For a website project to be successful from start to finish, the client has a very important part to play. A website designer is responsible for the way a site looks and functions. Clients are responsible for the content visitors will be reading.
Websites are an important function of marketing. It’s also your website. You know your business better than your web designer does, no matter the amount of time we spend on the project.
Quality work takes time.
Providing your web designer with great content will help them create a better site that brings great results.
Know Your Business & Your Goals
Your website is a flexible communications tool. It is quite often the first point of contact between your business and your customers.
You know your business better than anyone. Sharing your knowledge will provide your web designer with a great perspective to work from.
- Who are your best customers?
- What makes these customers so valuable?
Don’t forget the reason you’re building a site in the first place.
- Is the end goal of your website about making sales? Do you have products you could sell on your website?
- If sales are not the goal of your site, determine what is. Are you promoting events, asking for donations, or promoting new services?
Branding: Logo, Color Scheme, and Mission
It’s important that your website reflects the brand you have established for your business.
- Logo: You will need to provide your web designer with a high quality digital file of your logo.
- Color Scheme: If you know the Pantone colors used in your logo, provide those as well. Otherwise, a preferred color scheme will be helpful.
- Mission Statement: Include a short statement of the purpose of your business, whether it’s a mission statement or a tagline you use in advertising.
- Fonts: Do you use a specific font for your logo and marketing pieces? Let your designer know so they can match text in headers as closely as possible.
Text Content for Your Web Pages
As a rule, the client provides website text content for the website. It’s important for you to know what your website is going to say so you can provide that content to your web developer.
Plan ahead and start writing the copy you need for your website.
Your web designer can help finesse your content with the right keywords and key phrases for search engines. This will help people find your website in a search on Google.
After all, we want people to find your website when they are searching for your services or products.
Your New Website
In the end, it’s important to remember that we’re working toward the same thing.
We both want to get your site up and running as quickly as possible.
The real goal, however, is to make sure your new website provides:
- A great first impression
- Valuable content people need
- Good usability for site visitors
Most importantly, we need to turn all those new website visitors into customers!