By Forrest Smith - Drempd.com
When beginning a website project, it’s essential to learn as much as I can about the business, their goals, and their clientele. It’s an ongoing process throughout the lief of the project, but when I first meet a new client, I like to make sure I get the answers to a few foundational questions:
- Can you provide a general overview of the service or product you’re providing?
- What specific services/products do you provide?
- How large is your service area? (Can you provide products and services across the US, the world, or is this a local service?)
- What is the goal of your website? What action do you want your website visitors to take?
- Describe your target customer (gender, age, income level, business type, etc…)
- What’s important to your customers? What are they looking for in your product or service?
- What fears or hesitations may a customer/client have that would keep them from taking the next steps?
- Who are your competitors?
- What makes you different than your competitors?
- If you were a customer that would be interested in your product or service, what search terms would you enter into Google to either directly find it, or to stumble upon it?
- Are there any specific website features that you would like added to the site?
- Will your website allow purchases for your product or service?
- Do you have any existing brand elements (logos, colors)?
- Do you have any existing photos you would like me to work with?
- What types of information will your contact form need to have?
- Will there need to be any other forms for website visitors to fill out (such as get a quote, request additional information)? If so, what will this form be about and what information will we need to collect?
- Do you already have a domain name for this website?
- Do you already have website hosting for this website (such as dreamhost, godaddy, etc…)?
- Are there websites that you like or think would work well for inspiration for your website?
- How will you judge if the website is a success?