A 5-year old once told me that planning starts with P. If you are going to create a new web site, or even update a site significantly, I suggest a return to childhood. Throw out everything you think you know, and explore the many options with the same sense of wonderment you had when you were a kid. After educating yourself on some of the many possibilities, you can hone down your must haves, your needs, your wish list, and your fantasies, and get down to work on the project with some sense of the end in mind. Before hiring a web developer, I suggest asking yourself some basic questions that can save you time and money.

Here are some of my ideas on the subject:

SET GOALS

What do you want your web site to do for you, your project, or your business, specifically? What do your clients, or target audience, need from your web site, and what do you want your web site to do for them?

The answers to these questions will drive every choice you make. Usually, you want the overall design to reflect who you are and effectively market what you are providing or selling. You want visitors and clients to have the ability to seamlessly navigate your site, to efficiently glean the information they need, to quickly follow through with whatever it is they have come to your site to do, such as for instance researching a subject, completing a survey, or purchasing a retail item.

With every choice you make, you want to check back in with the goal you have for your site, and how it will serve you and your clients, to see whether that choice supports your goal.

TAKE INVENTORY

What do you already have in place that you want to keep?

You may have proprietary software that you want to keep, a database that is critical, or a specific network operating system or mail client, none of which you want to change. You’d prefer these products and systems interface with your web site. This will significantly affect your choice of where and how you serve your site, the hardware involved, the software installed, how the server and software is configured, which programming languages are supported, and ultimately, your choice of web developer.

What do you need now, and what would you like to add on in the future?

Think through your priorities. You can build your web site over time. However, it’s a good idea to think ahead, because your choices now can save you money later.

PLAN YOUR STRATEGY AND INCLUDE YOUR IN-HOUSE TEAM

Who in your organization will be involved in the planning and design of the web site and how will their roles be defined?

Your in-house team has valuable information about your organization that your web developer does not have. Similarly, your web developer has expertise on designing and building web sites that you do not have in-house. Gathering everyone involved together with a strong sense of what they are bringing to the project is something you, as the owner or project manager, can communicate in advance. Your in-house team should focus on developing content for the site, and on communicating the needs of your clients and business to your web developer; your web developer should listen to and take input from your in-house team, and take the lead on the design and development of your site.

Who in your organization will be involved in identifying what information should be available on your web site, in creating the content for the web site, in gathering other needed materials, such as client testimonials, photographs, etc.?

Content comes first; design displays, communicates, and is driven by content. Creating and gathering content can take quite a bit of time. A web developer can come up with all kinds of suggestions for web site content, and can even create some of it, but in many cases you and your team know all about your business and your clients, and the information that should go on your web site has to come from you. Don’t get bogged down in the design phase because you have not made progress on your content and remember that changes to design because of content changes can be costly. If possible, it’s great if you can assign one person in your organization to coordinate in-house efforts to gather and create content, and to interface with your web developer. This saves you time and money.

Who will manage, update and maintain your web site, once it is up and running? How often will you update your web site?

It’s best to decide in advance whether you want in-house staff to maintain your site, or whether you want your web developer to do it. Do you want the site designed in such a way that a caveman could change it? Do you want a content management system (Would you like to input information into an administrative form that will update a database that will feed your pages so that you can continually update your site)? These are things to consider before hiring your web developer and will affect many of your choices.

Who will test your web site for client-friendliness and usability once it is complete?

A good web developer knows how to create a usable productive web site, and your web developer and your staff can test your site for usability, but if you can afford it, you can also hire experts to manage the testing of your site and come up with suggestions for improvement.

How will you market your web site once it is up and running?

Absolutely think this through at the beginning. At a minimum, search engine optimization should be included in your web development and professional search engine registration is an excellent investment. Talk to your web developer in advance about your web site marketing plans.

How much involvement do you want to have with your web server and web site?

A web site is another marketing project, and to be effective, requires regular attention. Know how much time you can give to it and if it’s not enough, be ready to hand the project to someone else in your organization you can trust.

HIRING YOUR DESIGNER/DEVELOPER

What is your budget for the initial creation of the site? What is your monthly budget to keep the site running?

If you have an idea of what you want to spend ahead of time, planning within what you can afford is much easier. Do your research and then decide what is a reasonable expense, depending on what you are using your web site for. If you will be using your web site to sell products, it’s your storefront and you may be willing to invest more. If you don’t have a lot of money to spend, start very small, put a lot of effort in planning for the long term, and build your site piece by piece with someone who works well with you and your team. Most web developers can suggest and work with open source options that can save you a lot of money. Don’t forget that a web site is not a project that ends; it’s an ongoing project and will require a commitment to keep it fresh and active. Web developers will either work for an hourly rate, a ballpark range (that for the protection of the web developer will be padded), or within a binding realistic bid if you already have your content finalized, or if you agree to a limitation on the designs to be provided. Figure out how you can fit your web site into your budget ahead of time so that it has a long healthy life.

How quickly do you want your web site up and running?

Rushing, especially in the planning stages, can mean additional costs later. Leave plenty of time for planning and developing your site. If you absolutely have to get a site up ASAP, you can create a short and sweet NOW site, and begin the process of planning a fully developed LATER site. Communicate with your web developer about how realistic your schedule is, and remember that he or she may have other clients, and you have other work to do to. Make sure you allow enough time for back and forth communication and interaction in the development process.

What qualities are you looking for in a web designer/developer?

Knowing in advance what kind of person works well with you and your organization, and what exactly you want from them, will guide your decision. Are you looking to completely trust a designer/developer with vision to lead the process, or are you looking for someone who will copy a web site you love that you’ve seen somewhere else? Knowing you and your company’s working style and communicating what you really want will help you as well as the web developers you interview to decide if it’s a match made in heaven.

Do you have examples of sites you like, and sites you don’t like?

Your web developer will have inexpensive tools to explore your design preferences, but knowing in advance what you want and don’t want is also a great benefit. While the creative process is just that, a process — and sometimes you can’t know what you want until you can visualize it — you’re going to save yourself a lot of time and money if you have a clear concise vision ahead of time. While talking to and working with a web developer may change some of your ideas, a solid jumping off point is a good way to begin.

Do you know anything about the service you are buying?

Like any product or service you buy, you have to do some research before you take the plunge. Be wary if your web developer suggests using expensive software and tools (usually not necessary), or code that is not mainstream (you’ll be tied to it, and your developer, for a long time), or some complicated process that seems like it’s more work than it should be and doesn’t make sense (it probably is and probably doesn’t). Be ready to ask your web developer questions, such as, How flexible is the solution you are suggesting?, How mainstream is the coding? Will this type of site be difficult to change or require regular expensive maintenance or upgrades? Although the technology is constantly evolving, a professional web developer will have enough experience to guide you towards flexible solutions with longevity.

GET INSPIRED!

Finally I suggest you use outlines, drawings, storyboards, and keep a notebook or tape-recorder handy for taking down notes on your ideas. If you put extra effort into the planning, you’ll reap the rewards down the line in the result, and save yourself time and money.