Free website planner as a Word Doc
Benefits of using this guide:
- You will think of new ideas for your website
- It will be clear to you what you need to organise
- Fast track the first meeting with your web designer
Once you have downloaded the planning document if you would like to understand more about each section and what to do we have captured a series of videos with hints and extra ideas for you.
Your new website worksheet
While it is easy to make the simple complicated, it takes skill to make the complex feel simple. We’ve put together this handy worksheet to help you capture your vision for the project. Think of this document as a business plan for your website. The more information you can give us, the better we’ll be able to respond. Please answer each question in a clear and concise manner, and skip any questions that don’t pertain to your project.
There are some things which we hope are common to all businesses, like good customer service, friendly staff, quality products, warranties, and what we want to get to the bottom of is what makes people seek you out, what makes you terrific or better than competitors, how will we get people to call you?
Website Contact Information
First, what contact details do you want to publish on your website? As a minimum I suggest an email address, phone number, your name and if it makes sense to have a street or postal address then that too, or both.
Business name, Contact person, Email address
(if we are setting up a new email address for your website like info@yourbusiness.com then we can use that instead). Plus normally we will put a contact form on a website that people can fill in too.
Phone, Mobile, Address
What areas do you service?
Where are your clients?
If you mainly service a selection of suburbs or regions or states please list them.
Is your location important to your clients?
Who are your clients?
What will they identify with? Do they own homes, drive cars, have kids and pets, play sport, work long hours, have good incomes? Can you categorise them?
What are some of the attributes of your favourite clients? Describe a couple of them briefly so that we can get a sense of whom we are trying to attract.
Quote Request Form or a detailed enquiry form
Apart from the obvious questions that we should ask your potential customers like name, phone and email, is there any other information that you want to collect so that you know how to help them? In my experience people who fill in a quote request form tend to be more committed and more likely to be terrific prospects plus you have a better idea of what to talk about or reply to the person in your email when you contact them.
You can have a variety of form fields like tick boxes, single or multi line text boxes, drop down menus. Not sure? When you answer the phone to a potential client what are the top five things you will ask to help qualify the enquiry?
List of questions you want to ask on an enquiry form
After the form is completed what happens?
Once someone has filled in an enquiry form we could ask them to do something else like provide additional feedback or download a document or checkout a list of credentials or view some testimonials or case studies or a special offer. Rather than just leaving people on a bland ‘thank you page’ what do you think we should offer to them while they are keen to get to know you? Perhaps a thank you video or a ‘personal’ letter from yourself or a list of things to prepare would help?
Keywords; what are your clients thinking about before enquiring?
What are the keywords that people associate with your business?
If someone were trying to find your business, product or service what words do they use?
What are the problems your clients are trying to solve?
What is the need or desire that people want to fulfil which you can help them with?
What will people be looking for when they arrive on your website?
Why would people prefer to contact you rather than your competitors?
Competitors, Design and Feeling
List a few of your main competitors and their websites if you know them:
Which of your competitors is leading the way with their websites? Why?
Are there other websites you really like the design or features of and imagine for yourself which will help us understand how we will design your website?
When people arrive on your homepage how do you want them to feel?
Do you have any preferred colours, textures, metaphor, style, theme or visual ideas you would like us to put into your website to give the look and feel?
Summarising your business
An introduction: in 1 – 3 sentences write down what you would tell someone if they asked how you could help them and why they should call you.
List of benefits: what are the top 5 reasons people should call you
List of products or services: what are the main things people call you for
Deals and Calls to Action
What can we put on your website to help encourage people to take action? Can we offer some specials or deals that they might not find elsewhere?
Is there some kind of document we could offer people as a sweetener to fill in their contact details like a list of DIY tips, a guide to choosing a provider or some other advice that we can provide as a download?
Suppliers
If you have suppliers that we can refer to for information please list their websites or provide their promotional material.
Checklist of things you can be working on to add to your website:
Photos
Take some more. Rename the files to describe what they are if you can.
Testimonials
Case studies or example projects
Videos, record some on your phone, introduce yourself
Promotional material, brochures, supplier booklets
Newsletters or introductory letters you have written
Questions and Answers that you have given to clients
More information about your products and services, give us as much information as you like as documents, pdf or other computer files.
And any other information that will help describe your business, products or services so that we can give you a website that promotes you well.
Summary text for your services page
a. What services are you offering?
b. How do you go about offering your services?
c. Attach as separate documents if you like to explain what each service entails, technical specifications, and images.
d. What is special and unique about your services? Why should people choose your services or products over other peoples?
e. What is possible to achieve by people using your business?
f. If you want to go into any amount of detail about a service, you will need a page per service. If you would like all the services listed on one page, please provide details of what headings you will need.
Information you would like on your about us page
A short overview of your business benefits, ethos and methods:
a. When was your company founded?
b. Who founded it?
c. How has your business changed or grown over time?
d. What is your company ethos?
e. Do you follow any special methods or techniques in your business
f. Are you members of any professional bodies?