We have heard it before, but it really is true for everything in life. To get what we want, we need first to define, then refine, our vision for the final outcome. There really is no such thing as a usual or normal website. They may have some features or pages similar in purpose to other sites, but each client, and what he or she brings to the table is different. And how each client meets the needs of their customer is different. This is the basis for a marketing vision.
The hardest client to please is the one who says, “I don’t know what I want but I’ll know it when I see it”. I wouldn’t expect a house painter to paint my house in a color just because they like it, or to guess what color to paint my house to please me. I am expected to go out on a limb and tell them what color I want. If I am not sure what shade would be best I would say, “I want a blue that goes well with my pillows” and let them use their expertise to determine the exact shade. Creating an effective business website should not be an exercise in “let’s see if you can figure out what I want”, but rather a collaboration to determine what the end user (your customer) wants or needs and how to demonstrate to them that you are the best solution to meet their needs. Of course, making you happy is important too, but to give you what you want, you first need to determine what it is you want.
The purpose of a good business website pre-development meeting (at Richterworks we call this the Blueprint Development Meeting) is to determine the objectives of the website, to define the needs and motives of the end user, and layout the pages, content and features of the website to save us time (and you money) by ensuring we both have the same vision of where we are going and how we expect to get there.
You can learn more about the Blueprint Development Meeting.
Contact us (847-577-0491 or use our contact form) to discuss our process for developing your business website.