In fact, a site with excellent on-page optimization and strong linking will always suffer under a poorly
coded site architecture and/or design.
All too often, businesses come to us after the site has already been designed and coded. We then charge
the client hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, to make the site search engine friendly. Only then can
we start optimizing, promoting and marketing the site.
The problem here is that making the site search engine friendly shouldnt be done after the site is
designed; it should be done while the site is being designed. Its the developers job. They are coding the
damn thing, so for the love of HTML (and all other web programming languages), do it right!
While I dont have any degree in website design and I in no way call myself a programmer, web
marketing has taught me a great deal about designing websites. I think many web designers start with
the goal of making the site pretty, or making sure it functions as requested. But what they often dont
consider is what happens next. They did their job, the rest is someone elses problem.
Unfortunately, this type of design is shortsighted. All design should start with marketing. Its marketing
that determines what looks good visually. Its marketing that determines the layout of the site. Its
marketing that constructs effective navigation layouts. Its marketing that ensures the design adheres to
best usability practices or considers the audiences needs and requirements. Its marketing that then
takes that site and turns it into a revenue generator for the business
Sorry, developers. Marketing comes first and foremost; the rest is built from that!
In light of that, we have created a list of questions (over 100!) that we use to determine the scope of any
new web development project. By thinking through these answers early, scope creep is kept to a
minimum and ensures that the clients final product is exactly what they want.
These questions allow us to:
get a good understanding of the business, who their audience is and what the client is looking for;
produce a quote that is as accurate as possible to the clients needs and produce a website that meets
their expectations; and
build a site that is ready to be marketed online, staying true to the businesss core principles and vision.
100+ Questions Every Web Developer Should Ask Before They Provide A Web Design Quote
The questions below are listed under Background Information and Scope & Specs.
Background Information
What are your corporate core values and how do you express them to your visitors?
Why should people do business with you rather than your competitors?
Can you provide the Pantone numbers for your company colors?
Do you have any other materials that the site needs to match with in some way (brochures, press
materials, etc.)?
Is there any functionality or options on your current website that you plan to keep (other than the
content)?
What do your current competitors websites have that you wish to have?
Are there any websites with designs that you like?
What about those websites would you like to be incorporated into your website?
What types of things do you see on other websites that you really like?
What types of things do you see on other websites that you really hate?
Name the 3 things that are most important in the design of your new website.
Name the 3 things that are least important in the design of your new website.
Does your current web host meet all your new websites needs (space, bandwidth, databases, etc.)?
Do you have a logo you plan to use or will one need to be created?
If you have one, can you provide the original artwork files?
Do you have a tagline you wish to use or do you need help creating one for your site?
Do you have a completed site architecture for the new website or will this be part of the scope of work?
How many pages will the finished website be (estimated)?
Do you have any page wireframes ready or will those need to be produced as part of the scope of work?
Do you have the content for the website or will content creation be a part of the scope of work?
Do you or your team need training for making website updates, content publishing guidelines, etc.?
What types of actions do you want your visitors to take on your website?
Will we need to find and/or create any images for the website?
Can you provide us the proper files or is creation of this content part of the scope of work?
Will any customizations need to be made such as optimizing for search, adding content overlays,
customized wrappers, etc?
Do you have any other media or PDF documents that need to be incorporated, or will any need to be
created?
Will your visitors require any special needs (i.e., screen reader ready, larger fonts)?
Do you have a preference for which CMS to use? (i.e., WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Concrete 5, Magento,
etc.)
If not, do you need help selecting the best CMS for your needs?
If so, why?
How do you want the submitted info handled? (email, database, etc.)
Do you need any social sharing features built in (tweet, like, +1, share, etc.)?
Do you use a third party for any part of subscription content delivery and/or payment?
Do you wish to employ any content-on-demand features (i.e., hidden elements that are made visible
with certain actions)?
Do you want a fixed-width or fluid-width design?
Will different sections of your site require different designs, layouts or coloring?
Do you have any other specifications or need specific functionality that has not been addressed?
Will you be looking for keyword optimization beyond the design/development scope?
The worst development jobs are those that end up with runaway scope creep. That happens when the
client doesnt really know what they want and they keep adding to the project as it moves forward.
The cost of this creep is often saddled on the developer because the scope was never clearly defined in
the first place. When your developer poses these questions up front, it helps the client carefully think
through all of the things they need in advance, eliminating scope creep almost entirely. And, because
marketing is baked right into the development process, theres no need to hire a whole new agency to
fix all the marketing-related blunders perpetrated by the original designer.