Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey SUN friends, I just put together a quick and easy website planner kit and wanted to let you guys check it out first.  It`s basically a questionnaire for people just starting out with a new website.  Hopefully it can help some of you develop you`re site, just download the PDF and print it out! 

Download the Free Website Planner Kit Here

It`s the first version, so if you have feedback or suggestions, bring it on!  Thanks everyone, and enjoy.  All the best, Ben at 337 Design.


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Ben Grinnell - 337 Design - Web Design & HD Video Production

Here are a few questions that I ask clients/potential clients (some are similar to those you have posted:

Website Goals and objectives:
LIST YOUR REASONS FOR THIS WEB SITE – WHY DO YOU WANT THIS WEB SITE (in order of importance, i.e. name branding, advertisement, etc)

DESCRIBE YOUR VISION FOR THIS WEB SITE?

WHAT ARE YOUR SHORT-TERM GOALS FOR THIS WEB SITE (IN THE FIRST 1 – 6 MONTHS)?  i.e. online business card, INCREASE SALES, DECREASE ADVERTISING COSTS, ENTER NEW MARKET, ETC

LIST SPECIFIC LONG-TERM GOALS (IN THE FIRST 1 – 3 YEARS)

WHO WILL MANAGE EACH ASPECT OF THIS WEB SITE ONCE IT IS COMPLETE (i.e. e-mail management, system maintenance, new content, testing forms periodically, marketing, etc.)?

Company Background:
DO YOU HAVE AN OFF-LINE BUSINESS LOCATION (BRICK-AND-MORTAR)?  DO YOU WANT TO USE THE WEB SITE TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO YOUR PHYSICAL LOCATION OR DO YOU WANT TO CONDUCT MOST OF YOUR BUSINESS ON-LINE?

WHAT IS THE LEGAL NAME OF YOUR COMPANY?  WHAT DOES YOUR COMPANY DO?  DO YOU HAVE A PRESS RELEASE? 

PLEASE ATTACH A ONE-PAGE DESCRIPTION OF YOU OR YOUR COMPANY SO THAT WE MAY ADD IT TO THE ABOUT US SECTION.  PLEASE ATTACH A ONE-PAGE PRESS RELEASE IF YOU HAVE ONE.

IF DIFFERENT FROM THE ABOVE INFORMATION PLEASE INCLUDE HOW PEOPLE CAN CONTACT

YOU: (ie.  E-mail address that you are currently using, cell phone number, pager, etc.)

 

HOW CAN THE WEB SITE BENEFIT YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE?  WHAT CAN YOU OFFER YOUR VISITORS--WHAT’S IN IT FOR THEM? HOW CAN YOU HELP THEM?  PLEASE SPECIFY A CLEAR LIST OF BULLET ITEMS OF BENEFITS.

 

WHAT IS YOUR UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION?  CUSTOMERS TEND TO LOOK FOR INFORMATION AS A PRIORITY WHEN SHOPPING ONLINE.  A VISITOR MAY NEED TO RETURN MANY TIMES BEFORE REGISTERING, PURCHASING, AND/OR CONTACTING YOU.  WHAT CAN YOU DO TO ENCOURAGE VISITORS TO JOIN YOU NOW AND ABANDON THE NEED TO CONTINUE THE SEARCH?

 

WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF ON-LINE BUSINESS AND WHAT ARE THE EXPECTATIONS FOR FUTURE ON-LINE SALES?

 

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

A website is only as good as the systems that sit behind it to support it. We are offering a new approach to building & launching a website, as well as a cost-effective eCommerce, CRM and ERP solution that sits behind it. If its just a website you want - then keep your website up-to-date with clever content managment not code.  

"Put all the applications required to start-up a business in one product and rent it on a monthly basis" our customers requested......hmmm sounds like a novel idea. We are providing this to entrepreneurs in Ireland and Italy, and we would like to do the same in the States shortly..... so checkout Panthius.com and tell us what you think.....

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Ultan O Brien Managing Director Panthius.com Rock House Main Street Blackrock Co Dublin Int: +35312789003 DDI: +35312790007 Mob: +353862323755 www.panthius.com

Wow! Suddenly the idea of pre-planning a Web site joins with turnkey e-commerce solutions! :-) Talk about serendipity!

Ben, I`m asking similar questions on the Site Plan topic, and put a note in there to cross-reference this topic. Do these two topics repeat each other, or are they different? I`m suggesting that a Site Plan should likely be created before speaking with the developing company.

Roland, when you hand off your questionnaire, isn`t it true that you`re assuming the prospective client can answer the questions, or has the basics in place? What if they don`t? How would they go about having those basics?

