How To Prepare For A New Website
So you decided to get a new website for your business. First off all, congrats! That’s a great decision but it’s also a big one, which leads me to my second point: before you jump straight into the design process, there are a few things you’ll need to prepare, whether you’ve decided to DIY or work with a designer to handle all of the design and tech for you.
Trust me, preparation goes a long way when it comes to website design and with this post, I want to help you save at least 30 hours of your time (so you can focus on other important tasks… or you know… just enjoy your well-deserved glass of wine).
Okay, I can hear you saying, so what exactly should I prepare before designing my website?
Great question!
Let’s find out!
1. Decide on your website’s goals
First things first — before doing anything else, you have to decide what the primary goal of your website is. Knowing what the primary goal is will help you structure the website in the best possible way and you’ll be able to measure how effective your website is.
Your website goals should align with the primary goal of your business. They can be tangible (like increasing the number of email subscribers, website visitors or leads) or intangible (like building trust, increasing brand awareness, and booking more clients).
Typically, it’s better to focus on tangible goals as they are easy to measure. Intangible goals will happen as a direct result of you focusing on the goals you can measure. For example, if your intangible goal is to increase brand awareness, focus on getting more visitors to your website.
Focus on no more than two goals at a time, otherwise you’ll make your website harder to design and confusing for your website visitors and nobody wants that.
Once you have your goals set, you will need to determine what you’ll need to integrate into your website. This can include things like setting up your Google Analytics account, creating your editorial calendar, coming up with a lead magnet, integrating an email service provider, etc.
2. Know your ideal client
Once you know your website goals, it’s time to get crystal clear on your ideal client profile. This includes going beyond the typical age, sex, income, and relationship status. I don’t know about you but personally, I find the ideal client exercise that’s asking me for their age and gender boring and uninspiring.
Demographics are good to know but they shouldn’t be the main point of focus when you’re coming up with your ideal client. What’s more important to know is what problems are they facing that you can help them solve and what is the breaking point when they are finally tired of doing things the old way and ready to hire you.
Knowing this will help you position yourself as the person to help them through your content and words on your website that they will have no choice but to hire you.
3. Logo and other graphics
If your website had nothing but words, it would be a pretty boring website to look at. That’s why you need to prepare your logo, photos, and other graphics for your website.
For example, it’s a good idea to prep the following:
Hero header images that span the full-width of the page and sit below the navigation line
Background photos with blurred backgrounds or plenty of white space that can be used for full-width sections
Solid color graphics or subtle patterns that can be used for backgrounds
Photos that represent your services such as styled desktop, office, your studio, office accessories, etc.
Photos of you and your employees (if you have any)
Mockups of your digital products, workbooks, and any other downloadable materials that you offer through your website
Need a little help preparing for your website photoshoot? Download my Brand Photoshoot Checklist!
4. Copy for your website
Your website copy is another thing you need to have ready before designing a website or working with a designer. Now, I’ll be honest: it’s possible to design a website using dummy filler text like Lorem Ipsum (you know those latin-looking words you see on websites that aren’t finished? That’s Lorem Ipsum, the typesetting standard used in the printing industry that made its way onto the web)
But I’ve found that when a client doesn’t have their copy ready, the design revisions take up a lot more time because we keep having to adjust the design to the content once it’s added in.
For example, you might get an image to line up perfectly with dummy text. And then you add the real copy and now it’s all sorts out of place.
That’s why it’s better to prepare your content first and then design around it so you can easily adjust as needed.
5. Inspiration websites
Designing without having a set of inspiration websites or a mood board is like designing blind. How will you know what style you like and what features should your website have without it?
Spend some time gathering inspiration websites on Pinterest and making a note about what you like and what you dislike. This doesn’t have to take a long and you don’t have to come up with a long list of websites. 3-5 inspiration websites are typically enough to get an understanding of your desired aesthetic and general look and feel your website should have.
Related: Looking for some inspo? Check out these beautiful coaching websites built in Squarespace
6. Testimonials
People buy from people they know, like, and trust. That’s why your website should build trust in your website visitors. You can do this by adding testimonials throughout your website.
Related: 4 ways to build trust on your website
It’s a good idea to have them on your homepage but also on your services page. If you have a lot of testimonials, you can even create a separate page on your website to share them all.
7. Blog content
Before you roll your eyes at me, yes, I am going to talk about blogging. Why, you ask? Because blogging is the cheapest form of marketing for your business. It costs you nothing but your time and the results are awesome.
According to HubSpot, businesses who blog regularly are 13x more likely to see a positive ROI (return on investment, meaning more leads and more sales for their business).
Now, blogging doesn’t have to be written posts. It can be Youtube videos along with a summary of what your video is about. It can also be podcast episodes embedded together with the show notes.
My point is this: regularly published content on your website can boost your SEO rank and it can bring you new leads consistently. So why not make the most of it and use it to your advantage?
8. Services and product pricing
There’s an old age debate about whether you should display prices on your website. But I say yes, yes you should.
How many times have you gone to someone’s website looking for pricing information only to be left clueless? Yeah, me too. It’s frustrating isn’t it?
Know what else is frustrating? The fact that if you don’t display prices, most people will automatically assume you’re too expensive and leave. Not fun, right?
If you’re not comfortable with displaying your prices or if your services are tailored to each client, listing a starting at price is still better than nothing.
9. Domain name
If this is your first time building a website, you’ll need a domain name. A domain name is how people find you online so it should reflect your business name or your brand name.
If you already have a domain name, then this is one step you can cross off your list, unless you’re going for a full rebrand as well.
Related: How to Successfully Rebrand Your Business
10. Professional email address
This is another thing that you can skip if you already have a domain name and don’t plan on changing it. But if you’re just getting started, a professional email address such as name@yourdomain.com looks more professional than a Gmail address.
Plus, it shows you’re serious about building a legit business which gives you instant boost in credibility.
You can easily get a professional email address through GSuite thanks to its integration with Squarespace. It will cost you $6/month or $72/year but when you upgrade your Squarespace website to Business or Commerce plan, you can get a year of GSuite for free.
11. Physical business address
Finally, you’ll need a physical business address. This is a legal requirement in many countries and states, not just for your website and things like Privacy Policy but also for your email list so you can be compliant with the CAN-SPAM Legal act.
12. Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, Disclaimers, And Other Legal Pages
Now before we go further, I want to make one thing clear: I am not a lawyer. (I come from a family of lawyers but that’s a different matter altogether) so please, please, please consult your lawyer on the exact legal requirements of your website.
That said, there are certain pages you are legally required to have on your website. These typically include Privacy policy, Terms of Service, and/or various Disclaimers.
In almost all cases, you’ll need a privacy policy and terms of service. Depending on the nature of your business, you might need a few more of these legal pages. As I’ve said before, I am not a lawyer and I urge you to consult one before launching your website.
If you have a lawyer, you can have them draft you any necessary documents that need to go on your website. However, if you don’t have a lawyer yet, you can get a basic set of legal documents from places like The Contract Shop or The Creative Law Shop.
Final Thoughts
Whew! And that, my friend, wraps it up. I know this is quite a bit of information to sift through and that the entire process can seem intimidating. But, once you set aside time to prep everything, you’ll see that your website comes together much faster and looks more professional as a result.
