New Website: What to Bring To The Table
Author: Kat Fitzsimmons+
Ready to talk new website. Great! The sooner you can get the web development process started the better. This process will help you visualize and plan your business too.
First, What Kind of Business Are You
- Do you sell products? --------- Platform type: eComm, Information / blog site
- Do you provide a service? ---- Platform type: Information / blog site
- Are you a writer? --------------- Platform type: Information / blog site
- Are you a nonprofit? ----------- Any of the above site
- Is this a personal site? --------- Non commercial site
- Do you want to share? --------- Social media sites
Branding Your Business -- Logo Creation
Having a Logo is imperative. If you don't have one and you need help with ideas and graphics (most people do). Please let me know and I can provide ideas and mockups to help you develop this long-lasting identity.
Creating a logo needs to begin right away. The logo creation process can continue while the other pieces are falling into place. It takes some time to bring a logo to life that really resonates. This process helps develop the look and feel of your website as well. Gather Critical Information
There are aspects of building a website that is standard. The more information you have available when you are ready to begin, the easier and faster the website build will go.
- Name of your business
- Physical address of your business
- Mailing address if different
- Registered Domain Name. (I am available to help advise on domain selection)
- Images, videos, and their associated accounts.
- Business Goals: clearly identify your business goals.
- Content for an About Us page. This page should be about the company. If you would like to introduce yourself and or your family on a more personal level; that's great, it brings credibility to your business. However, talking about your business comes first. The same goes for employees. Although, it's not imperative that you talk about your employees.
- Contact page info: business phone, email (to be created), business hours.
- Service Page info: this may be more than one page if you have many services. Content & images of each service are necessary.
- FAQ Page info: FAQ pages are very useful for persons visiting your website and they save you time from having to answer questions directly with the visitor. Create a list of the most common questions and add to this list going forward.
- Products info: when selling products, content about products is necessary:
- Product images (2 - 5)
- Product descriptions
- Preferred gateway or merchant service provider
- Warranty & Return page info: this applies to selling products and services. This is required by Google and further validates your business.
- Shipping page info: provide clear information about the carriers you use, packaging, damaged goods, countries that you ship to.
- Social Media accounts. What social media accounts do you already use? Have page domains and login info ready.
- Advocacy efforts or group associations. Do you support the community in any way? Are you apart of community groups or activities. This information helps people understand who they are working with and builds credibility.
Be Ready For Building a New Website
The more information you have before beginning the website construction process the faster and easier the build will go. Do yourself and your business a favor and get ready.
