![\"7](\"http:\/\/www.creativesparksolutions.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-tasks-before-website.jpg\")
<\/div><\/div>\nA survey done by Clutch,<\/i> a couple of years ago revealed that more than half (58%) of small businesses without a website planned to build one<\/i><\/b>.<\/i> (Source<\/a>) <\/span>This number has probably increased considering how important online marketing and a web presence has become.<\/p>\n But are we really going about building our website\u2019s the correct way?<\/p>\n As a website development agency, one of the key insights we gathered over the years is that before you start the design of your website; you need to have some groundwork in place. <\/span><\/p>\n Let\u2019s look at 7 key tasks we found essential to get done before starting your website design.<\/p>\n According to a research by CBInsights<\/i>, 42% of small businesses fail because there is no market for their product or service.<\/i> (Source<\/a>). But knowing your target market and audience is also important from the point of view of your website design.<\/p>\n Based on it, you can finalize the broad message your website will convey, what problems your typical customer faces and what your website should talk about. This is true for all kinds of websites: be it a static one, a dynamic one or even a complex web application. <\/span><\/p>\n A well designed website which doesn\u2019t convey the right messaging is still not going to be useful.<\/p>\n <\/span>In my career, I have seen clients coming to me and claiming that their old website wasn\u2019t really leading to any inquiries or sales despite decent traffic \u2013 only to find that their website was either confusing, or wasn\u2019t targeting their ideal customer.<\/p>\n At a more specific level this step also involves looking at what keywords<\/i> and keyphrases<\/i> are relevant to your product or service. Based on these keywords, you will then be able to decide about the kind of content and structure required.<\/p>\n Half of all IT projects fail due to missed, inaccurate or incomplete requirements !<\/i> \u2013 (Source<\/a>) Now while this has been said in the context of larger IT projects, it does hold more or less true even for smaller projects such as a small business website.<\/p>\n As a web development agency, we\u2019ve always emphasized the need for a Feature List<\/i> or Requirements Document<\/i> to our clients. Website development without a basic feature list is like shooting in the dark. It can lead to delays, re-work, confusion and cost escalation. <\/span>Without detailed requirements, a website designer cannot estimate the project cost properly as well.<\/p>\n Making a feature list is not rocket science and can be done in just under an hour. A feature list just contains the functions and features your website will have. If there are certain aspects you\u2019ve liked in other websites, be sure to mention those, along with the links<\/p>\n For more complex projects or bigger websites, you should elaborate as much on the requirements as possible, talking about:<\/p>\n During the development process, both the website designer and client should be fair to each other. If new requirements emerge, the requirements document should be used as a base-line tool to see what\u2019s extra and generate billing accordingly. <\/span><\/p>\n After the web design process has started, haphazard adding \/ modification of requirements should be avoided and a formal change request process be followed if changes are required.<\/p>\n If a requirement document is the soul of your project, then the project plan is the basic skeleton or foundation on which it stands.<\/p>\n At the most basic level, a project plan for your website design may only be a bullet list of milestones and timelines of various stages of the project. But even this basic project plan is necessary to be part of the discussion and noted somewhere.<\/p>\n A typical website design project will have the following stages:<\/b><\/p>\n Your project plan may contain the time-line estimates (in discussion with the designer) and payment schedule based on successful milestone completion. You can also build a To-Do list as an easier alternative to a project plan. <\/span><\/p>\n For this you can use free or freemium tools such as Trello, JIRA, Asana<\/i> or even simple Excel \/ Google Sheets. <\/span><\/p>\n Purchasing a domain name should ideally be done before kicking off the project as it can be an unnecessary distraction during the execution. In some cases the website development platform may need to be linked to the domain name at the beginning \u2013 because doing so later on is just extra effort and complicated. <\/span><\/p>\n Or, the development platform may simply require the domain name in the beginning.<\/p>\n<\/b>1. Perform market research on your audience and target market<\/h2>\n
<\/b>2. Create a Feature List \/ Requirements Document for your website<\/h2>\n
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<\/b>3. Prepare a project plan for the execution of your website design<\/h2>\n
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<\/b>4. Select and purchase an appropriate domain name <\/span><\/h2>\n