Essential Questions You Must Prepare For Your Web Developer
In 2015, having a website for your business is as critical as having wired electricity, unless of course, you’re a fisherman! If you’ve been through the process, you’ll know all too well that creating a website is never as straightforward as you first anticipated. For the layman, there’s no way around it, you have to place your unbridled trust in your chosen web development professional to deliver the best, most cost-effective solution they can.
Checking out other websites in your field of operation and getting recommendations are a great way to start your search for a developer who is worthy of shaping your company’s online presence. Beyond that, we’ve pulled together these three key topics that all small business owners and managers should be aware of before opening dialogue with an experienced web developer.
1. Objectives: What do you want your website to do for your business?
There are two fundamental questions you must ask yourself before embarking on a web venture and you must continually revert to these questions throughout the entire development process.
- What do I want my website to do for my business?
- What do I need my website to do for my customers?
Sounds simple doesn’t it? But it’s all too easy to lose focus when you get caught up in an exciting and unfamiliar territory, weighing up colours, designs, domain names, i.e or .com… what about .company?! Formulating the all-important to-do list can be exciting and distracting in equal measures.
To address the first question, consider the type of business you are. You’ll probably find that you need your website to do one or more of the following to help you achieve your overall business objectives;
- Sell products or services online
- Have a booking function for your services
- Attract enquiries for your products or services
- Provide directions to your brick-and-mortar store
- Educate, inform, persuade and inspire potential customers to form an interest in your products or services
- Provide relevant news or blog updates relevant to your industry and your target customer base
“Your new website doesn’t have to be the Swiss army knife of websites. Just decide what you want it to do for your business. The simpler the better,” says web developer Brian Durney.
While understanding yourself is important, understanding your customers is vital.
Durney, who has designed and built websites for Irish organisations across a variety of industries emphasises the importance of understanding the customer before anything else;
“Always do some initial investigative work to gain a better understanding of your visitors’ needs and requirements. ‘Why are people coming to my website?’ is the most important question to start with. Maybe you need a simple static page to help people find your business or maybe you need a full online shop, but knowing what you want before approaching a designer is the key to success.”
Investing the time and effort into understanding how your site aligns with achieving your business objectives and how your site will satisfy your customers’ needs will stand you in good stead for the development process ahead.
2. User Experience: Always Think Mobile
The shift to mobile hit a landmark in 2015 when Google confirmed that more searches are now taking place on mobile devices than on desktop. It’s official; when it comes to your website, you really do need to think mobile-first.
However, this is not to say we can now forget about the desktop versions of our sites. As the Wall Street Journal recently highlighted; mobile is growing, but not at the expense of desktop. In fact searches from desktop are remaining very steady. Searches from mobile are in fact, at the expense of ‘free time’.
Having a basic understanding of these search trends, means you can begin to talk to your web developer about how your website will perform both on mobile and on desktop. You may be presented with a few different options.
Responsive Web Design
This involves the development of one site, but it’s content will be optimised so that it is clear and user-friendly regardless of whether it is viewed on a mobile, desktop, tablet or ‘phablet’.
Dedicated Mobile Site
This is a separate build to your desktop site. The content for the mobile site and the desktop site can be edited separately. If you decide that the mobile experience needs to be quite different to the desktop experience, this might be the option for you.
Mobile App
If your business relies heavily on mobile interaction and requires a user to take lots of incremental actions, a mobile app might be worth considering. For instance, consider mobile banking and the gulf in user experience between the mobile version of the website and the mobile app. The business case for the provision of a mobile app, in this instance, is a logical one.
If being found on Google search is an important function that you want your website to perform for your business, your best option will most likely be Responsive Web Design. Creating a great user experience regardless of device, whilst keeping your content and your HTML code consistent, is the most search engine friendly approach.
3. Take Control: Content Management System
Even if your site is a simple brochure-style website for information purposes only, a static site that doesn’t change from one end of the year to the next can’t be expected to perform very well for you. It’s a warning sign to search engines that this is an out of date, neglected site, and it’s a warning sign to visitors of exactly the same thing.
Ensure you understand and utilise a Content Management System (CMS)
The answer to this problem is to make sure that your web developer knows from the outset that you want your website to have a Content Management System (CMS).
“Gone are the days when you had to call your designer or developer every time you wanted to update an image on your site or add a new page”, enthuses Brian Durney. “With the introduction of Content Management Systems you can now quickly add a page, news article or blog post to your site when your business needs it.”
Enabling the client to update their own website is always Durney’s goal when starting a new website project. However, this may not necessarily be the case for all developers. Before signing on the dotted line with your chosen developer, make sure that a user-friendly CMS will be included.
Make a Content Plan
Once you have the capability to update your site regularly, use it! Having a plan for regularly updating and adding new content will be essential to the long-term health and performance of your website. Often the easiest way to ensure this is to commit to writing a blog or news section on your site and update it regularly with meaningful, engaging content which can then be used as a natural platform towards reaching vast audiences through social media.
So, to summarise what’s required before embarking on a potentially life-changing path towards a brighter and better future for your business, ensure you’re well prepared when you enter negotiations with a web developer by sticking to these simple principles;
- Know your objectives
- Think mobile
- Be prepared to take control
With these three pillars supporting you, you can feel confident in your communications with your web developer and get your website working for your business from day one.
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