Designing a website is a huge step forward for any business, but you can’t just jump into the process blind. As a web design service, we here at DigiFox can build a polished and effective website, but it is impossible to do so without knowing key things about the business first. Here, we’re laying out the 5 most important things to know before the actual design process takes place.

First, we need to know our audience. Just like any other facet of our business, your customer base will determine our business practices. A website has to be able to draw in the appropriate audience, or you’ll be missing out on our potential customers. If you’re running a business that tends to service a more modern and urban crowd, for instance, then the design of the website will be made with these users in mind. Your business has a strong brand identity, and audiences will resonate with that. Ensuring that your web designers know exactly what image to portray will ensure that your website will attract the proper audiences. You wouldn’t want your business’s website to only draw attention from customers who aren’t interested in your product. For that reason, telling us that you want to market towards a certain demographic allows us to create a product that will narrow down exactly who the website appeals to. This will accomplish two hugely important goals for your business: solidifying your brand and bringing in more customers. By focusing our targets, we can make a website that brings in profit significantly more successfully than had we gone in aimlessly.

Next, we need to know what the goal of the website is. Different businesses have different needs, and websites are extremely versatile. Because of this, we need to know exactly what our online presence is looking to do. Is your web page going to be a digital marketplace and create actual sales of your products? Or are we gearing for a more marketing-based website that is meant to bring customers into the doors of your physical building? Are you a subscription-based service, and need an online forum to interact with subscribers? You as the business owner know what your company is looking to do more than anyone. By telling us web designers what you need to feature on your web page, you can ensure that customers see exactly what they need to see. The clearer you can lay out what you want a customer to do on your web page, the easier it will be to turn that into reality.

Another massively important detail to determine is one that many businesses don’t even realize can play such a huge role: keywords and terminology. Your business has a focused role in a consumer’s life, and your brand has given you a specific identity. These are what bring your existing customers back to you time and time again, but what can you do to bring in new customers online? The answer is quite simple, but that’s exactly why it’s overlooked. Your website needs to focus heavily on the key words that represent your business. If your company is a gym, we need to nail that point home. The words ‘gym’, ‘workout’, ‘exercise’, and similar identifying words need to be repeated as often as possible. This is because Google’s search algorithms use keywords to determine the results for a search inquiry, as we talked about in a previous blog post. If someone Googles “where to workout in my city”, for example, your website will only show up if you have the term ‘workout’ used frequently, as well as the correct geographic location. This same principle applies to any business, not just gyms, but they can only be accomplished if you communicate these ideas to us. For more information on how keywords can improve your business’s success, check out our other blog post titled “How to Create Quality Content.”

The fourth important detail ties in deeply with all of the other ideas mentioned so far. Your brand identity and the image you want to portray will certainly be one of the most important things that we need to know before we create your web page. Your business’s history and the decisions you’ve made to make it successful have shaped a specific brand image for you. Your business has a name, a logo, and a personality, and all of these things need to be communicated clearly in your web page to connect it to your company. The first thing that we want to show when a user opens your web page is your business’s identity in its more polished and impressive form. First impressions are huge, especially when trying to bring in customers. By letting us know what impressions your business is trying to give, you give us the ability to convey your business’s brand in the best way possible.

Finally, every business decision comes down to the cost-benefit analysis and your budget. Websites are no different, and you need to know exactly what you’re paying, and what you’re getting in return. With DigiFox, the results you’ll see are already clearly depicted right in front of you. This website was built from the ground up, and we followed the exact same steps that I just laid out in this post. We determined who our audience was and built a site to appeal to them. We asked what our long-term goals were and built features that would accomplish everything we wanted from our online presence. We focused on certain keywords to bring up Google search rates (notice how often we use the term Web Design just on our homepage alone). We made sure our brand is clear and anyone who visits our site can see exactly what kind of business we are. These are the benefits that you as a consumer will find if you work alongside us. The only thing left to do is to ask the cost of this service. Luckily, we here at DigiFox offer flexible and negotiable rates for every project. Click on “Start A Project” to jump right into this process and help your business reap the rewards of a well-built website.