How to get the website you want

As the owner of a business, you have your specialist areas of knowledge, and your web design team have a great knowledge and understanding of how to make great websites. It can be all too easy to feel overwhelmed by your web design team’s abilities and skills, but that could lead to a website that doesn’t perform in exactly the way you want it to. Good communication is a key element in achieving the website you hope for.

Know What You Want
You might not have a great understanding of websites, but you certainly do know what makes your products or services attractive to consumers. Picture yourself as one of your own customers, and make an effort to understand what he or she wants to achieve from visiting your website. It can be helpful to have a look at competitors’ websites to see their approach, but don’t ask your web designers to make a copy of a competitor’s site – it’s not ethical and probably not legal either.

Write It Down
It can be all too easy to forget an important point if it’s not written down in black and white, so make notes and refer to them to make sure you’ve got all bases covered. Web designers aren’t mind readers, and they can only design a site based on the information that you provide, so make sure you give them good instructions that are clear and understandable.

Ask Questions
Web designers can sometimes forget that the rest of us don’t know the ins and outs of their profession. They might use some unfamiliar terminology, so if you don’t understand something, say so. And keep saying it until you do understand. It could save a lot of time and expense if you are clear about your knowledge – or lack of it – at an early stage. Don’t ever be embarrassed to speak up and express any doubts you might have. Remember that you are paying them to build your website.

Provide Clear Information
If you have a picture in your mind of how you would like your site to look, then draw sketches to show your design team. Decide on colours and themes as early as you can, as no designer wants to be faced with a host of changes once the work has been done. Be prepared to hand over photographs, written copy and sketches to back up your ideas and give the designers a firm foundation to work on. Web designers can only work within the framework which you supply, so make sure you provide as much information as you can at the outset.