Whether you are designing a website by yourself or getting a web designer to handle the task, some preparation is needed before getting started. And that preparation ultimately determines how good your website will be.
In this post, Today, I will share seven good tips on what to have ready when you get a new website made by a web designer.
01. Name and domain
If you do not already have a name for your business and secured the domain, it is an excellent idea to do it now. Although a website can be well-designed without knowing the name of the company and the domain name, it makes a lot of sense to handle this as one of the first things.
You can buy and register a domain at namesilo.com without purchasing web hosting. You can always buy hosting for your website later.
If you plan to buy WordPress optimized hosting, don’t forget to read another article where I compared the best WordPress hosting.
02. Logo
I often find that the company logo is downgraded. And it isn’t delightful. A well-executed logo can do a lot for your business but also the tone of your website.
If you already have a logo, make sure your web designer gets the files for this, preferably in quality as possible and without background.
If you do not have a logo, many skilled graphic designers can help you to design it. I want to recommend Fiverr.com, where many professional visual artists can design an outstanding logo for your business.
03. Make a requirements specification.
A requirements specification is a list of the features you want on the website. It looks like below:
- Contact form
- Subscribe to newsletter
- Integration with Google Analytics
- Must be designed in WordPress
- Blog page
For larger websites, it will often be necessary to deepen this list a little more. But for smaller business websites, you can settle for a shorter list.
If in doubt, you can always discuss this with your web designer. Maybe there is a good feature that you have not even thought about.
04. Create a Sitemap
A sitemap is a file that contains website pages in a list. Its look like this:
- Home page
- Services
- Performance 1
- Performance 2
- About
- Contact us
A sitemap is essential for a website because it provides an overview of the website. It also makes it easier both when writing content for your website and when building the website. A sitemap is also essential for website SEO optimization.
05. Content
When a website needs to be designed, we build it around the subpages and the text content from our customers. If we do not get texts, we can not deliver a finished result. Therefore, you must have this ready for your web designer.
If you don’t know how to write the content yourself, you can pay for it. You can hire many professional copywriters from Fiverr.com for your business and write some excellent content for your readers.
If you want to hire a Content writing agency instead freelancer, then I will recommend checking ASOChef.com. At ASO Chef, you will get SEO-optimized and business growth-focused content for your website within your budget.
06. Design
If the website is to be made by a web designer, there is a limit to how much you have to do at this point. But if you want an influence on how the website should look, you can do so by submitting links to websites where all or part of the design appeals to you. It helps the web designer to see which direction you want to go in.
If there are specific colours you would like to use (or avoid), then it is also essential to report this to the web designer.
07. Pictures
When designing your website, it is an excellent idea to use relevant images. If you do not have pictures yourself, you can find good pictures on Adobe Stock or Shutterstock. And in most cases, your web designer can help with the practicalities.
If you have your photos, they must be of good quality. It is better to send them to your web designer in a higher quality than necessary, and then you can always make them smaller. If you are in doubt about whether your images are large enough, ask your web designer.
New website with good planning
As you can read, there is a lot of planning for creating a new website. It is up to you how much you want to deliver yourself and how much you want to impose on your web designer.
But in any case, good planning and communication are the way forward when creating a new website.
If you need help with the next step in your business journey, I, along with my colleagues, can help you get the website you dream of. Contact Appbuff to discuss more what we can offer.