6 Important Questions to Ask Before Taking on a Web Design Project

The preparatory work you do at the start of a website project, including the questions that you ask before you even agree to take on that project or client, will have a dramatic effect on the outcome of the engagement.

So, the next time you receive a call or email from a prospective client looking to hire you to design their next website, be sure to ask the 6 important questions to help determine what the right solution is for their project and whether or not it is a fit for you.

1. What are your business goals for the website?

While you certainly want the website you design to look great, you must also understand what actual business goals your potential client is trying to achieve.

They may be looking to increase awareness for their products or services, drive membership, encourage donations, boost online sales or something else entirely.

Regardless of what their goals for the website may be, your job as the designer is to help them accomplish that goal and also to give them a great looking new website.

Understanding a client’s business goals will not only help you establish whether the project is a fit for you, it will also help you determine the design decisions you make should you take on that project, since every aspect of a website’s design should be keenly focused on the bigger picture of that company’s goals for the website.

2. Who is your audience and what are their needs for the website?

Websites are meant to be used by people, so a clear understanding of who will be using the website and what they are hoping to accomplish on that website is another key piece of information you will need before you begin website work.

Coupled with the company’s goals, the needs of the website’s audience are the two factors that should be an undercurrent in every design decision you make on a website.

3. Who will keep the website updated in the future and how do they plan to do so?

For a website to be successful long into the future, it must be updated with fresh content regularly – whether this is with new products, articles, press releases or some other kind of content. The key here is that someone needs to be responsible for those updates and you need to know who that is before you begin working.

If a client wants you to be responsible for future updates to the website, that is something you need to negotiate up front, so both you and the client know what to expect from those future updates, in terms of cost and turnaround time.

If a client wants to take control of a website’s updates themselves, and many clients do want to take on this responsibility so that they are not dependent on anyone else, then you need to be sure that any solution you deploy for their website is one that they can manage without needing to learn website coding. A website that has CMS (content management system) capabilities is going to be your best bet to meet client update needs.

4. What features do you need in your website?

The complexity of a website is almost entirely driven by the features a company needs on their website. Basic informational websites are much easier to design and deploy that websites that have advanced features, like e-commerce capabilities.

Before you determine pricing on a website, and whether or not you have the experience required for a project, you must determine which features that website will need. So one thing you can do when you have a project that requires advanced features is to find a platform that already includes those features.

5. What is the timeline for this project?

Every client wants their project completed as quickly as possible, but you need to have a realistic understanding of when they need their project done by. You can then determine whether that is even possible with the amount of work they need accomplish and also whether you have the availability on your calendar to take on this project and deliver it in the specified amount of time.

A project’s timeline can also help you determine how you approach it. If a project has a very generous timeline, you may be able to spend some extra time exploring numerous design options and experimenting with some different approaches.

If the timeline is very compressed, however, you may decide that you are better off starting with an existing framework and customising from there and significantly decrease the overall time needed to take a website from concept to completion.

6. What is the budget for this project?

Many potential clients will be reluctant to tell you what their budget is, but you need to ask this question and press for the answer.

What a client can spend will absolutely determine how much time you can spend on a project or whether you can take it at all and see a profit. You may not enjoy talking about money (many people do not), but it is a critical conversation that you must have.

Think about buying a new home. If you contact a real estate agent, one of the first things they will ask you is how much you can spend on that property. They do not do this so they can force you to spend as much as possible. They do this so they know what types of homes they should be showing you. If you tell them you have $300k to spend, they will not show you million dollar properties because you cannot afford them.

On the flip side, if you have a million to spend, they will stay away from $300k homes because they will not be what you are looking for.

This same principle applies to websites. You need to understand what a company can spend so you can establish what solution will best meet their needs at that price point.

In summary

The more information you have at the start of a project, the better decisions you will be able to make, including whether or not you want to take on that project in the first place.

Before you get too excited about the possibility of a new client, step back and ask them the questions covered in this article, so you have the answers you need to move forward the right way and with the correct plan of action.

SOURCE: Lost & Taken