Kleinburg Brewery
- design
- / web
As a website designer or developer, your goal in this business is to ensure your clients ends up with a site they love, and one that performs the specific functions they require for their business. But in order to ensure the delivery of an optimized website, a few critical questions should be asked first before any designing or coding starts.
Here are a few questions you should ask.
1. What’s the Purpose of Your Website?
Every business’s website has a purpose, or at least it should have one. And it’s this specific purpose that should be taken into consideration when designing a website in order to ensure it will attract the intended audience. For instance, let’s say the client’s target audience is not exactly sophisticated or savvy when it comes to navigating the web. In this case, a highly complex design will only confuse them and send them packing.
For web designers and developers, it might be necessary to ask a bunch of questions first in order to arrive at the answer to this question. It’s important to get a clear indication of exactly what the purpose of the site is. Not only will this help create the ideal website, it will also cut down on the workload in terms of plugins and theme selections.
2. What Do You Want Your Users to Do on Your Site?
The next question you need to ask your client is what they want visitors to do once they’ve landed on the site. Maybe it’s to opt-in to an email subscription, or perhaps it’s to purchase an e-book. Regardless of what the goal is, it’s important to hash these details out at the forefront before the nitty gritty of site development and design begins.
The real reason for asking such an important question is that you can have a clear and concise discussion about the various options before any code has been embedded in the site. You’ll also be able to determine the type of tracking and analysis that will be needed to reach these specific goals.
3. What is Your Specific Budget?
It’s not exactly the question that web developers and designers like to ask their clients – much like any other type of business professional. But it’s an important question nonetheless. Many clients will want the moon and stars, but they can’t necessarily afford it. That’s why it’s important to find out what their specific budget is before starting any web designing and coding.
A little negotiating might be in order, but it’s a potentially complicated area to tip toe around. Be prepared for vague answers, as many clients probably didn’t even take the time to figure out what this important number is. Be sure to have all of your design and development prices figured out in advance so that you can easily communicate your prices for specific services ahead of time, rather than having to commit to costs that won’t be paid for.
The ideal clients you want to work with won’t have a problem talking about budget, since they’ll associate the overall project to the value of their business.
4. Do You Have Any Experience With WordPress?
The reason why you should be asking this question is because you want to be able to find out what level of experience and skill the conversation matter should involve. For an experienced WordPress user, for instance, it’s OK to use more complicated terms about the platform. For more novice users, on the other hand, all your talk about plugins and CSS will sound like a foreign language to your client.
Knowing the answer to this question will also help you determine the costs related to training the client on his or her new site. If the client wants to maintain the site on his own, he’ll need some training if he’s new to WordPress, which will take time and cost the client money.
5. Are There Any Websites Out There That Have Your Shared Vision?
It can be tough for clients to verbalize their vision in a way that you’ll understand. So if there are a few other sites out there that they want to mimic in some sort of way, it can help communicate more clearly what the client is after. Having a look at these sites will help you gain a better understanding of what the client wants. Ask the client why those websites in particular are attractive to them. Remember, the more information and details you can get out of your client, the better.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to creating the ideal project for clients, communication is key. Hammering out a few details at the get-go is crucial before beginning any web design or development project.