Planning & Discovery
- What are your business goals?
- How does the website fit into those goals?
- What is the purpose of your website?
- Who is/are the audience(s) for the website?
- Can you identify demographics of your website visitors?
- Do you have marketing personas developed?
- What do you want website visitors to do/accomplish on your site?
- How do you define a lead from the website?
- How do you follow-up with leads from the website?
- How will they find your website?
- Why would they come back to your site more than once?
- Who are your competitors?
- What makes you different?
- Do you intend to update content/site pages yourself after launch?
- How are you planning for mobile use?
Project Timing/Timeline
- What is the time frame for completion of this project?
- Are there particular dates, seasons or events for which the site needs to be completed?
- Do you have the time and/or resources to ensure the project is completed on time?
- Who will be the internal project manager, responsible for managing the project schedule and ensuring internal contributions are made on time?
- Can you think of anything that would prevent us from completing this project on time?
Technical Details
- Do you already have a domain (url) or do you need to register one?
- Where is your domain registered?
- Where is your current site hosted?
- Do you have Control Panel access with that hosting?
- Will you utilize a content management system on the new site?
- If no, will it need to utilize databases?
- If it doesn’t use a CMS, do you want FTP access to make edits?
- How much Bandwidth and Disk space do you need?
- What is the Speed and Reliability of your host?
- Does the host offer technical support?
- Does the host offer email accounts and webmail access?
- Will you need multiple domains and/or subdomains?
- Do you need e-commerce support (SSL, Dedicated IP)?
- Does the host provide regular site backups?
- Where is your email hosted?
Analytics
- Do you have Google Analytics installed on your current site?
- Do you utilize Google Search Console for site health tracking and reporting?
- Based on historical analytics reports, what is the demographic of your website visitors?
- What devices do they use to access your site?
- What percentage of your traffic is coming from mobile?
- Is your traffic mostly domestic or do you have international traffic?
- What pages do they spend the most time on?
- What pages to they bounce from?
- What are your top 10 landing pages/entrance pages?
- What are your top 10 exit pages?
- Do you currently track any goals in analytics?
- Do you currently track any events in analytics?
- Do you have e-commerce tracking set up? (if applicable)
SEO
- Have you done any SEO planning?
- Have you done any keyword research?
- Do you know what keywords are driving traffic in your industry?
- Do you know who your competitors are online?
- Do you know which terms you want to rank for?
- Do you know which terms convert visitors on your website?
- Do you have onsite search and is it tracked in analytics?
- Do you know which terms you currently rank for?
- Do you use Google My Business?
- Is local/geo-targeted SEO important for your business?
Design
- If you currently have a website, what do you like/dislike about it?
- Is there anyone in your industry (local, regional or national) who’s doing a great job online?
- Are there other websites (in or outside of your industry) you like the design of?
- Do you have logos (and other branding elements) for your site?
- Do you have corporate brand guidelines we need to adhere to?
- Do you have corporate colors or fonts that must be used?
- Do you have any photos you can provide?
- Do you have a stock photo site(s) you prefer to use?
Features
- Will you need an open-source, custom or enterprise CMS?
- Will you need a blog?
- Are there any specific site features or functionality that you will need?
- Do you intend to provide user-restricted content that would require users to log into the site?
- Do you need integration with social media?
- What social media channels do you use?
- What plugins do you need for security, social media, SEO and analytics?
- Do you require online chat features?
- Do you need a forum or membership system?
- Do you need to integrate with an event calendar?
- Do you have any compliance needs (HIPAA or 508 compliance)?
- Do you need multi-language support?
- Are there integrations you need with video hosting providers or CRMs?
- What 3rd party systems does your website currently integrate with? (if applicable)
Content & Marketing
- Do you have staff in-house that is familiar with writing for the web?
- If yes, will that person develop and write content, or only edit and provide feedback?
- Will you provide gated content on your site for lead generation?
- How often do you plan to add new lead-generation content?
- Are you considering integrating marketing automation with your website?
- Are you planning to market and promote your website after launch?
- Have you developed a marketing plan for post launch?
- Do you need content writing support from our team, either for the site development or after launch?
- Do you have an email marketing service provider?
- Do you have email templates built for lead nurturing?
Management & Maintenance
- Do you need maintenance support after launch?
- Do you have any experience updating your website?
- Do you have the appropriate staff in-house to manage and maintain your website after launch?
Working Together
- Who is the internal point person for this project?
- Are they empowered to make decisions about the project?
- What question(s) have we not asked you?
- What concerns do you have?
- Where do you think this project has the most risk of going off track?
- How do you prefer to be managed and communicated with?
- What questions do you have for us?
You wouldn’t build a house on quicksand.
Our Ultimate Guide to Website Planning and Maintenance lays the foundation for you (You’re welcome.)
