I am not even going to be able to start listing what’s important for a website until you decide on your branding. Branding is the backbone of a website, as a website is a very visual presentation of you company. So,

Decide your branding

I can understand if it might sound silly when someone says, decide your branding, but even if you already have some direction here, so many could use an improvement. Take the time to decide what elements you would like to have representing your branding. It’s easy to go back and forth during the website development if you are not sure yet about your branding direction. So decide on that first.

Here are some important elements of branding you want to have defined before starting on your website;

Branding colors (pick neutrals, 2 main colors and some complimentary colors) It helps if you provide your designer with a Pinterest board ideas for what look you are going for.

Fonts this is very important and the wrong font could make your website look very confusing. If you are designing a website with Showit you will need a font for Title, Heading, Subheading and paragraph.

Logo make sure to have a few versions of your logo in high definition.

I see a lot of webdesigners helping with branding because we can’t really design a website if we don’t have a branding direction. It’s like designing a house without directions – you could end up with a house part Farm house, part Victorian, it doesn’t really make much sense.

You can grab my free Canva template to design your branding board. This will guide you on picking the exact elements you will need to set up your website on Showit.

1- Decide who is your customer

Sometimes it’s clear, but most of the time we have to dig deep and give it a name. Having clarity on your target audience is very important for you to develop the right message for your website. You can visit my previous post here on how to create a Ideal Customer Avatar ID, in case you need guided assistance in a fun way 😉

2- Website goal

What action do you want the customer to take once they come to visit? You have to remember that conversion rate is very low unless it’s a warm lead. Your website needs to be efficient for someone who is just getting to know you – to someone who already knows, likes and trusts you – to someone who is ready to make a purchase and peace out.

Start with someone who is ready to buy, because those people will most likely be the ones who need to take immediate action, their brain is on “buy now” mode. Once that’s addressed, You can have your sales strategy copy. You can share information on why they should buy your product, why they should buy from you and what they are going to get in return. Lastly, I would make sure you have enough information on your field to provide value to someone who might be a long time before they buy from you, but that value is what’s going to help attract more people of all kinds.

3- Functionality

Now you can start building the structure of your website, how many pages will you need? Will you have a login for an online account (maybe online course, photography sessions)? Would you need an interactive calendar for clients to book sessions with you? What kinds of pop-ups would like to have? Special promotion, newsletter, freebie? List everything down, always with your customer interactions in mind. Then, you can try and arrange all the items of this list into different pages. For example: Company History and About us under the About Page.

4- Copy

Now that you know what your website needs to say, it’s time to draft your communication. Copy is very important and one piece of the website where people just like to wing it. You probably talk about your business everyday and you know all the ins and outs of it. However, if you are not able to communicate it really well, how would your customer know it?

Take your time to draft really rich and purposeful copy as people will only read a few words. So those words need to really count. I have worked with a few copywriters and you can ask for help if you need a more refined copy. Pawnee if one of my favorites.

5- Images

Good pictures can truly elevate your website. Just like a house that’s professionally decorated, you will see the difference between a website that has high quality images and a website that has unedited iphone pictures.

Some of the most common type of pictures you will need are for your main headline (Hero canva), products and services, about me, and other pages. Your list of pages will come in handy now, so that you can decide which pages you need pictures for.

If you have the ground work done before you even contact a designer, you will be able to get your project done much sooner. I’ve spoken to hundreds of designers and I can guarantee you collecting copy and image to build a website is always a bottle neck in our business. You will also be able to get a much better quote once you know exactly how many pages and functionality you will need.

As a webdesigner, I can always guide you in all of the aspects needed to get your website going, but if you are looking to get a more expedited service and more accurate cost this guide will help you. I would love to help you create your online home! You can check the different services I provide here. You can also reach out for a free consultantion here.

Happy Website Building!