It’s essential that your website works well for you. The Internet is an extremely competitive place, so you need to make sure that your web presence stands out, and does what you need it to. Web design companies, such as Quikclicks, know how important it is to get your web content right. They appreciate the value of having conversations with clients, to make sure they are on the right track and that the websites they design are as the client envisaged.

The aim of this article is to provide useful information to anyone who is thinking of having a website created. It’s an insight into the conversation web designers have with clients, and what they need you to tell them if you ask them to design a website for you.

How much money do you have to spend?

We are starting with this point because budget is always important when it comes to website design. You do have the option of designing your own website, using a content management system such as WordPress. The problem with this is that it’s time consuming for you, and you often do not end up with an impressive website that looks professional.

It’s worth investing in having your website designed professionally, but you need to be realistic about the cost. You should ask the design company to explain the cost of the design you need, and advise whether your budget is large enough. They can provide suggestions about how to fit the design to your budget, where possible.

What is the website for?

This is the major question you have to ask yourself, when it comes to creating your online presence. Websites that are intended to act as an online store are designed in a very different way to those that are intended to act as a knowledge store. The more you tell the web designer about the purpose of your website, the better they are able to put their expertise and knowledge to use designing a site that is fit for purpose.

Who is going to use the website?

Customer personas are an important part of the marketing journey for any business. Once you have created your customer personas you are all set to start attracting customers to your brand, using this information. This is the type of data the people designing your website need, in order to create a website that appeals to the right demographic for your brand or organisation.

What does your competitors’ web presence look like?

Web designers do not need you to conduct extensive research into the websites of your competitors; but they do need vital information. They need you to tell them who your competitors are. If you are running a business, you should probably have this information. They need to know who your competitors are so that they can do some investigative work.

Part of the design process is to see what is out there already, when it comes to web design for businesses in the industry you belong to. This is not so that designs can be copied; it’s so that web designers can see what your competitors are providing for the customer, so that they know where to come from with your site design.

What about content?

You cannot fail to have noticed that content is a major consideration, when it comes to creating and maintaining a successful web presence. If you do not provide engaging, accurate, informative and well-written content, people are not going to remain on your website, and they certainly will not make a return visit.

You will also lose out on search engine rankings, as Google’s algorithm takes quality of content into account.  You cannot afford for this to happen. Web design professionals can advise you about the type of content that is best suited to your needs.

You can see why web designers need all of this information from the people who hire them. They want to design a website that achieves its goal. They can also help on an on-going basis, with updating and management of websites. This helps to take the pressure off business owners and managers, who can spend more time on other important aspects of business life.