30 Questions You Must Ask Before Designing a New Website

If you haven’t updated your website in a few years, you’re probably due for an upgrade. Before you jump right in and throw a bunch of trendy designs into a new website, there are some pretty deep questions you need to ask yourself. Ready? Let’s get started.

1.     Why do you need a new website?

2.     What are the goals of the website?

3.     How quickly do you want to reach those goals?

Without direction, you’ll end up with a jumbled mess. We don’t just mean a timeline, either. You must know what you want your website to do. How will it serve your customers? How will it support and convey your brand message?

4.     What is your unique selling proposition?

5.     Who are your top competitors?

6.     How will your site differ from those of your competitors?

7.     How will you visually and verbally share your brand message?

Understanding your brand is a big deal. Without a thorough breakdown of your brand standards before a redesign, you could confuse your customers. Confused buyers will go to your competitors every time.

8.     What is your web development budget?

9.     What is your budget for improvements after launch?

10.   How will you market your site?

Nothing is worse than getting halfway through a website redesign and having to abandon due to lack of funds. Before you get started on anything, make sure you can afford to see the project through to the end. Just remember that “the end” never really comes. You’ll always need improvements and marketing of your site to remain relevant to your buyers.

11.   Will you require specific logins for users?

12.   Should visitors be able to leave comments or product/service reviews?

13.   Would you like to offer social sharing options?

14.   Will you need a search engine within your site?

15.   What information should be visible on every page?

These questions are important for the functionality of your website. You should know exactly how users would interact with your content from the beginning so as not to slow down or halt the design and development process.

16.   Will users make purchases through your website?

17.   Do you know what level of security you will need?

18.   Will you gather data about your users?

19.   Will all employees have access to the back end functions of the website?

Recent data breaches show we should never be cavalier about our customers’ personal or financial information. You should have plans in place for the strictest of security. And yes, that security should extend to your employees.

20.   Do you already use Google Analytics?

21.   Which pages already received the most traffic?

22.   Does your traffic come from paid or organic sources?

23.   How much of your traffic comes from mobile devices?

Understanding where your audience lives online is a great way to build a site they’ll love and use often. Tracking where your traffic comes from and how they arrive at your site is the best way to ensure that flow is never interrupted and, instead, is encouraged to grow. Also, if you’re not focused on mobile friendly upgrades, start thinking about them right now.

24.   What is your current bounce rate?

25.   How long do users stay on your site?

26.   How long does the site take to load?

You want to correct past mistakes and bring your site into a new era, right? That means understanding where your website has failed in the past. Knowing how long people stay on your site and why they leave is an important part of moving forward.

27.   Will you manage your own site after it launches?

28.   Should someone be trained to add content in the future?

29.   What will your finished, polished website look like?

30.   Who will approve the finished, polished website?

These are questions anyone planning a website relaunch needs to ask. As we dig deeper into your wants and needs, even more questions will arise. The end goal is, of course, a website you’ll love. More important, however, is a website your customers will love. We want to help you achieve that. Want to know how? It’s your turn to ask the questions, so give us a call.