SmallBizResource Blog -- Business Know-How

26 Considerations Before You Whip Out A Website

Posted by Janet Attard, Courtesy of Business Know-How Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009, 09:36 AM ET

Whether you want a small Website with just a few pages of text or one more complex, you can keep costs down and get your Website up and running quickly if you take the time to define the purpose and scope of the project before you look for a Web developer.

Answering the questions that follow will help you accomplish that first, critical step in your Website project, and will truly get your thinking about what you want to accomplish.

1. Who do you want to use the Web site? (i.e., retail customers, distributors, clients for your service business or profession?)

2. What purpose(s) will the Website serve? Do you simply want prospects and customers to see your phone number and call you as a result? Do you want to capture any leads (names, addresses, phone numbers) online? Will you sell any products or services directly from the Website? Do you need to deliver downloadable products? Write down everything you want to accomplish, then arrange your list in order of priority.

3. What capabilities (ordering, database, audio, video, etc.) will you need?

4. If you'll be selling products online, then will you want the shopping cart to have cross-sell and upsell capabilities (to get people to add to their orders or buy a higher-priced item?)

5. How many different types of items will you sell in on your ecommerce site?

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6. Do you have a merchant account that will let you accept credit cards online? (If you have a merchant account for your bricks and mortar store, you need to check with the provider -- you may need a different account to sell online.)

7. Will items you sell come in various sizes and colors?

8. How often will you want to update the Website?

9. Who will do the updates?

10. Will the company that builds the Website need to design it as well as set up the pages on the Web?

11. Do you have an existing logo that needs to be incorporated into the Website design? If so, do you have the original graphics you can provide to the Web developer?

12. Do you have color needs or preferences for the Website?

13. What kinds of Website design are attractive to you? (Make a list of Websites URLs you've visited and find appealing from a design point of view.)

14. Will you want to capture Website visitors' names to send them email in the future?

15. Who will write the copy that appears on the pages on your site?

16. Is the copy available now? If not, when will it be written and approved?

17. What graphics (photos or drawings) will need to be on the site?

18. Where will those graphics come from?

19. How will you market the Website to get visitors to the Website?

20. Who will do the marketing?

21. What is your budget for marketing the Web site?

22. What will it cost to update the site?

23. Will you have to hire employees before you can make the Website live? If so, then when will those people be hired?

24. How will you measure the success of your Website?

25. How much money are you budgeting for Website development?

26. By what date do you want the Website finished and turned live on the Web?

Write down the answers to all of these questions, being as specific as possible. Doing so will help you see and schedule tasks you'll need to perform yourself or outsource.

When you are ready to seek price quotes, incorporate the information (but leave out the exact dollar amount of your budget for the site) into your request for quotes. This will ensure you provide the same information to all developers, so they're all bidding on the same project and incorporating the same features in the bids they prepare for you.

Any other points you'd add to the list? Let us know in the Comments field below.

Business Know-How

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