Want me to build your website? Here are 16 things you can do to make the project fly!
by Sam Davis
During the life-cycle of Website Right, I have become increasingly experienced at refining the process of building websites for my clients – with the aim being to improve the speed of delivery of a project whilst maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction. To make this happen, I always need to ensure I am fully confident about the content and brief of the website, so I can continue to design safe in the knowledge that I am fulfilling the specifications that have been laid out.
Occasionally though, due to a myriad of reasons, communication between myself and a client sometimes doesn’t flow as it should, and a project can get delayed – as people are often very busy in the day-to-day running their business. Whilst the initial desire is there for their brand new website to be created and finished as soon as possible, quite often I am left in limbo whilst I wait for certain essentials to be provided by the client.
It is not always easy for someone to instantly have the information I require, the following tips may be of use to any clients-to-be who are wanting a quick turnaround.
With this in mind, I have produced a list of sixteen things which are really helpful for me to have to hand when I start a project. Whilst I know that it is not always easy for someone to instantly have the information I require (especially in large companies), the following tips may be of use to any clients-to-be who are wanting a quick turnaround to their project – as it’ll certainly expedite the process for me!
16 top tips to improve the lead-time of your website
Access to the Domain Name/Registrar
In order to get your website live – I’ll usually need access to to your domain control panel. This will enable me to manipulate the DNS of your domain name. Similarly, the configuration your email services may also require me to have these credentials. Please note, that I don’t agree with the convention of switching registrar for the purpose of creating or hosting a website – it’s bad practice.
All Appropriate Logins
If I build a website from scratch, I will often be the one who sets up many of your services such as email and hosting. However on the occasions I do not, I will need access to your Control Panel and your existing CMS installation. If you cannot provide Control Panel access (like cPanel or Plesk), sometimes I can make do with FTP access and/or database access, which can often provide a useful way of accessing your files.
Third Party Services
I recommend the use of Google services for your website, especially tools such as Google Analytics, Search Console, or even a Business page. All of them will require a Google Account, therefore if you do not have one, it’d be great for you to create one. Due to the fact that the account requires a phone number & date of birth for verification, by getting this step sorted in advance, it saves a lot of to-ing and fro-ing should I be the one to create it.
Show me the competitors
If there are any elements that you like from your rivals, tell me, and I’ll let you know how easy it would be to implement on your site. Please note that I cannot just plagiarise from other sites, so, for example – if you need a banner created, whilst I can use an idea an inspiration – I will need guidance from you on the wording that you’d like, the colours, and the imagery that you would like to utilise for the banner. It’s also handy to compare marketing messages.
Deposits and Completion Payments
I charge on a 50/50 basis. This is ideal for cash-flow (for both parties), but also ensures speedy purchasing of any images, templates, plugins, and SSL Certificates that will be needed. I don’t tend to begin any design work until this deposit is made. For me, seeing a willingness to put down a percentage of the overall site cost gives me the drive to match a client’s enthusiasm to proceed quickly!
Be Flexible
Having a design mapped out in your head before a project begins is a not bad thing, as it shows that you have a clear plan & passion for conveying your business in the best way you know how. There will be some occasions though, for any number of reasons, that some ideas simply will not be feasible, so whilst I will always try to accommodate your vision, please also come with an open mind, as I might be able to show you a better way of conveying your message!
Be wary of time-scales
Although it’d be nice for any developer to work on one project at a time, it sadly doesn’t work like that. Whilst you’re spending weeks writing articles, I will be working on other projects. When you’re finished, do not necessarily expect me to be standing by to upload your content! By keeping an open dialogue with me throughout, I can make plans accordingly to accommodate your timescales as soon as you’re ready.
Plan your number of pages
If you were to hire a builder to develop your house and then mid-way through the project, you ask them to pop a conservatory on the back – needless to say, it will cost more. For this reason, it’s really handy for you to map out the pages that you want, in order for me to correctly gauge exactly how much time it will take to produce your site. Whilst I’m always flexible, there has to be a limit to mid-project add-ons!
Know Your Message!
Whilst I am a very good marketer, please remember that you know your business best. Whilst I can provide creative input with regards to any wording and key messages, it’s always useful for you to be confident about the wording on your banners, the phrases used on your call to action buttons, and the titles of your pages. By prepping in advance, it can save lots of chopping & changing later on.
Provide Structured Information
It’s so handy for me to have all the written information you’d like for your website in some kind of logical format – page by page is usually best. Please provide it in textual editable format and not hand-written, and please ensure it is not given to me as a photo – as, whilst photos can be scanned and optically recognised, this can be time-consuming and can lead to various grammatical errors.
Running a Shop? Know your prices!
If you’re having a store built, please provide all pricing connotations at the very beginning. For example, if you want one category to give the customer money off if they buy more than three products, let me know in advance. If you’d like a certain type of product to enable a free delivery option, let me know. Often, making retrospective changes can be time-consuming and painful!
Ensure all your product images are the same size
For an E-Commerce store, it is so important that all of your product photos are uniform in size and shape, because there’s nothing worse than a higgledy-piggledy looking web shop. Your potential customers will want to be able to compare products visually, therefore having a load of photos with differing angles and sizes will not be great – so please provide all your photos with a uniform look.
Imagery
If you have images or photos you want to use, please send them over to me via email or WeTransfer, keeping the following in mind. Images must be ideally between 1200 and 2000 pixels wide, should be in JPG or PNG format, and should be clearly labelled. If you want changes to colours, filters, and/or brightness & contrast (for example), there are tools online that can help you achieve this in advance!
Keeping things symmetrical
If your website uses grids to display data, be wary that – should your website possess four columns of text in a row, for example, the amount of content in each text-block will need to be roughly the same. The reason is that you might end up with your first column with a huge amount of text, and then your subsequent blocks don’t have as much, therefore, this will leave your row looking very imbalanced.
Leave text changes until the end
I understand that you want your message to be on point, however it is worth making a Word document that lists your textual changes, simply giving it to me at the end. The positioning & usability of your website is paramount and sometimes can be complicated to edit, whereas text is easy to change, so it’s better to do one, then the other – rather than simultaneously. It’ll save plenty of time!
Provide Feedback via Video
Rather than spend lots of time on Skype, the phone, text message and emails – the ability for a client to record screen videos whilst simultaneously narrating the changes that they’d like to see being made is so beneficial. For every 10 seconds of video you record, it is equivalent to 81 seconds of typing. Here’s why I think screen-sharing is the ideal way to improve communication flow for any web project!
If you want me to help with your web project and you’re worried that you haven’t got everything you ready for me to get to work, don’t worry, as my aim is to guide you along the way! This article is not intended to scare you off, however gives you some kind of idea about the hurdles that I can encounter when creating a website. By conforming to as many of these requirements in advance, you will certainly see a shorter period of time between the dream in your head and the reality on the page.
As someone who is keen on being the best in the business for Bournemouth Web Design, I always ensure that each and every client is taken care of regardless of what stage you’re at, so do drop me a line, as I am confident I can help your business grow.
Sam Davis
I am fanatical about providing useful web experiences, via bespoke websites which engage, inform and entertain. I have been making websites since a young age, and am a keen supporter of AFC Bournemouth.
