Website Project Workshop – Discovery Session
Agenda – 7 Discussion Points to look at what you really want
Your Goals – What do you want from this website project workshop? Generally our clients do not want a website, they want more sales, visitors, enquiries, etc.
Visitor Goals – What will visitors want to get from a visit to this website ?
Content – What needs to be on the website, in terms of photos, written content, advice, FAQs etc
Look & Feel – Is it to be Custom Design or a Design Theme, Professional blue or Eco green, Friendly orange or local, etc
Functionality – Is there to be a Newsletter, Blog, Shop, Application Form, Booking Engine, Calendar, etc
1. Your Goals – What do you want from this website project workshop?
Clients will want different things or esults from their website.
Establish a stronger and more professional brand image
Explain your products & services (AIDA – Create Attention – Generate Interest – Infuse a Desire – Push towards taking an Action)
Answer questions – Save phone calls to the office, answer the questions a visitor has before they go somewhere else that does answer the questions, explain all the details
Grow an email list for email marketing and promotional campaigns – Create your own tribe and continue to market to this warm audience
Increase website visitors – Is it a numbers game or is quality more important than quantity
Get more leads through the website – Increase the enquiries to feed your sales funnel
Increase membership subscriptions – Sign up students
Increase online purchases – Sell more online
Grow your social media following – Create more awareness through your Social platforms
Grow your personal brand – Become an Authority or become best known in your space
Recruit new staff or team members, partners or associates
Increase sales
Get better leads
Qualify leads
Save time
Work fewer hours
Employ fewer people
Work remotely
2. Your Visitors Goals – What do visitors want to get from a website visit
Get product or service information – Find the information needed to make a decision
Get more informed about their problem or pain-point – Be able to make comparisons with other providers
Understand how your products or services help them – Determine if your offering is the right one
Learn about the other products or services you offer – Find other products or services that may be of interest
Discover how other products or services can help them – See the benefits for other customers and the Reviews
Learn more about the company – See if this is a company they want to use
Inquire about a product or service – Ask questions
Purchase a product or service – Make a secure payment for a purchase
Contact the business – Enquire with the company to ask a question or place an order or make an appointment
3. Content – What needs to be on the website, in terms of photos, written content, advice, etc
Products – Name, details, description photos, pricing, delivery rates
Services – What we do / How we do it – Services with an individual description and relevant details
Photos – Sized images with the logical naming convention
Videos – Explainer videos
Company – Staff or Team photos and Bios, History, Mission, Vision, Ts & Cs, etc
Updates – News and or Blog items
Resources – Guides, PDFs, Checklists or White Paper as downloads or Lead Magnets
Our Customers / Testimonials and Reviews – Written, video recorded reviews from clients on the website or Google Reviews or Trust Pilot and Facebook
Contact – Which email address do you use? Who manages your email? Where is it hosted? Where should Contact enquiries go?
Sign Up for Updates / Newsletter – Do you use Mailchimp or Active Campaign etc
4. Look & Feel – Is it to be Custom Design or a Design Theme
Is it to be Custom Design or a Design Theme, Professional blue or Eco green, Friendly orange or local, etc
References to things you love on other sites?
References to things you do not love?
Things that add your personality or character
5. References for discussion – other websites in the industry anywhere in the world
https://www.competitor.com for inspiration and other websites that will give us ideas for design and layout.
What do we have to beat?
What good ideas can we find where?
6. Functionality – Is there to be a Newsletter, Blog, Shop, Booking Engine, Calendar, etc
Image / Photo gallery
Video / Video Gallery
Project or Portfolio Gallery
Pop-ups for promotions and offers and Lead Magnets
Online contact form and fields
Social media integration with Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and buttons for sharing, liking, commenting
Estimate or Get a Quote form – Fields, etc
Online calculator – To work out a price etc
Newsletter signup – To build up your mailing list
Online store eCommerce of some sort
Upsells, Downsells, Cross-sells, Lead Magnets, Special Offers, etc
Credit card processing – Payment Gateways
Customized blog -Dynamic, etc
7. Knowledge Base / FAQ
Staff / Members area –
File downloads or uploads – PDFs, White Papers, etc
Event calendar – Linked to where, editable where, by whom
Job applications – To Google Forms
Live chat – Drift App or other
Google Map – On which Google account
Instructional/promotional videos – From Youtube or Vimeo etc
Website search – Tags, etc
Multi-language support – Google Translate or separate flagged pages
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Keyword Mapping, Plan, etc
Website Analytics – Google Analytics set up
Use this Website Project Workshop or Discovery Session
To work out :
Why we are building this website?
Who is it for?
What do they want to see on the website?
What do they want to be able to do?
What content or information needs to be on the website and in what format?
Who is going to manage the website content when it is live?
Who is going to manage the website security and performance when it is live?
Who is going to manage the SEO on and off the website content when it is live?
What access usernames and passwords are required for domains, hosting, social media accounts, Google account, etc
When will the site performance be reviewed? Monthly, Quarterly, BiAnnually or Annually, etc.
How long does it take to do this Project Workshop or Discovery Session:
Allow yourself two hours for the initial session, as any longer can get tiring or lose momentum. Any less and you will not get through it all. Make sure you are freed up to focus your attention for the two-hour session, no phones, email, visitors, just zone in on these Socratic questions to ensure you get the answers right and see to it that the Web Design Agency understands what you really want to achieve. Why do you want this website? It could be to make more money or get more time at home, less time on the road, reducing interviews, more inbound leads, better leads, double your sales – what is most important to you?
After the Discovery session, let the web design agency go and do some research and send you back a Brief or Plan to consider and revise or update. This Brief should guide everyone involved in the project, designers, developers, and digital marketers.