If you’re thinking of approaching a web designer to build you a website there is some information you can research before the first consultation to give the designer a good start. Part of a web designers job is to explain and offer advice on aspects of the web design process. However there is lots of information that can be researched before approaching a web design company.

1. Research your competitors and industry sites

Researching your competitors websites and industry related websites will give you a good idea and information on what others are doing and how to out-do them when you design your website. look at the website features, layout, design, navigation and goals, then try to think about how you can improve upon them for your own website. Its sometimes a good idea to write a list of things you don’t like and things you like about particular websites. This will give the web designer a good idea of exactly how to start on your project

2. What Are Your Goals

What are you trying to achieve with your site. Specify a goal, preferably in one short sentence. All the time you will have to remember: only if you clearly understand what you need you will be able to explain this to web Design Company. The goal could be you want to sell products, gain newsletter sign-ups or simply just provide information. Have a careful think about what you want your website to do for you and when you explain this to your web designer it will help them come up with a design and function that will compliment your goal.

3. Write Your Content

One thing that seems obvious is provide your web designer with as much content as possible. This means think about each of your menu items and write at least a page for each section. The more content you give to your web designer the more creative they can be with it. The more content you have the friendlier the website is for search engines.

4. Gather Your Files

Gather any files you have together like product images, logos, previously designed graphics as these will be a great help to your designer. If possible try and get your logo in a vector format, this is normally a eps, ai or pdf file.

5. Search For a Domain Name

One thing you will need with a website is a domain name or website address. You need to choose a preferred domain thats relevant to your business then check its still available. There are many websites that sell domains have have a built in domain searching tool on there site. If you have a domain registered before you use a web designer they will need the username a password. Some web designers prefer they register the domain due to easy maintenance.

6. Work Out a Budget

After you now know a lot more about you own website and what you want it to do for you. Now have a think about what you’re willing to spend on it. The old question “How much does a website cost?” is very hard to answer. I tend to use the analogy: Building a website is like building a house, you can have a one bedroom fibro shack, or a ten bedroom, beach front mansion with a pool.