Here you are, poised to take audience engagement to the next level. Your business or organization is ready to choose a web design partner (like Full Windsor) to build a full website. You want to be as prepared as possible for this process to ensure quality proposals that speak to your organizational requirements.
So what do you do first?
Before you begin a full website build, your team should first discuss some vital questions (thanks to Dan Mall for the inspo) and share the answers with potential partners. For Part One of this series, we looked at [10 General and Strategy Questions to Prepare for a Full Website Build]. Part Two below covers Content and Features.
8 Content + Features Questions to Prepare for a Full Website Build
1. What key pages would you like on your website? What do you want your visitors to do on each page?
The ultimate goal of anyone visiting your website is to quickly find, send, or otherwise interact with information. Create a list of pages or a site outline to help define the structure of your website, organize important information, and provide clear paths for navigation. Identifying what you want visitors to do or learn on each page improves user experience (UX) and establishes a hierarchy of content.
2. Will you need help producing content, such as photos, videos and copy?
The answer to this question helps both you and your potential web development partner better define the scope of the project. If the team needs to schedule a photoshoot or hire a copywriter, both the timeline and budget are affected.
3. Do you have a preference on using a page builder vs. custom fields to manage content?
A page builder allows content editors more control over not only what content is displayed on the page but the structure and design as well. Custom fields provide only the fields a content editor needs to build a specific page and nothing more. To help know when to use custom fields, identify who in the organization will likely make changes and how often. If maintaining consistency across the site is a concern, custom fields may be your best choice.
4. What are the top features you want your website to have? Explain their ideal functions.
A website can accomplish a lot, but it shouldn’t try to accomplish everything possible. Narrow in on the interactive features your website must have, such as a calendar, live chat, maps, store finder, site search, social integration, or payment. Consider which features are must-haves and which are nice-to-haves.
5. Are there any integrations your website will need with other business software? If so, please explain.
If your website needs to communicate with business software, such as Quickbooks, Hubspot, MailChimp, Constant Contact, or Keap, it will require an API integration. For similar reasons to the question above, make a list of must-have integrations your site needs to interact with. Your website partner can then connect the APIs with your website using the method that’s right for your requirements and budget.
6. Do visitors require a login area for your site?
Consider if visitors to your website will need a place to login to see special pages or secure content. There are several ways to accomplish this; WordPress even comes with a user registration tool that allows visitors to log in to an account to view information or interact on an intranet.
7. What are 1-3 websites you admire and would like to emulate? Explain why.
Analyzing other websites, including competitors, helps you define your website’s features and personality. Explaining to your web partner what you love and what you want to avoid gives them a clear understanding of your target audience, how to positively affect visitors, and the motivations behind your goals.
8. What are your design and design process requirements?
One of the hardest, yet most important, conversations is around design. It can be difficult to articulate what you want, what design elements are required, and how the design is executed. In fact, one of the biggest differences in price between different website design agencies is how much time is devoted to design. Here are 9 design questions to consider before your website build.
A successful website starts by asking the right questions. Let us guide you through a better site build experience.