Our business needs a new website built- what information will your web design agency need?

Introduction

Sure, there’s a lot of Cardiff web design company’s out there to choose from, so as a business, well your going to be spoilt for choice.

So, when your business needs a brand new CMS website, or a website redesign, well there’s a lot of different businesses to choose from.

Cardiff web designers

There’s agencies based all across Cardiff, from Cardiff Bay right through to Roath- yet with that said, well this doesn’t help a business that’s planning on having their website built, that’s to say the business owners may well be wondering well, what does my web designer need from me?

The business may well be thinking is there anything that we can get ready, so that we can speed up the entire web design process?

And the answer to that question, is yes- there’s often a lot the business can do to help us at CF24 to design your website in a much shorter space of time.

We say this as with most websites that we build, we have to put a hold on building some sites, for sometimes a few days, or sometimes weeks, while we wait to hear back from the client with the content marketing or the images for the company’s website

So, if a business is requiring a website to built ultra-quickly, here’s the information our web developers and web designers will need from you:

·        Content marketing- that’s the text for the website

·        Images- your web designer should specify how many are needed, and how many for each page, for example they may need “head shots” of each staff member for the about us page

·        Content management system- which CMS does your business want to use? WordPress, Joomla or another CMS?

Look and feel

Have you got a good idea of how you would like the website to look?

It really doesn’t matter if you scribbled a few ideas down on a piece of paper, or on the other hand you have a much more detailed specification written out for how you would like your company website to look- every bit of information on how you would like your site to look will help our web designers.

We say this because what can often happen with whichever web design company you do choose is unless everything is specified, it can mean that the web design does not turnout how the customer had hoped.

For example, if the web design agency just notes down a few requirements over the phone, and that’s the only communication you have with the web developer, then the website may not include everything your business needs.

So sure you don’t want to be having detailed conversations with the web developer about HTML, Javascript and PHP, yet with that said a very clear and detailed conversation needs to be had so that the web designer can understand exactly how you would like your site to look, often this means meeting with your web developers for a few hours.

Your web developer may then ask the following:  

·        Which hex codes and colour scheme do you want to use?

·        How would you like the homepage to look?

·        Do you require a separate mobile version of the website to be built?

·        Which CMS do you want us to build the website in?

·        How many pages?

·        Have you written down a site map, that’s how the menu should work?

·        Have you already got the content marketing written?

Competitors

Some businesses that call our web design agency wont have a clue how they would like their website to look, in which case, we always recommend evaluating say 10 businesses that are your direct competitors, then pick which aspects of their website that you like, for example, do you like how the menu works on one website?

How the mobile version of the website looks on another, and perhaps the colour scheme another business has used?

Then our web designers can note down these points, then start building wireframes using HTML and CSS to build the website.

Wireframes quite simply provide a rough outline of what the site will look like, its kind of like building a floorplan and architects drawings for a house you want to build, sure the drawings are not going to look anything like the finished house, yet they will give you a good idea of what the house will look like.

This is the same for when your web designer builds wireframes for your new CMS website, they should provide you with a good idea of what the site will look like when finished, yet without the web developer writing all of the code, such as the HTML and PHP for the website.

Who’s going to write the content?

Often a business will require over 1000 words, even for the most basic of websites, if you are planning on selling many products then sometimes the business will need upwards of 10,000 words written, and this can obviously take a lot of time.

So, this is where the business may also hire us to write the content.

If our copywriters were to write the text, then this can often speed up the entire web design process.

Yet, if your business wants to write the text, often this will keep the cost of the website down, then if the website is to be built quickly the web designer will need the text preferably before they start to build your company’s website.

The reason being is when they are designing the site, they can add the text straightaway, where if they are left waiting for the client to write the text, it can be hard to ensure that the text fits the website, and to alter the design so that the text is placed in way that it compliments the design, and doesn’t look as though there’s massive blocks of text.

Functionality

Does your businesses website require any special functionality, for example, do you require the website to take bookings from customers, where for example they book a meeting with a solicitor, and the website takes a booking fee?

Or perhaps the website generates an e-ticket for a concert?

If your business requires any special functionality, then you should note down all the features that your business requires, such as an AMP version of the website, so that our team can provide you with an accurate cost.

Is your business based here in Cardiff?

If your business is based here in Cardiff, then you can meet us, and this often speeds up the web design process, that’s because often going back and fore in e-mails will take a lot of time.

So often businesses owners will meet us, that’s to discuss how they would like there company’s website to look, plus also if the business requires SEO, we would need to work closely with your business to understand which keywords our business is to focus on improving.

AMP

Does your business require an AMP version of the website to be built?

Responsive?

Does your business require a mobile version of the website to be built?

CMS

Which CMS does your business require, for example a lot of businesses contact CF24 and state that they want a new website, or a website redesign and for the business to be built using WordPress.

Some other businesses instead want a Joomla website built.

How many pages, have you got a sitemap?

This would really help our web designers, that is if your business was to create a sitemap, this could be on paper.

All we would need to know is how the main menu should work, for example, on the homepage, how should the menu work?

How many pages are required?

If your going to sell products, how are the products going to be grouped, so for example, lets say you sell shoes, should they be grouped men’s formal shoes, trainers, casual shoes?

Timescales

What sort of timescale have our web designers got to work with, if the website needs to go live by a certain date, we would need to know this right at the start, when we are offering a quote, that’s to ensure that we can meet that deadline.

Point of contact

Sometimes in a business there will be a few people e-mailing regarding how the website should look, for example the manager of the marketing department, the business owner, and sometimes the teams that run each area of your business, for example, lets say if your website is for a law practice, then the employment law team may well e-mail us.

However, sometimes its far better to have a single point of contact, as what can sometimes happen is there is conflicting views on how the website should look, this can slow the web design process down, so sometimes its better to have a single point of contact, so that our web designers know exactly how the website should look, and they can build that part of the site.

This is as opposed to the web designers building part of the site, yet then having to redo it as there might have been an internal business decision to change how the website should look at the last minute, this can sometimes increase the cost of building the website, as more hours will be required.

Wireframes

Once our web designers have a really good idea of how the website should look, they can start to build wireframes using HTML, CSS and we can then e-mail over to you a backlink so your business can have a look to see if we are on the right lines when building your website.

How we can help:

If your business requires a new website, then why not give us a ring?