What to Expect from Your Website Creator?
If you’ve never created a website or worked with someone who has created a website for you, it can be difficult to imagine what all is involved with the task at hand: what features you can have, does it take a long time, what is included and how much it costs. Worry not, help is here! This article will explain what you can expect during the website creation process, and what is expected of you, the owner of the website. Let’s start from the beginning.
Discovery - What You Need and What You Want
When you contact a company to create a website for you, it kicks off with a discovery session. This is an informal interview between yourself and the person who is going to create your website. During this discussion, the creator asks you questions about yourself, your business, and your customers. The purpose of these questions is to determine what you need and what you want.
A need is something that is essential for your business to be successful. A want is something that is nice to have, but not critical for your business’ survival. Both are important, but what you need is what makes your potential customers try and find you in the first place. It is your service you provide.
Your website creator’s job is to translate your needs to a website that fulfills your requirements. When you start asking around for website creators, it is good to have a clear understanding of your needs ahead of time. For example, if you are starting an online store, you can say that you need an online store with a home page, contact page, blog and a store, and that you’ll need to be able to accept payments via PayPal and credit cards, plus international shipping. A good website creator will ask you a number of questions to identify your needs.
At the Discovery phase, an honest website creator will tell you if your requirements can be met, or if there is an additional cost associated with fulfilling the requirement. Always remember to ask for a written confirmation on what is included in the price!
Design - The Start of Your Website
After the discovery session, your designer will get to the drawing board and start submitting your design proposals based on your wants and needs.
This is a point where you’ll get to truly influence the outcome. You’ll decide what you like and don’t like, and choose the best option for you. Coming up with the perfect design is an interactive process and will require your input.
This is also a phase where your time and help is necessary for the website content. If you have photos, logos or any written content that you want to display on your website, this is when you’ll send it over to us.
Revisions - To Make Your Website Perfect
Unless you’re a professional website designer or content writer, it can be hard to envision how the final website will look like. There might be some things that seem a little off, or not appear as you thought they would. You may discover that the ordering process needs to change in order to satisfy your customers. It’s okay, this is part of the process.
A good website creator will work with you to adjust the design, process and content until it’s just right. Most creators will limit the number of revisions allowed, as this results in additional work for them. The more precise you are with your requirements in the Design phase, the less revisions there will be. Remember to ask how many revisions are included in your price!
After revisions are complete, it is time for you to start uploading products to your store (we can also do that on your behalf if so agreed), writing your blog, and advertising your business to the world :).
Follow Up - Are YOU Happy?
Once your website has been up for a little while and your customers have been using it, you may discover that some things need to change. Maybe you need additional features that would make your customers more satisfied with their experience, or to make site navigation easier. We’ll check in with you to confirm things are going smoothly and as planned, and discuss how we can make adjustments to your site.