Determining who will build your website is a big decision. Ideally you need someone you can relate to, who has a good track record, and can work to your budget.
To increase your chances of selecting the right supplier, we suggest following our recommendations on how to find the best contractors for your business as well as these three top tips.
1 - Learn more about the topic
If the terms CMS, Google Ads or SEO mean nothing to you, it’s time to start building your knowledge. Understanding what your web professional is talking about will make it easier for you to describe what you want from your website and better understand what they can provide you with.
2 - Plan ahead
Before approaching someone to build your website, plan ahead and identify the following:
- Who is your target audience?
- What do you want the website to achieve for your business?
- What is your ‘most wanted action’? When someone visits your website, what do you want them to do? Eg. place an order, learn more about your company.
- What is your main message? What should someone know as a result of visiting your website?
- What features or functionality do you need on your website?
- Which other websites do you like and why?
3 - Write a brief
To ensure you and the web professional understand each other, put together a briefing document that clearly sets out who you are and what your business is all about. Your brief should include information such as:
- a profile of your business
- examples of your business branding and photos you’d like to use
- specifics about the type of website you want, including features
- your hosting and domain name requirements
- search engine optimisation (SEO) and analytics requirements
- any follow up training and support you may need, for example how to use the website’s content management systems (CMS) or view website traffic and analytics
Our Build a Website booklet is free to download and can be used to prepare your brief to a web developer.
Looking for some additional help?
If you are struggling with your online presence or don’t have a website yet, our Website Planning workshop can provide you with a perfect introduction. The workshop covers the different types of websites you can build, provides an overview of domain names, web hosting and e-commerce systems, as well as writing for the web and managing SEO.
