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7 Key Elements to Consider Before Investing in a Website

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Build your website with the following elements in mind

Designing and building a professional website is not as simple as it sounds. Before the start of a project, a web designer and developer needs to consider so many aspects such as functionality, strategy, architecture, usability and searchability that go beyond the mere design of a website. But there are also a few things that business owners must consider before investing in a website.

When we talk to early-stage entrepreneurs, we sometimes hear them say they want a website even before they define the fundamentals of their businesses. Our clients are provided with a website questionnaire that enables them to identify a few strategic points, some of which take a complete evaluation over a longer time frame. Building a website without properly examining these points would lead to a delay in project delivery.

But what are these fundamental elements? What should we consider and define for our businesses before investing in a website? These include but not limited to the business name, which will affect the domain name, the social media channels, and the copy which should speak to your ideal clients and their pain points. Have you defined your ideal clients? The look and feel of the site should be engaging with your ideal target market.

In this blog post, we will be addressing the elements business owners should define and evaluate even before enquiring about a website.

Business Name

Is your business name searchable and relevant? It affects your company logo, website URL, social media accounts and much more. Before deciding on a business name, we strongly suggest that you do some research so that your name is not changed in the future.

Domain Name

While hosted platforms include hosting and domain names (Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.com, Shopify, etc.) as part of their monthly plans, you need to get your domain name and web hosting to build websites on WordPress.org.

You should use a domain name that is easy to remember and that ideally matches your business name.

When we work together, we assist you with the purchasing of a domain name and hosting; however, you are still responsible for deciding on a domain name.

Target Audience

We provide you with website mood boards based on an understanding of your target audience. For instance, if your target audience is women in business, we make sure to incorporate feminine colours.

With an onboarding questionnaire, we would like to better understand your business and your goals before we begin our website projects.

Website Copy

Most people will think that websites are just made up of copies and images. However, there is so much more to it than this. Through our copywriting services, we can create high-quality, unique copy for your website. Make sure to let us know when enquiring about website services.

When you purchase a website package without a copywriting add-on, we expect you to provide us with the text for us to modify and optimize for search engine optimization reasons.

Make sure not to forget your testimonials, privacy policy, contact details, social media channels, product details, legal terms or blog posts.

Shop & Products

If you enquire about a website plan that includes shop functionality, you need to ensure your inventory is prepared in advance. To receive a cost proposal prepared for our website services with E-commerce functionality, we require you to provide us with the number of products and the variants that belong to them.

Once we agree on the proposal, we will need you to provide the product images, text or downloadable files within 2/3 weeks of the website project started.

Competitors

As an entrepreneur, it is important to be aware of your competitors and aim to outperform them. Understanding how other businesses perform and determining how you can do even better will give you a competitive advantage in the market.

Competitive research can help you gain insights into your clients’ pain points, the design elements you should incorporate on your website or even the way you should sell your products.

Money

It is important to know how much money you can invest in a website because the amount that you’ll be investing will directly impact the quality of the website. Have a look at our article “How much should you really spend on a website” to understand the costs of getting a website.

Are you ready to invest in a website? Do you maybe want to stick to an Etsy store instead?

Summary

You can see that all these points are related and very essential before investing in a website. Whether you are planning to launch a blog or a therapist website, you need to ask yourself the above questions to make the right choices.

There are always options to redesign your website or to make small changes, but why not define all these elements first for your business so your marketing efforts will also be effective?

Social Influence

Damla is the founder of Social Influence. She has spent over a decade working and leading digital marketing positions for some of the world’s most exciting and forward-thinking brands. She writes about digital marketing, websites, entrepreneurship and more.

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