When we meet a client for the very first time about designing their new website, one of our top priorities is to understand the fundamental purpose for the site.
Understanding the basic framework and navigation is more important than the actual design at this point. During a strategy meeting with our client, one of the first questions we ask is:
Of course there will be many, but what will help us create an engaging, bespoke site for your business is to be clear on the number one goal you want to accomplish from it.
Here are some examples that we often hear:
Get more inbound leads / quote requests / telephone enquiries.
Increase brand awareness.
Educate an audience.
Encourage sales.
Collect email addresses to build a mailing list.
Encourage onsite or social media interaction.
Once we all have a clear idea of the highest priority for your new website, we delve deeper and talk about the essential components of your site; this helps us understand the site structure. We then create a site map.
A site map is a planning tool used to represent the hierarchical structure of the pages of a website.
The main purpose of a site map is to plan your site architecture; outlining the structure, navigation and hierarchy of the pages, which is usually laid out in different tiers. This helps us to categorise the content into logical groups and create a page order. This relates back to your number one priority for the site, and will help direct your website visitor to achieve the purpose of their visit.
For example, you may want the primary tier pages to look something like this:
Home
Services
Case studies
About us
Contact us
They may be followed by several secondary tier pages categorized under the services page, which can be navigated via the services button.
From here, we then ask you to think about your number one goal for each page.
For example, if you’re trying to get more inbound enquiries, ensure you can be easily contacted via an enquiry form.
One thing to remember is that the pages are not set in stone. Pages can be added, amended and edited as your business grows and evolves over time. At this stage, less is more. If your website ends up being busy and over complicated, it risks visitors not finding what they want, ending up frustrated and going back to Google to re-start their search.
Your visitors want guidance when they land on your website, they need direction on what action to take and it’s our job (along with your input) to steer them down the right path.
We understand there is a lot to consider when having a new website designed, but if you select the right design agency, you can be assured they will make the process as seamless as possible for you.
Our creative team has been helping businesses build lead-generating, bespoke websites for decades. We can walk you through the process and help to simplify your priorities and goals for your new website. Why not give us a call to start the conversation?