Ultan, I took a look at Panthius, and it sure looks interesting. But I wonder if it`s just too much "stuff," so to speak? Can someone just pick out one feature, like building a Web site or Web store, and not use the other features until later?

Cheers Craig....Wasn`t trying to be obstreperous in relation to the context of the forum
but I thought......hey its not rocket surgery!!!! Yes you can choose to use whatever functionality you like for €49 per month per user (about $70) and customise your navigation..... so as not to distract your eyes with outragious functionality....start with a website
and then of course grow into a full suite...most of our customers start that way....

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Ultan O Brien Managing Director Panthius.com Rock House Main Street Blackrock Co Dublin Int: +35312789003 DDI: +35312790007 Mob: +353862323755 www.panthius.com

Ben -

80% of my clients wouldn`t understand the terms used on this document. I would think, if I were a new client of yours, and you sent me this thing instead of talking to me in a language I could understand ... I would not use your services. Your job is to empower, not confuse.

I also think this is not a good use of the client`s time because it isn`t asking the right things. Isn`t it your job to assess the client`s needs and make the menus?

So I guess you should ask yourself what is the purpose of it. If it is to help your clients, it doesn`t seem the right approach. If it is to entice people to your website to download something with your name on it so you can capture their email address and market to them further ... I guess if that works for you, go for it.

You`re an aggressive marketer, that`s for sure. I`m can`t quite make up my mind whether or not be impressed or if I find the constant stream of advertising/self promotion irritating. [ I have to agree with Nikole. The form reads like an expert-oriented document. ]

Also, it`s really not much of a planner kit. It`s more of a "drum up business kit for 337". Just my opinion. How about if you actually included a bit more of a real primer or a short treatise? There`s something a bit off-putting about your constant attempts to drum up business here. [My opinion, not a fact.] Remember, most people aren`t here to endure a constant onslaught of in-forum advertising messages; and people is the operative word here. Not all the people who visit this site want to be fed to your human-to-customer conversion machine. They`re here for practical help. Please offer something of real use while you fish for prospects and don`t use what amounts to little more than a blatant customer induction form. Provide something useful, like "10 Things to Consider Before Building a Web Site".

Otherwise, it`s really a bit like telemarketing.

P.S. You could produce an online version and have all your questions on ten pages and mix the questions in with useful information. That would be nice.

Yes and no. I use those question to stimulate the client`s thoughts about his or her qoals and expectations for the web pesence. If they have answers, great. If they do not, it is a topic we discuss.  They probably do have answers, just not commited into writing, so I use the questions to stimulate a discussion about their goals.

~Roland

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Web Design | Best Beef Jerky | ecommerce articles | Follow vwebworld on Twitter

I`m in agreement with CookieMonster.... I wasn`t impressed at all by the "Website Planner Kit".... and why isn`t it on a website instead of a pdf file.

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Pokerman It`s not about what you can do... it`s about what you will do! Amateur Poker League Software - Drive Traffic - Add 100,000 Songs to your website - Music Catalog

I`m going with both Nikole and Roland. I`m tired of going to an accountant to make my life easier, only to be told I should do all my accounting first, then come to them for the final stroke of the pen.

So too, I want to walk into a developer`s office, say, "Hey..I need a Web site!" Then they take it from there.

As Roland says, if I have no idea or can`t be bothered to fill out a questionnaire, what I want is for this professional to say, "I`ll take it from here!" They can ask me the question, face-to-face, in English. If I know the answer, great. If I don`t, they can expand the language, explain the question, or draw me pictures.

What I`m seeing is related to CBT (computer-based training). When I learned DOS, it was because I had a human being teaching me. I asked all sorts of seemingly unrelated questions, because that`s how MY mind works....not someone else`s mind. And I learned it very quickly.

Now, if you want to learn anything, you`re supposed to use a computer-aided disk. Fine....if your mind works exactly the way the programmer`s, developer`s, or author`s works. What if it doesn`t? What if you have no idea what the words in the question mean or even relate to?

Sometimes it takes a professional to know that before a question can be answered, the person asking it is going to need some basic education. A computer disk doesn`t know that. A remote author who produced a book can`t know the reader.

All anyone has to do is call AT&T and listen to the utterly stupid voice menu! Instead of quickly being directed somewhere by a thinking human being, you have to listen to a robot, wait through a bunch of superfluous politeness, and hope that you speak well enough for the computer to understand.

Why not learn to fly a plane by reading a book, or taking a quick CBT course? The question is whether or not building a GOOD Web site is a hard thing or an easy-as-pie thing. But that comes down to the evaluation of "good" and "bad."