Working with a developer to design a new website is an exciting time for your business. While you may already be dreaming of launching your new site, there are some basics to get right first.
From suppling written content to sharing log in details, this is everything your web designer will need from you.
Website Copy
Copy – or the on-page text – is one of the main ingredients of a successful website. You’ll need to spend some time thinking about the pages your website will include and provide the copy and title for each page. Typically, each website will include a Home page, an About Us page, a Contact Us page, and a Services page. Each page should contain a minimum of 300 words and should be optimised for search engines.
Copywriting for search engines
When writing the copy for your site think about the keywords that will help it rank highly in search engines. Tools such as Google Analytics Keyword Planner can help you discover the right keywords for your industry.
You’ll also need to include a meta description for each page of copy that you send to your web designer. A meta description is a short summary of the web page optimised with keywords that are relevant to your industry.
Imagery
The images on your website create the first impression of your business. Especially when you are selling physical products. Where possible we recommend using a professional photographer –this is even more important for a business selling physical products to show them in the best light. Shoppers can be quickly discouraged by websites with poor photography as it looks unprofessional and untrustworthy.
If you are unable to work with a professional photographer, another option is to purchase images from stock libraries such as Shutterstock or iStock. From here you can buy professional photographs with full licenses that can be used for your website and marketing materials.
In some cases, it is also possible to find royalty-free images that you can use free of charge or for a small donation. Try Unsplash, Pexles, or Pixabay for these types of images.
Before sending images to your website designer make sure they are the right size and pixel quality. Images that are too large will cause slow loading times and become difficult to work with. On average, full-screen background images should be around 1MD and smaller images around 500KB. The best format for web images is a .png file, a Photoshop .PSD file or an Illustrator .ai file,
Your logo
Your logo should have pride of place on your website and will help customers recognise your brand. If you have already had a logo designed, supply it to your designer in a high resolution with a transparent background. Ideally in a vector format. If you don’t already have a logo we can design a logo for you.
Customer Reviews
Does your website design include a section for customer reviews and feedback? Choose some of your best reviews and send them to your designer so that they can be featured.
Blog Content
Having a blog on your website will boost your SEO and provide fresh content to keep your visitors interested. If you plan to incorporate a blog onto your website, prepare some blogs to send to your developer before it goes live. Blogs should include an image and title for each post (ask your designer for specific dimensions)
Import your existing content
Are you having a re-design instead of a new website? Your web developer will be able to import most of the existing content from your old site to your new site. However, now might be a good time to revisit the existing copy and have another look at your images to make sure everything is up to date.
External account logins and links
You may have other accounts that you’d like to incorporate into your new website build. Prepare a document with the usernames and passwords of the following sites if you want to use them with your new website.
- Google Analytics
- Email marketing platforms such as mailchimp
- Social media links
- Woocommerce or other ecommerce log ins
- Customer review websites such as Trustpilot or Feefo
A well written website brief
Not sure how to explain exactly what you want from your new website? Take a look at our previous article on how to write a great web design brief or call us to discuss your options.
