By George Vlismas
•
January 10, 2025
It can be difficult to create a website design plan, particularly if you are unsure of where to begin. With years of expertise in this industry, we know how challenging it can be to convey exactly how you want your website to function and look. We at SkyDriveDigital have created an easy guide on how to create a design requirement for a website. You and your organization will save time, money, and effort if you follow these guidelines, which will assist you understand exactly what you need to work with any digital design house to design and build your perfect business website. This helps guarantee a smooth and efficient website project plan as possible. What makes developing a website design plan crucial? Building a good rapport with your website team is crucial since they will be the key to getting your ideal website. It is also crucial to create a website design plan to ensure that there are no misunderstandings between you and the design team. The website team should be able to clearly understand your overall vision and objectives from your plan, which should convey your thoughts and requirements. This will also enable them to give you a comprehensive and precise project quotation and timeline. It's crucial to include details while writing your website plan, but not too in depth just yet. Although the website plan must be comprehensive and encompassing the main objectives, we can begin without knowing your three-year business plan. The 12 Steps to Writing a Great Requirements Plan for Your Website Step 1: Company Details Tell us a little bit about your business and your goals - this is the first step in the website needs list. It's crucial to mention: Business Name, URL, and website address How long has your business been in operation? Is it brand-new, or do you have experience? What precisely does your business do? The location of the business Annual turnover: tell us about the size of your business and what plan is most reasonable. Step 2: Business Goals and Objectives We must know your short-term objectives for your business and website. This covers things like your aim for website traffic and new clients, as well as your anticipated yearly turnover once your website is created. We really need to know what your goals are for this website since we need to set our aspirations and aims based on goals like wanting to quadruple conversion rates in the following year. Step 3: Website Design This would also include any branding or logo requirements. If you already have design and logo guidelines, please let us know. If so, please let us know if you would like us to develop your current logo and design, remain with them, or entirely redesign them. You may be a new business in need of a creative new logo and design, or you may be a well-known brand with a recognizable style that you wish to maintain yet update. In any case, we must be aware of this since it will affect the entire website design brief. Step 4: Who is Your Ideal Target Audience? Understanding your target market is essential for website layout and style. This is one of the first phases since, in order to design the ideal website brief, we need to understand the type of person we are targeting. We must look at your target audience, determine what interests them, and generate examples that we think would be interesting and appealing to them. It is also useful here to determine what services you would like to offer them. Step 5: The design of your existing website Showing us your previous website, if you have one, and using it as an example of what you want and don't want would be really beneficial. To help us understand what you want, you can then show us what you enjoy about the website and what you feel is missing or needs work. Also, if you have seen a website that you enjoy and wish it had comparable features or functionality, even if it is a rival, it is crucial to provide samples because they can serve as a guide for what you desire. Additionally, it provides us with additional insight about your preferences. Step 6: Content for Your Website You can either provide us with any content you have, or we can write the content for you. Either way we’d need to know. Of course any content we provide would be content that is fully optimised for the products and/or services your company provides. If you are providing the content, it is very beneficial to have the content for your website before we begin the design process. Additionally, it gives us an insight into what you are offering as a business. In order to ensure that the project is completed on schedule, you must consider the type and quantity of material you want from the outset. For example, a page with 1500 words will need a totally different design than a page with 300 words. Step 7: Technical Requirements for Functionality One of the most crucial aspects of your website design is its technical functionality, thus we need you to be as detailed and provide us as much information as you can. The following could be included in the requirements: Links and feeds on social media Systems for online reservations and registration A forum with a newsfeed Online shopping Details and criteria for payments or shipping Integration of APIs We need to know if you have a specific idea of how you want the website's design to work and behave. You may want certain features, such as dashboards, user profiles, and account registration; we are unable to include these if we are unsure of your preferences. Step 8: Future Proofing Although we previously stated that we do not require your business plan for the next three years, we do require your future website design plans and ideas. Understanding these strategies will enable you to accomplish your website design objectives and, ultimately, yield the highest return on your investment. Some things to consider: Will you eventually need features but be unable to pay for them with your existing budget? Will your material be updated and modified to fit your future business strategy, or will it stay the same? Do you think eCommerce will be a viable alternative in the future? With this knowledge, we may think about how to future proof your website for whatever is coming next. Step 9: Timelines Different clients have varied deadlines. This is due to the fact that some clients may require urgent website design and content creation since they do not yet have a website, while others may already have a website and wish to create a new one but are not in a rush to do so and would rather to take their time optimising it as they go along. You must notify us at the start of the project if you have a deadline that must be fulfilled in order for us to determine whether it is viable to meet it by that date and to give you milestone dates as the project progresses. Step 10: Search Engine Optimization When expanding your company, it's critical to understand that having a beautiful website alone won't propel you to the top of Google; instead, you must devote a significant amount of effort to search engine optimization. Although creating a website is a fantastic first step, it's as critical to consider how you will increase website traffic. At SkyDriveDigital we have specialist SEO and web design staff that can assist you significantly raise your website's search engine rankings. Step 11: Investment For us to take into account the expenses of the features and content you desire on your website, you must provide us an accurate and reasonable investment range. Additionally, it's critical to keep in mind that you are receiving a specialist service that will bring you solid business results, in addition to a website. Providing us with an idea of your budget also helps us determine what kind of website we can create for you and what goals we can and cannot accomplish. Step 12: Website Hosting If you have a site already that is being hosted somewhere, or you prefer a particular hosting platform that is fine, else we can recommend a hosting service. Either way, the website is always in your control and management, we would just require admin rights access. At SkyDriveDigital we have many years of experience designing websites for clients operating in a range of industries. Whatever your website needs, look us up or contact SkyDriveDigital today.