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How To Plan and Get Price Quotes For Your Organization’s Website Design or Redesign: A Checklist
Posted in: Blog, Free Quote, Prices & Rates, Resources, Web Designers by admin on October 17, 2009
How To Plan and Get Price Quotes For Your Organization’s Website Design or Redesign: A Checklist
All websites should be in a constant process of being redesigned or renovated. Whether you’ll be developing your website in-house or going out and getting estimates for your website design from local web design companies, this web design guide provides some helpful planning tips for designing or redesigning your business, non-profit or personal website.
1. EVALUATE YOUR EXISTING WEBSITE
Determine the successes and failures of your existing website? Get opinions from people in your company or your circle of friends. Explore design, ease of use, etc. Find out what’s working and what could be improved. Write down three successes of your website and three failures or things that need to be changed. Then write down your goals and dreams for your new web site.
2. BRAINSTORM NEW IDEAS
Discover new elements or features that are missing from you present website or from your plans for a brand new website. Brainstorm with others and write down five to ten new ideas. If you’re getting estimates from or hiring a web design companies ask them for ideas as well.
3. RESEARCH WHAT PEOPLE ARE DOING WHEN THEY VISIT YOUR WEBSITE
Explore why people are presently coming to your website. If you don’t have a statistics / analytics tracking system with your web host, have one recommended to you by a web development or internet marketing company that specializes in website statistics. Google offers a good, free website analytics system. Once you’ve researched why people are coming to your website, record those reasons and write three new reasons why you’d like people to come to your website. Maybe that would be to purchase products, to sign up for your email newsletter, to learn about your company or organization, etc.
4. DO YOU HAVE A STRONG WEBSITE DESIGN?
Assess whether your website visually memorable. Does it have any WOW factor when a person first sees it? Does it accurately represent your company or organizations industry, brand, coloring or desired feel. Write down 3-5 words or phrases that describe the design, style colors, or feeling you’d like your new website to portray. Provide these details when you are getting website design quotes.
5. WHAT ARE YOUR COMPETITORS DOING?
Learn from your competitor’s websites. Is your present or desired site on par or better than your competitor’s sites? If not, why not? Your site needs to look up to date and open for business 24/7. It can’t look empty and abandoned. Are your competitors sites coming up in search engines when you do searches for your business or industry? If so, you’re going to need to invest in search engine marketing and/or keyword marketing. Contact an Internet marketing company. Ask for examples and results of websites they’ve promoted online and check those results yourself.
6. TARGET AUDIENCE
Clarify exactly your target audience? Is your website just for you and your staff, or is it for potential customers looking for your organization’s information, products, services or something else? Determine the target of your site and make all decisions based on reaching that targeted website user. Then try to determine the needs of that target audience so you can design your website to meet those needs. List 3-5 needs and write a description of your ideal website visitor including age, sex, location, hobbies, activities, education, income, etc.
7. WEBSITE CONTENT
The content on your website is likely the main reason why most people come to your site. It’s certainly one of the main reasons why your website will or will not appear in search engines for particular search phrases. Go through all of your content. Is it outdated? Does your content meet the needs of your website’s target audience? Plan to add new content to your website, whether it be photos or text, every month, if possible. Your written content should be short in a font size that is easily readable.
8. TRUST AND CREDIBILITY
Does your website build trust with it’s users? Do you have a clearly visible website privacy statement? Does your site appear active and update and professional enough to build confidence in your website visitors about your organization? Does your website mirror the values and quality that you strive for in your business or organization? It should. Consider how you can increase the sense of trust and quality each website visitor experiences on your website. Also make a list of people, companies, products or organizations you can associate your website with to further add trust and credibility to your website.
9. COMPONENTS
Is your website taking advantage of interactive options such as forums, polls, discussion forums, live customer service chat, email response forms, interactive maps or graphs, animations? Consider how these and other interactive options you’ve seen on other websites you like could be of benefit to you on your website.
10. HIRE THE RIGHT PEOPLE TO DESIGN OR REDESIGN YOUR WEBSITE
Determine whether you have the in-house resources to keep up with technology and changing Internet trends to take on your website design or redesign project. If not, take the time to get a number of website design estimates from local and national web design companies. Save time and get free website design estimates by using a web design broker company to get multiple website design estimates from different web design companies delivered to you for no cost. Pick a web design company not just based on price, but rather one with the right mix of talent, experience, and passion for the job.
Your website’s success, your business success, or your organizations success can often depend on the quality of your website and online communication strategy. Think through every aspect of your website design, it’s content and marketing — and hire experts to help make your organization stand out from the competition and help guide you through the process.
