When people ask for a web design quote we are naturally pleased they have considered us as an option to design, code and host their website.
When we get an enquiry, we don’t expect to get a lot of detail straight away. There are often commercial sensitivities and we pledge to treat each enquiry with integrity and discretion.
We often come back to the enquirer with more questions so we can put together an accurate quote or proposal.
Here are some questions that we often ask or need to know.
What is your business or project?
New website aside, the first thing we need to know is more about your business or project and your future plans.
We like to know in detail as this helps us understand where the website fits in with your business process and how it is going to help you progress.
This helps us come up with practical suggestions for features that help improve your business such as making communication with clients easier, encouraging them to book services or place orders, processing orders more efficiently, promoting the business more effectively etc.
What is your current website?
We do like to look at your current website so we get an idea of what you have done in the past.
This gives us an opportunity to check technology used such as content management system (e.g. WordPress, Joomla, etc) or static HTML website, plus any current features.
Image by Werner Moser from Pixabay
We also need to get an idea of the size of the current website and any current features that may or may not be needed for the new website.
Which parts of the current website need to kept?
You might have a lot content that you need to keep so we need to work out the best way of exporting this to the new website.
This can be a combination of text in pages and images. The images will often need to be checked for copyright as things can turn ugly if you use copyright images without permission.
We can often export and extract web pages and import them into the new website, however sometimes this cannot be done easily and the new web pages need to setup to look appealing anyway.
If the website is long established then we need to audit and download the current website URLs so we can recreate them on the new site or do permanent 301 redirects to the new pages – this tells search engines the page has moved permanently.
There might also be customer data such as address details and purchase history that will need to be exported to the new website and database.
What features need to be added or improved?
You might have a contact form that doesn’t capture enough information or want to add new features like e-commerce, online booking or private members’ area.
This is the part of the quotation process and we can usually itemise these so you can pick and choose what you want.
The beauty of using a content management system like WordPress is that we can also bolt these features on at a later date without too much disruption.
What web designs do you like?
The web design is, of course, very important and we need to know your thoughts about web design and branding. All websites need to be responsive these days so they work on PCs, laptops, smartphones and tablets so that is an absolute must.
If you already have a logo or want it refreshed then that’s fine. We would also like to know your thoughts on colour palettes, images, backgrounds and background colours.
Generally though, unless you want a new website for a death metal band, large amounts white text on black backgrounds is a personal pet hate! See our page on web design services for more information – web design services.
It often helps if you can list some existing websites that you like.
Do you need web hosting and extra features?
A new website is also a good opportunity to switch over to better and faster web hosting.
It’s also a chance to add extra features such as a SSL certificate so the website runs securely through https or better email accounts, autoresponders for enquiries, forwarding addresses to cut spam etc.
This is where the web hosting in conjunction with the new web design can really help improve the efficiency of your business processes such as enquiry handling and internal communication.
See more information about our web hosting services at this page – web hosting services.
Finally
The initial enquiry for a web design quote is the first step in working towards building an accurate picture of your new website. Once we have this information we can provide an accurate quote and proposal so all parties know what to expect and how much it is going to cost.
Get in touch with Dinesh on 07941 686113 if you need help on web design, web hosting, SEO services, domain names or email marketing.
