A starting point for your website Design Project (Gathering Content)

Gathering content for a new website… Where do I start?

If you’ve landed on this page it’s most likely you are looking for guidance on how you can streamline your website design project. Well… I can help! After dealing with many a clients over the past few years, it has become evident to me that the secret sauce for success lies with accountability on both parties involved (website designer/developer & client).

As a web developer I’ve had many clients request for a simple guide that will help them streamline their content for their project, and I hope the guide attached will ease your worries on where to start! and what to do!. Often times we developers forget to ask for pertinent information from the client which potentially might be detrimental for the online success of said website. So if you are looking for simple guide to help streamline your web content; the attached documents might be your best friends yet!! So let’s get started.

If you are looking to build a New website…

Building your first website? Not sure where to begin? Here are some important questions that might be relevant to your project.

Intent/Summary

A brief description of what you want to accomplish with your website. This will help your developer/designer immensely in helping you with the initial work involved (quote/ timeline etc.)

What type of website are you looking for?

Any website project begins with the basic understanding of what you need in order to be successful online. So ask yourself. What is it that you really want to accomplish from your website?

1. Informational website – Meant as an online portfolio for any business/ person… provides information relating to who you are, what you do etc.
2. E commerce website – You have a product or service to sell and you want to capture an online audience. Only use this option if you are planning to collect payments online. If not you still advertise your services or products using an informational website.
3. Custom Web platform – Use this option if you want to accomplish a specific task online (dating sites, classifieds sites, login portal, CRM platforms, etc..)

Now that you have the most basic details gathered you can move on to the next phase of your project. CONTENT…

Content is the lifeblood of any website as a developer it is imperative that I get all relevant content for the website. a centralized document/location for your prospective content will help with a much faster project completion. Believe me, I can attest to this fact with absolute certainty. There have been instances where a seemingly simple website has taken months on end and more complex websites being finished way before deadline. All directly relating the relevant content needed to build a kick ass website.  I have attached a document that you download and use without any restrictions. This is a working document and I will update it regularly. Feedback highly encourage.

Started website Project.. Moving on to gathering content

Now that you are ready to gather content here are some important tips that can help streamline your process.

Website Type

Please indicate what type of website you are looking for. You can Bold out your choice and provide more information if it’s a custom application.

1. Informational website
2. E commerce website
3. Custom Web platform

Website Theme options

Please provide examples of websites that matches the styles/ aesthetics of what you want to build. This will be used as a starting point to build out several template designs.

1. Website A
2. Website B
3. Website C

Business Details

Please provide business/ contact information to be used in the site. Only provide information you need displayed on the site. For any non-existing information, please enter N/A

1. Domain name :
2. Business name :
3. Business address :
4. Email :
5. Phone :
6. Fax # :

Social icons

Please provide any and all social icons you want displayed on the website.

1. Facebook :
2. Twitter :
3. Instagram :
4. LinkedIn :
5. Pinterest :
6. Google + :
7. Add anything extra from here

Images

Please send me any and all images you would like to add on the website. Since there are strict copyright laws with regard to using images online please be sure to get me exactly what you need. If you need help gathering images I can help you. So please let me know.

Hosting/ ftp account details

In order for us to work with the website. It is important we have sufficient access to your website. Please provide credentials to your website server.  If you do not have a hosting account set up , Please follow the link below to purchase a hosting plan. Please let me know if you need any additional information on what you need to purchase.

BLUE HOST (click link to follow to website )

1. Hosting provider name:
2. Login information

Pages

This section identifies the main pages for your website and will serve as an initial roadmap for the website design/ development process. Add or delete pages under the document as desired.  Items listed below are only examples. Add/delete as required

1. Home page
2. About Us
3. Contact Us
4. Blog
5. Page 5
6. Page 6 etc.

In the same document you can gather all content related to the pages that you have listed above. If you don’t have relevant content but have an idea of what you want to accomplish please list them out according to  specific page listed above.

Wishing you all the best of luck on your next website design project.