Website Design Ideas

Have you got an idea about a website design or want to re-design your current website?

Use this guide to develop and brainstorm ideas, it can be used to give to your website designer to gain a more accurate quote, or just to help you decide what you really want.

Helping you organise your web design ideas

When deciding on a website design and content, it is important to know what you are aiming for. Knowing these key facts can help with the design of your website:

• What is your company brand?

• Who is your target market ?

• Be clear about what you want.
  For example: to increase sales, raise brand awareness, to have your product brochure/services provided available, reduce the number of brochures you send out, improve your credibility in the market or a combination of these.

  
  

When approaching a website design company, it is useful to have a good idea about certain areas of your business, the kind of website you like/dislike and what you want your website to contain. All of these things will also help you get a more accurate quote.

This guide can be used to gather your thoughts and ideas. Giving you areas to think about and/or make notes on.

1. Company/Business Profile

• What does your organisation/business do?

• How long it has been established and how many staff you employ.

• Who are your customers (age, gender, income, occupation, location)?

• Who are your 3 main competitors?

2. Your aims for the website

• Do you want to generate sales, encourage enquiries, obtain information from your audience, gain newsletter subscribers, etc?

• Do you want to be able to edit and make changes to the website yourself (Content Management System needed)?

3. Branding / Logo Design

• What are your unique selling points (what makes you different)?

• Who is you target audience?

• How much of your existing logo do you want to be carried through into the new?

• What do you like/dislike about your current logo?

• How much of your existing branding would you like to keep?

• Have you any ideas as to what you want your new logo to have, e.g. colours, style, shapes?

4. Website Design

• Is there anything in particular you want to see on your website, e.g. login area, order online, blog, newsletters, feature product, special offers?

• Have you seen anything on a competitor's website that you would like on yours? What do you like about your current website? What do you want the new web design to convey to your target audience?

• Is there a website design style you particularly like/dislike?

5. Breakdown of site sections/pages on your website

List all of the sections/pages for your website, with a brief summary of how you think each section needs to work. This may be kept very simple.

6. Website Content

Is there a site map of your website? Have you a plan already in place?

7. Technical Requirements/Constraints For Your Website

Are there any technical requirements needed? E.g. Existing hosting, existing website and database,

8. Budget

Even if you can only provide a ball-park figure, a budget expectation will give a good idea of the type of solutions that can realistically be provided. If the amount you can spend is very limited, you may have to compromise on the functionality of your website.

9. Competitor websites/websites you like

• Do your competitors have websites?

• What do you like/dislike about them?

• Are there any websites which you feel portray some of the things you would like in your website? Give examples of websites you like/dislike here.