Building a website? 5 things to do before you start
Building a website? 5 things to do before you start.
So you are thinking you want to build a new website for your business.
There are several things you can do now before you take the technical plunge down the website building rabbit hole. There are so many things to think about as you begin this endeavor.
What are your goals?
Who are your clients?
Do you need professional photos?
How will you describe what you do or sell?
What do you love on other websites?
Pondering on these things now will help you really focus on what is important to you and your business. Working out all of these details now will get you organized by having all your content ready to go when the time is right.
So let’s get to the nitty-gritty details shall we:
1| Get specific about your website goals
Coming up with your goals may or may not be difficult. Think about what is the purpose of your site or what do you want people to do? Some typical goals may include:
Increase sales
Becoming an authoritative resource
Improve interaction with existing and potential customers
Build your brand
Build your email list
This is not an exhaustive list by any means, but I hope you get the idea. Write down all the goals you may have, then narrow start to narrow them down.
First, select the top three goals you have right now. From these determine your number one goal for your new site.
This clarity will really help when you begin writing out all the website copy.
2| Get to know your ideal client
It is so important to distinguish between your own preferences and those of your ideal client. To clarify this ask yourself the following questions?
Who do you want to work with the most?
Who is most likely to buy your artwork?
Get specific here. The more details and insight you have the better!
If you are your ideal client, this step will be easier for you. If you are not your ideal client, get to know them. If you don’t know anyone that fits, ask your friends if they could think of someone that fits your ideal client profile.
Then get to know them better by doing a quick and informal interview with them. Ask them anything you can think of that might pertain to your business goals.
You may want to ask:
What do you love? (to do)?
Where do you shop?
What are your favorite brands?
Where do you love to eat?
What do you want to learn?
What are their biggest fears?
What are their biggest obstacles?
Where do they spend their time on social media?
Select the questions you think are relative to your business and add a few more. Interview a few people and compare their answers looking for similarities.
Tip: pay close attention to the words they use, study how they speak so when you’re writing your website copy you can write in a similar style, one that speaks directly to them.
3 | Get your photos together
Ahhh, Photos. They can be beautiful right! They can also be downright awful. High-quality photos may just be one of the most important design factors on your website and also the most time-consuming to gather, organize, and optimize. It is common for a five-page website to have over 50 images. Granted you may have more or less but I believe 10 images per page is a good average to shoot for. Obviously, the more robust your site or your store the more images you will need. You will also need to consider the different types of images you may need:
Banner Images: 1-3 per page. Must be a high-quality large horizontal image.
Additional Images: 1-10 per page. Both horizontal and vertical images.
Product Images: A minimum of 1-3 per product. People really like to see items from different perspectives.
Blog Images: A good rule of thumb is to have at least 1 per blog. I also follow a few that may have upwards of 20 images per post.
On top of actual photographs you may also want the following brand items:
Logo: 1-5 renditions
Favicon: 1
Solid Color & Pattern Images: 3 Brand Colors or Patterns Images to use alternatively with Banner Images to define sections on your website.
Tip: If you will be needing professional brand or product photography, start looking into it now. It may take a few weeks or months to find the right photographer for your business, then a few more weeks or months to book a session, and up to another month for editing and final photo files to arrive. This is something you definitely want to start as soon as possible to have everything all set when you begin your new website design.
4 | Write out descriptions for your products and/or services
Another potentially easy thing to get off your to-do list is writing out descriptions for your products and/or services. I find the easiest way to do this is to make a bullet list of things I want to mention or things your clients must know about. These may be as short or long as you’d like. For my website design service packages I describe all the things you will get:
Custom Website Design Package:
Up to 8 standard web pages
Customized and fully responsive site
Portfolio with up to 40 gallery images
Blog functionality with up to 8 formatted posts
E-commerce with up to 8 products
20% Discount on your 1st month or year of Squarespace
1 year free Google workspace domain email
2-hour training
2-week post-launch support
Custom Brand Design Package:
Brand Discovery Guide
1 Logo Concept with up to 3 revisions
2 Supporting Logo Marks
Custom & Secondary Color Palettes
Typography Recommendations
3 Custom Patterns
6 Icons
Ultimate Brand Guidelines
Tip: For your creative products be sure to include the medium and dimensions.
For a menu item, including the main elements, especially any potential allergen, but you don’t necessarily need to list off every ingredient in the dish.
For a digital product, make sure that it is very clear it is a downloadable PDF, for example, and they will not be receiving any physical item.
5 | Create a Pinterest Idea Board
A great way to communicate your/your ideal client’s visual preferences is by creating a Pinterest inspiration board. This will communicate the visual elements you would like to have on your new website. How it will look and feel.
Any images, websites, or items that you love and would like to be considered for the visual design will need to be included here. Pin a variety of things that your ideal client would love: lifestyle, artwork, architecture, landscapes, pictures, or simply logos, graphics, fonts, patterns, colors, and textures.
Additionally, look at websites you love and pin things on specific layouts, featured items, colors, and fonts. Really anything that will help to present the style and business vibe you want to create! Just make a quick note of specifically what you like for each pin.
Tip: Remember to always think from your ideal client's point of view when considering your design!
If you're not a Pinterest guru you may want to give it a try anyway. It really is a great way to capture visuals.
But if Pinterest is a no-go for you may want to make a physical idea board with the same info listed above. At the very least, create a document and list out what you love with the link where you found it!
Whew! That should be enough to get you going. We covered a lot of ground. I hope all of this information makes your journey much more organized and easy to get started. So to recap:
Setting your goals and getting to know your ideal client will ensure your website design will be on point.
Getting photos taken and put in order will elevate the look of your site and add cohesiveness to your branding.
Writing your product and/or services descriptions will streamline the buildout of your site.
Finally, collecting design ideas into a Pinterest or idea board will give you or your designer a great direction and starting point when you begin to build out your website.
What else do you think is super important to do before you start building a website? Have you started building your own site already? What do you wish you would have done before you started?
Building a new website?
5 things to do before you start
Need help getting organized and inspired to build a new website?
This quick guide will get you started!
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Hej! Thanks for stopping in! Sisu Site Shop is an online business strategy + custom brand and web design studio. We sell Squarespace 7.1 templates, offer VIP Days for brand + web design + Dubsado setups for small businesses including Artists, Educators, and Hospitality Professionals. We serve clients worldwide from our current home base in Montana. We help you start, organize, and modernize your business, brand, and website so that you can sell, serve, and stand out online. If you have a project in mind we’d love to learn more about it!
When you’re ready here are three ways we can help you:
Template Shop & Semi-Custom Website Design: Our custom Squarespace 7.1 templates provide a professionally designed foundation for you to build upon and customize! You can even upgrade to a semi-custom service and we’ll customize the template with your brand and photos.
Online Business VIP Day: Our Online Business Intensive can help you create a strategy, build a simple website, or knock out admin to-dos!
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