We can meet or talk on the phone to discuss your project and go through these questions and answers together. I’ll take notes and write down information.
We’ll need to do the following:
- Get an operational overview of your business
- Help develop an online strategy and course of action
- Get all facts and figures and other pertinent information
I’ll use a document that looks something like this:
Ilkeston Web Design Client Questionnaire (PDF)
1. Study client & job specificities
Let’s get together and discuss what you want. We can meet for a coffee or talk over the phone while we do an online screen share.Β
You’ll be able to tell me what your plans are and bounce any ideas around.
2. Appraisal of existing website, IT systems
You might not have a website just yet, or maybe you do, or did, or don’t know how to proceed with the new one.
Many small businesses and self-employed people are at least using email (Google, Yahoo, Hotmail and all the others) or are trying to use Facebook but find the algorithm changes annoying (“we’re getting zero reach!” is an increasingly common concern.)
Let’s talk about what you’ve done so far.
3. Check competition
It’s unlikely you’re the only one selling what you sell, whether it’s a product or service. Competition is a sign of a healthy market, although if you’re ploughing a very particular furrow you may find you’re the only one operating within your niche.
We would discuss you competitors, what they’re doing well and what they’re not doing well. This includes:
- Looking at their website and see what other websites are linking to it
- Trawling search engines to see what webpages they have indexed
- Examining social media for any mentions of them
- Checking their reputation and reviews
There are lots of free online tools available for real-time monitoring of your competitors. Give Talkwalker Alerts a go if you want to monitor mentions of particular keywords used online, such as on forums or in news articles.
4. Define site goals and overall strategy
Assuming a website is the way to go for you, it’ll be important to have goals and strategies.
What you don’t want to do is throw up one of those boring “brochure” style websites that have little content on it.
Pictures of you addΒ personality.Β So do videos and audio. Sound scary? We’re in the social media age now and you must build trust, rapport, familiarity, reputation and visibility.
5. Legal obligations, data privacy, risk assessment
The Data Protection Act 1998 requires every data controller (eg organisation, sole trader) who is processing personal information to register with the ICO, unless they are exempt. Over half a million organisations are currently registered.
Most of the time, the legal requirement to register was ignored, and data protection obligations were flouted.
GDPR has now come into force and is an upgrade to the DPA.Β
Once you’re registered, it’s strongly advised that you display your registration number in the footer of your website.
If you’re not sure if you need to register with the ICO, you can take the ICO’s quick self-assessment to find out.
I’ll give you a tip: the definition of “processing” is putting a person’s personal data into an electronic format. If you’re sending and receiving emails, taking online payments etc, this is processing.
ICO registration isn’t that expensive, although the cost is annual.
If you run several Companies, you’d need to register separately for each of them with the ICO.
If you’re a sole trader, you register once and this covers all your business activities.
New Website Guide
Menu
ποΈ Preparation
βοΈ Quote Submission
βοΈ Planning
π° Layout
ποΈ Content Preparation
𧩠Content Integration
π Design
πͺ Technical and Usability
βοΈ Functionalities