Working together on your website

When a new client contacts me, the very first thing I do is send them 2 short questionnaires. They are editable Word documents. All the questions need raising, but they are all optional and may all be answered briefly.

If you would like to look at these questionnaires, you can read / download both the “Site Concept” questionnaire, and the “Site Design” questionnaire. (Fellow Web designers: if you download or make use of either questionnaire, I‘d be grateful for an acknowledgement!)

Once you (the client) have returned the questionnaires—sometimes accompanied by questions of your own—I will get back to you to firm things up. I like to be 100% clear what you want, and I want you to be clear what I can offer.

We may meet—but I have had several clients for whom this wasn't possible, and in either case, we will use emails / telephone calls / WhatsApp messages, etc.

★ I should say that some clients want to continue discussions through the whole process, while others want not to be bothered, and prefer me simply to get on with it. I am happy with either option.

Once things are clear, I will submit a proposal, which will spell out in some detail

• what the proposed website will be like,
• what it will include, and
• how long it will take me to complete it.

Recently, I have been developing some websites using WordPress. But I only include the WordPress option in my proposal where I think it offers some specific advantage.

I usually cost this proposal. The range of options is huge, so I can‘t give you a typical price. It can be as low as 2-300 euros, up to 2-3,000 euros. (The limit for a single freelance designer like me.)

Whatever the price we agree, I normally ask for one-third as a deposit, one third at a half-way point, and the final third when the website is up, and you (the client) are satisfied.

The next stage is to collect and sort everything which will actually appear on the pages of the website.

I will ask you for everything you have. For some websites this will mean logos, brochures, business cards, menus, branded stationery, … For others nothing like this will be relevant. However, almost all websites will need photos and/or other illustrations.

And all websites need relevant facts and other material to be displayed in words. Some owners will have advertisements, news reports, press releases, articles, slide presentations and testimonials to hand. For others, these things will be irrelevant.

Some owners will want to write most of the website’s words themselves. Others will leave it to me. I may also provide photos of my own.

While material is coming in, I will have been sketching website sections and pages. I now begin to find designs I can commit myself to (and submit for your approval). At every point the aim is to find eye-catching settings for any game-changing material I have been given or got hold of.

(It goes without saying that I will need to find different kinds of eye-catching setting for devices of different heights and widths …)

This is the most critical stage of the job. Inspiration matters. Designers can't just slog away at a website: the result will be dead in the water. They have to find visual arrangements which will capture—and keep—the attention of visitors who will, on average, spend 8 seconds on a page.

When the visitor’s attention is caught, and every page does its job, that is when your hopes for your website will be realised.