Questions you should ask about your web site
If you are looking to create a new website or reinvent an existing but under performing website, the list below will help you focus on some important aspects and bring clarity to your site.
- What is your business (be concise)?
- What does your web site do for your business?
- Who are your customers and how well do you know them?
- What do your customers want from your web site?
- How often will you need to update your site and how do you want to do that?
- How do you market your web site?
- What related web sites will link to yours (colleagues, professional associations, etc..)?
- What technologies and services does your web site need (downloadable content, accept payments, blog, bulletin board, etc…)?
- What do you want your site to look like (make a list of other sites you like)?
After answering these questions, a knowledgeable web designer/developer should be able to help identify whether you need a traditional ‘static’ site, or a CMS (Content Management System), or a blog, or some combination of these.
Some of these answers will help you think about whether to use traditional forms of marketing, or if social media might be a good solution.
The most important goal of these questions is start looking at your website objectively, from the perspective of a potential client or user. To create a successful site that resonates, learn to look at it from the outside in like a user/client rather than from the inside out like an owner.