Biz Guide
The journey to a successful online business demands some planning and preparation before making your online store live. Here´s a self quiz that will help you flesh out your website and fine tune your options. Answering these questions will help you decide on the functionalities and features of your site and guide you on the things that you need to consider in starting your online business.
A. About the Company
- Briefly describe your company and provide a background of the products/services you offer.
- Do your competitors have websites? If so, what is/are the site address/es?
B. Web Site Plans
- Do you have an existing website? If yes, what primary business problems are you trying to solve with a new website?
- What is the immediate purpose of your (new) website? Is it to provide information? To sell products online? To facilitate online payments? To announce latest news, promos and discount offers?
- Who is your primary target audience for the site? Are there other secondary target audiences? If so, please describe.
- Do you have a definite timeline/deadline/schedule for the project? When, exactly or approximately, must the website be launched and/or be online?
- How many web pages does your site require? What is your projected size of the website? (You don’t have to give the exact numbers.)
- What domain name (e.g., www.companyname.com) are you planning to use? Do you already own this domain name or do you plan to purchase it? If you do not have a domain name yet, please list at least three choices, in order of priority (e.g. www.completename.com, www.services.com, www.corporation.com).
- Do you have a specific budget allotted for this project?
- What is the step-by-step instruction of your online process? Do you want your clients to contact you online? How will they reach you (contact details including telephone numbers, addresses and email addresses)? Do you want to introduce any marketing program/s (please include its mechanics)?
- How often do you envision updating and revising the content or site information? Who will be responsible for these in the future?
- Would you like your (new) website to include a search engine optimization package or a visitor tracking software? (These will allow you to monitor the performance of your website in terms of number of site visits.)
C. Design Preferences and Ideas
- List 3-5 adjectives that you would ascribe to your business or the services you provide. (Please be specific and avoid generalizations. – e.g. "fast," "high-tech," "caring," or even unlikely terms like "nostalgic.")
- Describe, in one brief paragraph, how you would like your audience to perceive your organization.
- Do you have a company logo or slogan? If yes, what is the concept behind this? If none, are you thinking of having someone design/conceptualize one for you?
- Are there any particular colors that represent your industry? Or, are there colors used by your competitors that should be avoided? Are there any particular colors that you would like to avoid in the development of your new site?
- Are there any particular icons or imagery that should be avoided (either by reason of personal preference or competitor usage)?
- Define the layout or look or the general overall appearance that you are looking for in your site. (keywords such as techy, modern, elegant, traditional, artsy, webby, including your color preference for the website) Is it a full Flash site or a combination?
- Are there any websites that you have used, or have seen, that you particularly like?
- Are there any websites within your industry that are particularly effective? If so, please explain why you think they are.
- Any special feature/s or design idea/s or preference/s for the proposed website that you would like to add?
- Do you have an idea of the menu and submenu items in the proposed site? If so, please enumerate.