10 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER BEFORE BUILDING YOUR WEBSITE

March 21, 2023

Finally, you have settled all your obligations and you are ready to make your next step by taking your business online.

But what does your business really need? Are you able to ask for something the users will happily interact? Or you will just throw your money away, by letting other people choose what is best for you?

If you are a business owner, that wants to build a website and does not know where to start, this is the article for you.

Here are the 10 questions a business owner should answer before building a website:

1) What type of website does the business need?
Nowadays, there are many types of businesses and this creates a need of different types of websites.

One of the most common is the e-commerce website, where businesses have to manage an online shop and sell products online. Most of retailers work like that and make most of their revenue from online sales.

On the other hand, many businesses decide to make an informative website for them to have an online presence. In that way, they are able to advertise their products, create online authority and persuade the users that their products are the best.

An other type of website, which is lately being used for Search Engine Optimising (SEO) reasons, is the blog. A blog can be integrated to an existing website, in order to help the website rise to google platforms, or separately by individuals who want to write articles.

Also, a trend that has risen lately, is the personal portfolio websites, like the one that i own. These websites are very good for people that want to promote their personal work or make a statement online.

2) What is the style of the business?
This question refers to the feeling, we want, the customers to experience when they navigate through the ranks of our website.

We can make our website formal, funky or atistic. Telling the developer the vibe we want to pass can really help with the development, we as business owners want.

3) Does the business have the photos needed (products or premises)?
Every single website on the web uses pictures. It is an integral part of the web that is needed, to make a website successful.

The first method of resolving a problem like this, is, by hiring a professional photographer that understands what a website needs. Luckily for you, i have the right person for this job in my team.

The other option is, by getting the help of a web designer who is able to 3d design your product and make the best photos out of it. Also, in this case i have the perfect person for the job.

4) What are the selling points of the business?
This is the part where the businesses should be in a position to provide information that will convert regular users to clients. In a common way we need the "essence" of the selling products to display it to the website.

The content should be easily readable, have catchy lines, be comprehensive and easy to understand by all users. This is not an easy task and many times the use of a script writer is needed, to help with the conversion of the normal text to a value rich text.

5) What kind of features are needed?
The characteristics of a website can make it really interesting or really boring for the users. Ideally a user should be intrigued by your business website, but, this is not going to happen if you make a static, one page, non interactive web page.

Users want a little bit of fun, and you can help them by putting some interesting features to your website.

Besides english, add other languages to your website with the multi language package. In that way, your website can serve people from different nationalities, that are interested in your product. Also, your website seems more professional with this feature.

Ask for a database integration and make your website dynamic if you want to be able to have an account and make quick changes to the database. Insert, delete, make changes and view your products live with this option rather than doing it hardcoded. Time is money and this feature can save you some.

Give life to your website by making it animated. With this option the website becomes more interactive and pleasing to the eyes of the users. They will definitely appreciate it and visit it again.

Make your website responsive on all devices and surfaces. This option is a must in recent websites as users browse to the web from all of their devices and expect the best quality possible.

Help your SEO rise with blog posts regarding your business, as users always have questions that need to be answered by someone. Be that someone and they will trust you.

A latest trend in website features is the dark mode, big companies like meta have integrated a light/dark theme option, in which users can change the background color. A fun option that is always helpful for people with reading disabilities.

6) What kind of websites does the owner like?
Having a paradigm is always welcome for developers. If you are a business owner, do your research, browse to other websites and list things you like and things you don't. Show the developer your list and explain your vision.

Together you can decide on the features that will be included and the outcome will be great.

7) What is the sitemap of the new website?
This is a question many business owners won't understand, and may need guidance by the developers.

A sitemap is map that is made of all the different pages that are included and are linked through the website.

This map can guide developers through the building of the project and help them produce the best outcome possible. Also, this map will help reduce the changes of the final project.

8) When do you plan to launch the website?
This is a very important question that will define the timeframe of the construction and the pricing of the project. Time is really essential in this kind of jobs and we should be able to know in advance. Also have in mind, that a short timeframe will cost more than a looser approach. If you want to know more about costs click here.

In that way we are able to prioritize things and programme our schedule in a way to favour our needs.

9) What should we put regarding branding?
Branding is a crucial part for businesses when they go online. Everything should be on point, from logos to materials that should be matched with the website (printed brochures, press releases, leaflets, catalogs, etc.).

First of all, our website should be pleasing to the eye. The aesthetic quality should be on point, this takes into account the colourways, the font, the strategical placement of photos and other decorative elements. In that way the user should be able to trust the website with ease.

Next in line is the brand identity. Every business needs a good logo, and illustrating one is one of the most important tasks. In that way users are able to recognize the businesses products and services.

10) What is the budget?
One of the most crucial questions that can change all the specifications of the website, is the budget.

Depending on the budget, the developer is able to spend more time than expected or spend less, to meet the cuts. Most of the times in life what you give is what you get. If you want to know how the budget is affected by a series of events click here.