Putting Your Website Together

Answer as many of these questions as you can to build your own website specification document. Answering these questions will tell us everything we need to know to build your website.

I don't have time for this! Just tell me how much it costs!

You

• What do you sell or do? your widgets here
• What sets you apart from your competitors? what sets you apart

Your clients

• Who are your target audience? target audience
• What do you offer your clients? (ie the pot of gold...) what you offer

Your website's purpose

• What is the main purpose of your website? (pick one)
  Generate new leads - raise awareness of who you are
  Communicate with existing customers
  Draw people to your physical premises
  Clients will buy directly from the site
  
• What do you want your visitor to do now? (pick one)
  Call you
  Email you
  Sign up for your newsletter
  Register for an event
  Make an appointment
  Understand certain information
  Download a free report or piece of software
  Request a free sample
  Buy directly from your website
  Other:
  
• What do you want your visitors to do before they leave the site (if it's different from the previous question)

Your industry

• List your competitor's sites and briefly what you like or dislike.

• List any other websites you are attracted to. What do you find compelling about them?

Your website

• What specific features are you expecting or would you like? (check all that apply)
  Collect visitor names (recommended)
  Offer a free report, sample or gift (recommended)
  Gallery or catalogue
  News (updated manually)
  News feeds
  Discussion forum - clients can build their own community around your brand
  Visitors register for a specific event you are holding
  You can hold blogs on your site and visitors may add comments
  
• How will your website be used for e-commerce? (choose one)
  Visitors can buy many different products directly from the site.
  Visitors can buy one product or package directly from the site.
  Visitors cannot buy directly from the site.
  
• How would you like the look and feel of your website to be? (check all that apply)
  Corporate
  Professional
  Friendly
  Artistic
  Designer
  Expensive
  Romantic or creative
  Humorous
  Modern
  Conservative
  Salesletter type website
  Other
  
• What elements would you like on every page?
  Your Unique Selling Point (recommended)
  Your contact details (recommended)
  A special offer or way to capture visitors' contact details (recommended)
  Your logo
  Other:
  
• Describe any visual elements in your current image you would like to see on your website:
• Do you need this website to rank highly in search engines or do you have other methods of promotion?
  I need this site to rank highly in search engines
  I have other methods of promoting the site
• How is your organisation currently perceived?
• Do you want to change this? What to?

Your content

Product Pages

• Product pages explain what you do or sell, eg a page showing a picture and description of one product, and reasons why someone should buy it.
• You need pages for describing your products or services
• You already have written content for of these pages. We will write the rest for you.
• Your text is in a soft format (eg a computer file)
  Your text is in a hard format (eg a piece of paper)
  You have no suitable text to use - we will write it all

Resource Pages

• Resource pages are articles or general industry information. Publishing articles about what you do positions you as an expert in your field, and also helps raise your Search Engine Rankings. If your site is non-commercial then nearly all of your pages will fit into this category. Ten pages of this type is recommended as a good start.
• You need pages of articles and information.
• You already have written content for of these already. We will write the rest for you.

Housekeeping pages

• There are certain pages that are considered standard across all websites. They include housekeeping or mandatory details like legal and privacy statements, as well as credibility pages like testimonials (comments from your customers) and an About Us page. Lastly there are links to other sites and a sitemap, both of which help raise your search engine visibility. These pages are added automatically to your site spec. If there are any that you would specifically like removed contact us directly. This won't affect the price.
• If you have your own written content, what is the source?
• Who is responsible for final approval?
• Who is responsible for providing the content you have and keeping it updated?
• Would you like a new logo designed for you?
  Yes
  No
• Your website will meet the W3C standards and WAI standard recommendations. This means your website will be easier to use for people using different browsers or blind visitors. You are entitled to display the icons to show this, although you don't have to. Your website will meet the standards regardless, but displaying the icons (like the ones at the bottom of this page) shows your visitors that you have taken the trouble to make sure no one is left out, and increases your professionalism and credibility.
  Would you like to display these icons?
  Yes
  No

Your marketing

• What are your short term marketing goals? (the next 12 months)
• How do you expect your website to help towards those goals?
• Do you have a marketing strategy to promote this site?
  Yes
  No
• If yes, please give a brief outline:
• If no, would you like to discuss this further with one of our qualified consultants?
  Yes
  No
• What methods of promoting your new website already exist in your organisation?

Project management

• What is your target launch date?
• What are the reasons for choosing that date?
• Is your domain name: (check one)
  Already registered
  Picked out but not bought yet
  Don't know
• What is your domain name?
• Does it help your budget to phase the website build over time?
  Yes
  No
• Any other comments or notes