The most successful web sites integrate into and enhance the operation of your enterprise. They can be many things from an electronic business card and brochure all the way to a living entity that establishes and maintains relationships with your customers and clients. Site design and development can be totally turnkey or we can integrate content you create or purchase from copyright holders. You must insure that any content you provide doesn't infringe on others' copyrights. To generate a comprehensive proposal we need the following information and questions answered.
We need a basic understanding of how your business operates, the sales channels you use and your overall business goals. This is regardless of the design and structure of the web site which will be the ultimate deliverable of this project. The web site will be in concert with these facts but may have a specific purpose within your overall business strategy and operation. We could say your business has an overall mission and the web site may serve a specific purpose in support of that mission. For example, one of my clients is a movie producer and director. The specific purpose of the last web site we built was to acquire new screenplays. This purpose was best met with a web site focused on that goal alone.
A series of questions follows. In part they are precursors to optional functionality that is well handled with an on-line web presence. You need not be concerned about how these things are accomplished. At this stage just consider the business and marketing functions they relate to. I apologize if any tech speak has blurred the meanings. We can discuss these questions at length and I'll answer any questions you might have.
For this project who will be our primary contact at your enterprise? That person should be responsible for items you agree to provide and acquiring approvals as required while developing the site concept and implementation.
What is your branding and associated imagery e.g. logos? The variability of video displays and browsers prevents us from matching logo requirements regarding image size and exact colors.
What content background (written, graphics, photographs, brochures, user manuals and etc.) do you have? It will be helpful for us to review those. Parts of this information may serve as site content.
What site content will are you equipped to generate?
Do you have a unique sales proposition that can be expressed in 30 seconds? Frequently this type of a statement is a focus that ties to everything in the site. Contextually meaningful beats content volume every time. Content that works best in a web site may differ from that you'd use in a brochure or other printed document.
Are there any specific calls to action?
What characteristics are common to your customer base?
Do you have competitors that have web sites?
Could you identify a few web sites that you really like and perhaps a few that you don't? They need not be competitors or in a similar business.
Do you have an existing web site and domain name? Even if you do, additional domain names linking to the same or different parts of your site may be beneficial.
We can use your existing web site hosting account or arrange for web site hosting. If you've arranged for hosting we will need the account ID, password and FTP address.
Do you have a visual theme, look, ambiance, emotion or colors in mind? For example a lighthouse sunrise image was used for a life coaching site. Colors from the image were used for the background, graphics design and site buttons.
At a minimum a site provides an electronic business card enterprise brochure and contact vehicle. We need to determine what else it should provide for your enterprise and goals.
Do you wish to establish someone in your enterprise as an industry expert?
Do you wish to interact with customers?
Do you wish to provide support or help for the use of your products? This might even be a map of your location, operating hours or basic terms and conditions.
What and how many products do you wish to inform the public about?
Do you wish to sell products on-line? A commercial bank account and relationship with credit card processing checkout would be required. We can arrange for on-line credit card processing that deposits directly into your business account.
Do you want to give users the option to register for announcements or newsletters?
Do you have an existing customer data base to pre-register customers with?
We should consider a "living site strategy" with a plan for ongoing site updates so that visitors have a reason to return to the site frequently. An example is what's on sale or special this week. Regular site changes encourage visitors to keep coming back to the site.
Do you wish to do a press release to announce the site?
How about a mass electronic mailing to announce your new site?
How about a visitor enticement strategy? This might be the download of an electronic document. For example a How To document or other item of interest.
What is your referring site link strategy? It isn't necessary but can be a good source of site visitors you otherwise might never attract. For comparison, about 70% of the traffic on Fragos Tech comes from links in other sites. This would be an activity in addition to site development.
Do you wish us to create a site map, register and verify your site with Google?
Do you wish to do statistical monitoring of site activity or do you wish us to provide regular monitoring, link testing and reporting?