Website consultation service

Get the website that your company actually needs, not what the website design agencies say you need.

We often have enquiries were the company doesn't actually know what they want or what type of web site would best suit their needs. When they have approached agencies they have been bombarded with buzz words and jargon which only clouds things further. We obviously aim to help clear this up for our customers, however we are also able to offer this service as a completely independent 3rd party.

Requirements for a brief

We are offering a research and brief writing service to help ensure that your business gets the correct web site and one that will maximize your impact and ultimately your return on investment. We have many years experience in both sides of the web site development cycle, from creating completely new sites to evaluating old sites and formulating a plan for the new site.

Ultimately to get the best possible web site you need the knowledge to ensure that you are commissioning the correct type of web site, be that a Content Management System (CMS), an eCommerce site or web application. Fore-warned is fore-armed after all.

Without an in-depth knowledge of web site design and development you can easily duped into purchasing a site that doesn't really offer any tangible benefit to your business and could actually make things more difficult for you - a prime example of this is commissioning a Flash web site, when search engine performance is a priority. Some agencies are only good at building Flash sites, so they will brush over the fact that they don't work well with search engines. It's is for reasons such as this that some independent advice could ultimately save you lots of time and money.

How would it work?

Stakeholder meetings

The first stage would be to set up a series of meetings with all the stakeholders of the web site. So all managers, senior managers, MDs, internal users, moderators etc that are likely to have a say on what the web site should achieve. Typical things discussed would be;

• The current web site - what's good, what's bad, colours, styles.
• Things missing from the current site - ideas you have seen on other sites and think could work well on your site.
• Any special requirements?
• The new web site - logos, fonts, colours, styles etc.
• Web site content - who is going to write it?

Write a brief

The next stage is to gather all of the findings from the stakeholder meetings and create a web site brief (we have a guide on how to write a web site brief). This brief will detail all aspects of the web site, from the bottom line functionality and deliverables right through to the corporate colours, fonts and logos. We would also include some criteria for success - after all, most companies like to be able to measure the success of a project and ultimately how quickly the return on investment can be achieved.This brief would then be supplied to your preferred list of web site development companies. It sounds like an odd thing to say, but it's probably fairest if we are not in the pitch list - I know I wouldn't want to pitch for a job when the company that wrote the brief is also in the pitch list.

Decent Proposals

Once you have circulated your brief, you should start receiving some proposals back in the following weeks. We would be able to decipher these proposals and supply you with a 1 pager on each, outlining the pros and cons of each and who we think you should ask in for presentations and further discussions.

Presentation

We would be able to attend the presentations from each agency, offering our in-depth knowledge of the industry and cutting through any jargon or 'web speak' to help you fully understand what is being presented to you.

Decision time

Once all of the presentations are finished we can help you to decide on which agency offers the best level of service, the best value for money and ultimately which agency you should choose to create your web site. 

If you would like some help or are interested in talking more about our web site consultancy service, please call us on 01908 565755 or fill in the form below.