits you deliver to your customers and the problems in your clients’ lives that you solve.

11. Do you have a USP – something which genuinely makes you stand out from your competitors? If so make sure that this is communicated clearly and prominently.

12. Get testimonials from clients. Testimonials provide social proof which is vital to create trust and credibility. Video testimonials are the ultimate but failing that include the name, company and job title and if possible a job title.

13. Develop case histories and get agreement from clients’ to use them. Case histories provide proof of the kind of work you do, the way you operate and the kind of results you achieve.

14. Source logos of client companies if you intend to show them. If your clients are well known names, this provides massive credibility and trust.

Only after completing all these steps are you are ready to start to write the text for the pages and to brief your designer.

So if you’re planning a new website or just an overhaul of your existing site, but think you need a bit of help give me call!

For further detials click here to visit my page: https://www.thebestof.co.uk/local/guildford/business-guide/feature/bda