Website Planning Guide

Aquarius-Atlanta
contact@aquarius-atlanta.com

1. Why do you want a website? Major purposes (main goals/objectives)?

____ Sales
____ Service
____ Information/Education

To offer company information
To increase public awareness of our company's name, brand or identity
To increase sales
To sell products directly over the Internet taking credit cards and checks
To make product or service information available to current customers
To make product or service information available to distributors
To serve the needs of current and future clients
To explain our products and services
To encourage potential customers to contact us by phone, mail or e-mail
To bring in new clients or customers to our location
To compete in the global marketplace
To offer links to other relevant sites

2. What does your company/business do?

3. Do you have a business slogan or catch phrase?

4. List target audience demographics - who do you want to reach. Be as specific as possible (age range, profession, interests, etc.)

5. How does your business and products benefit your target audience? What can your business offer your visitors, what's in it for them, how can you help them? What problems do your prospects have that your business solves? List features of your products and/or services

6. List some of competitor website URLs - what you like/dislike. How can you present your information, products, service in a different or better manner?

7. How often during the year do you anticipate updates to the website? What types of information will be updated? Up to 1 hour/month is included in your hosting fee.

8. What is your budget for the completion of the website and yearly maintenance?

9. What is your budget for marketing the website and how do you intend to market both on and off the Internet? You should conservatively plan for at least half of your budget to be for marketing. Simply putting up a website and submitting to search engines is not marketing. It is only one small tactic in an overall campaign.

10. Do you need domain registration?

Current domain name registered?
Which domain registration service did you use?

11. List the e-mail address you want associated with your domain name/website.

12. List any existing websites you want linked in your site. These should be sites that are related to your site and not direct competitors. Sites should by those whose services you use or that provide service or information useful to your target audience. Sites that cross-link with each other may increase both businesses targeted traffic.

13. What is the approximate number of printed material pages you have or will have for content?

14. Please list and gather any existing materials and information
(including but not limited to):
Photos (prints, slides, negatives)
Any text in computer ready format (.txt or .doc file format if possible)
Graphics, logos suitable for scanning or computer ready (.jpeg or .gif format)
Brochures
Business cards, letterhead
Flyers
Product pictures
Press releases
Price and part lists
Frequently Asked Questions
Shipping and handling charges and constraints
Warranty policy
Privacy policy
Return policy
Guarantees
Customer/client testimonials
Endorsements from known sources
Credits
Bios
History
Education
Certifications
Awards
Case studies
Photos of yourself, staff and location
Industry recognition
Map and directions

PHOTOS and GRAPHICS
It is our understanding that you own the copyright to or have permission from the
copyright owners to use any photos or graphics you send us. You can send the photos themselves for us to scan and return or send the digitized images on a diskette or via e-mail.

15. CONTENT is critical for an effective website!
What do you want on your website? Some ideas for content include:

Welcome message

Mission/vision statement

Company overview

About Us/Who we are

What we do

About the Company (vision or mission statement, history of your business,
philosophy of how you do business, etc. Sell the customer on why he or she should do business with you rather than with your competitor)

What's new (where you put updates or new copies of a newsletter)

Product information, pricing and availability (with photos and text to describe
the benefits to your customers of your goods and services. You can also show
features, applications or examples.

Technical specification of products (if any) (some businesses find it useful to
provide technical information, specifications, frequently asked questions, parts lists and diagrams, troubleshooting decision trees, etc.)

Warranty information

Office/store hours

Services

Frequently asked questions

Newsletter

Response form for information

Guestbook for visitors to record comments

Survey of customer preferences

Order form (or how to order). This can include a form which e-mails your customer's information to you.

Specials

Sweepstakes

Contests

Map to store/office

History/Philosophy of business

Client recommendations/referrals

Tours

Catalog requests

Demonstrations

Free offers

Unique information related to your products or services

Trivia

User section: A section for consumers

Client section: A section for current clients

Staff

Service section (This is free information of interest to your potential customers
that will keep them coming back to your site for updates. It might be news of your
industry, of a related field or something unique or interesting. Give some thought to what service your web pages will provide to draw customers to your storefront again and again)

16. Optimizing your site for search engine and directory indexing is critical!
We'll handle the technical stuff... you provide the following:

What keywords will your clients use to find you?Please list up to 20 keywords:

Write a 25 word description of your business to be displayed and used in search engine submissions. Describe what your business offers, to whom it if offered and a succinct reason your business should be considered. Remember, in many search engines, this description is displayed in the search results. It should be written so that the surfer is compelled to click on your link and not the 100's of others that are possible.

17. What are all the different ways visitors can contact you?

Name

Address

Phone
Fax
1-800
E-mail addresses

List hours of operation, time zone (PST, EST) and days closed.

18. Give reasons why your business clearly beats the competition?

19. What is your USP (unique selling proposition)?

20. Customers tend to look for information as a priority over shopping on-line. They may surf at other sites, but they will continually return to the sites they trust intuitively and can solve their problems. A visitor may need to return many times before making a purchase (studies suggest as many as 5 times). What can you do to encourage customers to purchase now and abandon the need to continue to search?

21. Web surfers have short attention spans, may not remember your site and will probably not return unless you give them a compelling reason to do so. How can you encourage repeat visitors and referrals?

22. Every measure should be taken to encourage visitors to voluntarily submit their e-mail address. Free offers, contests, referral forms, surveys and requests for information forms can be useful tools to encourage e-mail signups. What can you offer that can be digitally delivered on site (computer wallpaper, screensavers, special reports, on-line coupons, affiliate programs, etc.) and is free?

23. What means of communication do you want to provide your clients?

E-mail form
E-mail link
Newsletter
Other

24. Website design specifics

Preferred colors

Basic color scheme

Background color or texture

List any particular fonts to be used. It is unwise to use more than 2-3 major fonts

Which of our template sites is most appealing?

25. List any website URLs with designs, color schemes that appeal to you and why

26. What types of components do you want to include other than still photos/graphics and text (e-commerce, affiliate programs, survey forms, feedback forms, opt-in newsletter, referral forms, etc.)

27. Website Maintenance

Website maintenance is crucial to the existence of your website. A static, non-changing web site is boring. A potential customer will continue to come back to your site if they know it is constantly changing and offering new and vital information about your company and products. Offer internet specials, monthly specials and promotions, new products or services, etc. Elements can be added on a regular basis that can keep the site fresh.

Maintenance includes:

• link corrections
• type corrections
• HTML tag corrections,
  
• address, price, phone numbers, product changes may be needed
• updating the site with text, photographs and/or graphic images
  

This maintenance is intended to cover small changes that the site owner may have. Your hosting fee includes up to one hour each month for maintenance.

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contact@aquarius-atlanta.com

770-641-9055 | 770-641-8502 (Fax)
1035 Green Street Roswell • Roswell, GA 30075
www.aquarius-atlanta.com/webdesign