Getting a New Website Done, or an Upgrade of an Existing Site?

First and Foremost, Don't Make Your Website Designer "Guess" at What You're Trying to Do and / or Hope to Accomplish.

This leads to lots of frustration for everyone, and it takes longer to get your website done. Not to mention, it may or may not be quite the website you wanted done.

Whether or not you decide to have TheMillCreek.net create, design, develop and get your website done, listed below are some things you should seriously consider, before getting your site done.

What is your business’s name?

Your business name is important when considering domain names. It helps with SEO if your business name contains keywords related to your trade/business.

Please briefly describe your business, what services you offer, how and where you operate and who your customers are.

We need to know about your business to build a website for it. Each service you offer will typically have it’s own page(s) on your website. It is also helpful to know what your unique selling points are and why potential customers should choose you over your competitors.

Describe how you currently advertise/attract new customers.

A new website is a fantastic advertising tool in its self, but it will also compliment and be complimented by any other advertising you do. Understanding your current advertising will help us know where we are pitching your website.

Do you have a logo and/or established image and branding guidelines e.g. fonts, color schemes etc.?

A consistent image is important for a business. If you already have a logo and style then these will inform the design of your website. If you do not then they will need to be designed as part of the web design process.

Please list your top (up to 5) competitors (and their websites if applicable)

With knowledge of your competitors and their websites we can identify niches in the market for your website to exploit and ensure that where it does compete head-to-head it has the advantage.

Please briefly explain why you want a new or redesign of an existing website and how it will benefit your business.

A website can serve any of several purposes and fulfill a multitude of functions depending on the nature of your business and what it offers. We need to know what the aim of your website will be built it to achieve its goals.

What is your budget for your new website?

Budgets can be a sensitive area and we respect that costs should be kept as low as possible while achieving what is required. However, an idea of budget will enable us to steer you towards the most appropriate type of website for your business.

What is your deadline for getting the new website live?

This gives us a target to work towards and helps us prioritize our work.

If you were looking for your business in a search engine (e.g. Google) what words/phrases would you search for?

Identifying the right key words and phrases is important as these will form the basis of the search engine optimization of your website. We use SEO to get your site to come up near the top of the search results for your chosen keywords to help your customers find your website. Let us know the most important words and phrases (in order).

TheMillCreek.net offers a keyword research service where we identify the most appropriate words and phrases for the SEO of your website based upon actual search data.

Do you have a domain name in mind or already registered?

A domain name is important for several reasons. It should be short, memorable and both easy to type and say. It should also be relevant to your business name and the services you offer.

Many of our clients already have a domain name registered, but for those who don’t, TheMillCreek.net offers a domain name research and registration service to help you secure the best domain for your website.

Do you already have an idea of what you want your website to look like - can you provide images/examples?

If you have any design ideas or general guidelines/pointers you want us to follow or even a completed website layout design, you want to use then we would be happy to base the design of your website around them.

Please let us know 5 websites that you like (or would like your website to look something like).

It is helpful to know what sort of websites you like and what you like about them so that we can ensure that we design you a website that you will also like.

What different web pages do you want to have on your site and what unique features do you want to include on these pages?

This is possibly the most important question in determining the nature of your website. We need details of each page and the key points of information and functionality that they will cover and as much detail as possible - e.g. if you want an image gallery then state (roughly) how many images, categories etc. and how you want it to function and give examples.

Are you able to provide all the content (text and images etc.) for the different pages of your site?

Normally our clients are responsible for delivering all content for the pages of their website including headings, text, images (and other media) etc. and we would ideally not start work on a website until this had been provided. We would then perform a degree of SEO on the content as we add it to the website.

TheMillCreek.net offers a complete website copy writing service for clients who are not sure what they want to say or how to say it.

Are you able to provide us with high quality images to be used on your website and do you have permission to use these images?

The more fantastic images of your business and the services it provides the better from a web design point of view. These images need to be high quality to get the best out of them on your website.

TheMillCreek.net has access to thousands of stock to capture the right images for your website.

Do you want to include any links/feeds from social networking sites?

Social Networking is an important way of generating interest in your business, connecting with its customers and driving traffic to your website. Having a feed on your website can act as a news stream and link website visitors with a way to get in touch.

Do you want us to setup any social networking pages for you?

TheMillCreek.net offers a complete social media design service for Facebook and Twitter. We get your pages setup and ready to go so that you can concentrate on dealing will all the new customers you will have. We can also setup blogs too.

Do you want to include share/like buttons for the popular social networking pages on each page of your site?

Social bookmarks are a powerful tool in marketing your website by allowing 1 click linking to your site for your visitors.

Please detail anything that you specifically do not want to have on your website.

This can help ensure we only design what you want for your website.

How often will your site be updated?

Websites are programmed in html and other coding and are not normally updated by their owners.

TheMillCreek.net offers a complete website maintenance and updating service for all our web design clients. We will make any updates that you require for your website.

Please list any email addresses you want us to setup with your website and indicate which one(s) to publish on the website and use for any contact forms etc.

When transferring email accounts that are already in use there can be a delay of up to 48 hours before everything is up and running so we normally like to keep the original service running as well in this time and forward emails to a third party email provider for a few days to ensure no email is lost.