The Ultimate Website Checklist
Photo by Corinne Kutz on Unsplash
When you’re embarking on something as big and as exciting as a new website for your business, you want to make sure it’s done perfectly, right? The best way to ensure a great outcome is to make sure you have your ducks lined up in a row before you start and be aware of what is needed both before, during and after the website process so you can get maximum bang for your bucks.
While a good web designer will do everything in their power to ensure a great, smooth process and an amazing end result, we are nothing without your knowledge and input which is needed the whole way through the process - because really, let's face it - who knows your business better than YOU.
Want to know more? Let's walk through it together. Phase by phase.
Phase 1: Getting brief ready.
When you’re in that first phase of your website build, everything is shiny, new and exciting. Make the most of that excitement and lay a solid foundation for the rest of your project by thinking about these key website elements:
Your end goal. Be verrrrrry clear about what you’re hoping to achieve with this website. What do you want it to do? Is it a lead generator? Will those leads come via the phone or email? Perhaps you’d prefer to educate your audience with clear, concise information about your service. Are you wanting people to join your mailing list? If so, think about putting together an informative, value-adding lead magnet to drop in their inbox. Whatever your intention, these different goals will send your website designer off on a very different path and you really want to be sure it’s the right one.
Your target audience. Now, if you’ve worked on your business branding, you know exactly who your ideal customer is. And your site needs to be built especially for them. If you consider your target to be young, single men who love Formula 1, you’ll end up with an entirely contradictory website to the one which targets young families who are looking for sustainable house products. And that’s a good thing!
Your content. And yes, this includes your visual content too. Because you know what the end goal of your site is, you’ll know which content is the most important for your audience to read. Knowing this will guide you on where you’ll position each bit of information or image to get the most impact and how you want your products and services to be set up. A critical learning for you as you approach your new website build is, nothing holds up the project like waiting for the words and images you’re adding to your pages. For this reason, it is super important that you get your content sorted FIRST.
Your features. This can include things like, your call to actions, domain name, navigation, social media buttons. Each of these crucial elements come together to provide that all-too-important user experience which dictates how long people stay on your site and how much they enjoy their time there.
Your SEO. Spending time planning out your SEO will be worth every single second. The decisions you make here will determine how likely your target audience are to find your website in relevant searches AND how easy it is for the search engines to find what they need from your site. Because, creating a beautiful website without SEO is kinda like sticking a Victoria’s Secret billboard out in the middle of the desert.
Your branding. To be honest, here at TDO, we think you’d be silly to even consider building a website without first establishing your business branding! When you’ve mapped out your brand, you’ll breeze through all the decisions about images, colours, logos, icons and fonts. In fact, if you’ve really mapped out your branding, you’ll have a style guide you can hand to your website designer which will handle those decisions for you.
The basics. As we mentioned earlier, we’re laying the foundation for a super smooth website build so you gotta have all the basics sorted to make this happen. Think about things like, are you going for a whole new site or simply a redesign of your existing website? How much money do you have to spend? All these elements will guide your designer, and avoid unnecessary back and forth down the track.
Phase 2: In the works.
Now that your web designer is hard at work, it’s your chance to sit back and wait for them to be done, right? WRONG!!!
Yes, it’s true that your fabulous designer will be doing most of the legwork in this stage, there are things you should be aware of to keep your site ticking over:
Be available. Perhaps you and your designer can have a set time each day, or week where you can catch up or respond to questions. Whatever you decide between you, be sure to have time for quick communication and feedback so that it’s not you holding up the project.
Be aware. This is after all, your business’ website, so you’d want to be ready with your input. As I mentioned above, it’s a good idea to have time set aside to review designs and thoroughly check the staging site before it’s launched. Catching errors at this stage is much easier to manage than when you’ve sent all your customers, family and friends to check out your brand new business website.
Be prompt. You know when you’re all motivated to clean the house but you don’t have the cleaning product you need or you get stuck cleaning out *that* drawer and suddenly you’ve lost the urge? That’s pretty much what it’s like being a web designer waiting for feedback. Our latest piece of blood, sweat and tears have been sent out and we’re feeling passionate and energised. Then it takes days or even weeks to hear back and we’ve lost that momentum we’d worked so hard to build.
Phase 3: Go live!!
It’s really happened. Your beautiful new website is up on the worldwide web!! So now what do you do??
Splash yourself, your site and that awesome lead magnet you put together across all the places! Post a story on Insta, share it on FB, make a creative TikTok. Wherever your target audience is, tell them about your amazing new site.
Either online or IRL, look for businesses who share your beliefs and find ways to support each other. You could consider writing a blog, doing a joint live or offering to be a podcast guest. Each of these options are mutually beneficial and a great way to bring new people to your site.
Creating a new website for your business is a huge undertaking and not something you want to go into without the right preparation and organisation.
Which is where we come in!
Get in touch to find out more about creating an unforgettable brand or website for your business. Schedule in a complimentary 15 minute call with Zoë to see if you would be a good fit together.
You can schedule in your chat here.
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