How to prepare for a new website.
What you should do before approaching a Website Design Agency
Thinking about getting your website redesigned? A new website might seem like a daunting process, but our experienced team will be there to guide you through the whole project from start to finish.
Project basics
We start the project off with an initial meeting to find out what exactly you’re after and what platform it would work on best for your business. We then send you an initial form to fill out to answer a few questions about how you want your website. These vary from questions about style and design to functionality and business goals.
Then comes the design process. The design team will take a look at your answers from the questionnaire and create initial concepts from these. Once finished, our project management team will send over you the designs and you can give feedback on these. The design will be developed to your vision and then once you give the go-ahead will be coded by the development team.
Finally, you have a new customised, stunning website.
Before starting a project there are a few things you should think about first:
1. Budget
What is your budget? Before approaching a digital, or web design agency you need to think about how much you are willing to pay for your site. Set an estimated budget that you are thinking of paying before approaching an agency, but make sure this budget is realistic as this will reflect the quality.
2. Team
Who is going to update your content and look after your website? Do you have an internal team for this or will you want an external agency to do this? Updating a website with fresh, relevant and good quality content will take time. Therefore, you will need to dedicate this area of work to someone.
3. Strategy
Next, you need to think about your business objectives. What are your perceived strengths and weaknesses in the marketplace? By looking into your company and your unique selling points you will be able to see how you stand out from your competitors and the differences, you can then use this to your advantage.
What is the most important thing you can say to your audience? The design team can then help you in communicating this. You should take a look at your current website and the things you like, and dislike about it. This can provide a strong base for the start of your project, by using the positives and getting rid of the negatives. You should also look into your competitor’s sites and elements you like and dislike from these. You can then use this to create a better site leading to more conversions.
4. User Experience
You need to think about how you want your audience to use your website and the flow of it. The fewer times a user has to click through, the more likely you are to get a conversion. Have a think about who is your site’s target market and audience and how they are likely to use your site. What do you want your visitors to do when visiting your site? Then research websites that you like the functionality and user experience of and take elements that will work for you.
5. Creative & Content
The design process will start with research into your company and sector, from this the design team will design a homepage which they feel will fit into your sector and promote your business. You’ll need to have a think about a few things first before the designers can begin.
Is there an existing brand or messaging guidelines the website should be consistent with? The best way to keep your brand consistent throughout everything is by having brand guidelines, so you are using the same colours, logo and other elements. Do you like the colours and imagery used in your current site design? If not a rebrand should be considered before starting your new website project.
6. SEO
If you want your website to perform well the easiest thing to do is to add a blog or news page. This will keep your content refreshed and you can target keywords. You will need to maintain your content quality to keep ranking on search engines. Don’t forget about your meta description! Your meta description and title can be the deciding factor on whether people click on your page. Before writing your content, you need to think about what search terms you want to rank for. Think about what key phrases you want to be found from, optimise every page and post for an individual specific phrase, but you shouldn’t use a keyphrase on more than one page.
Not sure where to start? You need to do keyword research. Start your keyword research by determining your business goals. From this make a list of keywords that relate to your business and target audience. Analyse your competition, what keywords are being searched for them to be found? From these elements create a keyword strategy. You need to keep creating great content for your users that they can engage in. After you’ve created your keyword strategy, you will know exactly what topics you will want to write about.
If you need help with your new website project or any other digital services. We have offices based in Welshpool and Chester and will be happy to assist you.