Are you a client looking for a new website with a vision in mind of how it should look or a re-design from your current site? Or maybe you have a new product launch coming up, a new company starting or you might just want a complete rebrand before the busy season stars, As Soon As Possible. At Nextfly, we love to do all we can to help clients accomplish all of this in as timely of a matter as possible. We tell our clients that we can get their website up and running within two months, however, most of the time that timeframe comes with many variables. The biggest variable? The client.
Through the three years I’ve been at Nextfly, I’ve worked on more projects than I can count. Some of these websites went live in a few months and then there were many that we went live under the two month time frame. How did we do it? It was all possible because we had an awesome client to work with.
Next question you might be asking yourself: How does one become an “awesome client”?
Well, let me help by giving you a few tips on you can do just that:
1. Start and Stay Focused
A great client starts with ideas. They have brainstormed content for their homepage, they have found websites they like, gathered photos they’d like to use, and might have even started constructing a sitemap that clearly defines how their main navigation works.
On top of this, they also are consistent with their flow of ideas and structure, they have weekly goals for themselves that they hit, due to this, their website starts taking shape in great fashion very quickly.
2. Communicate Efficiently
It is important to be open and honest with your Project Manager throughout your website’s design and development process. Give them a clear representation of exactly what you are looking for when it comes to the look and feel of your site. If there’s a certain photo that you’d like to use on a product page over another, don’t hesitate to let them know immediately or if you’d like to use a different shade of color, make sure to point them in the right direction. However, along this same line, if trying to communicate this might be a bit complex through email, don’t hesitate to arrange a phone call to discuss things more in-depth. Understand that sometimes it’s a lot easier to understand each other through phone calls or meetings in person rather than through an email.
3. Set Deadlines
There are frequently times throughout the website design process when the website has been designed, developed, but then we are waiting on verbiage for a web page from a client or for them to send over in-house and/or stock photos to fill content holes throughout their site.
In order to keep a website project on target, make sure to give yourself a deadline each week.
Example:
Week One: Find three websites you like and think of colors/effects/ a theme for homepage layout.
Week Two: Gather content for homepage including verbiage/photos. (Need 3 photos for homepage banner)
Week Three: Develop sitemap including main navigations and dropdowns
Week Four: Work on website content (verbiage/photos) for About Us, Contact, Our Team Pages
Having a calendar of “To Do” tasks not only keeps you and your team on task, but it also keeps us on task too! The more we are on the same page throughout the entire website development process, the more efficiently and effectively we’ll get your website up and live by the original intended launch date.
4. Be Organized
Starting with ideas, communicating openly, and developing deadlines are all parts of the overall concept of being well organized. Organization can come in a variety of forms throughout the website building process, but the most important part of it is that it should remain constant throughout. Below are a few more tips to do this.
- Start communicating with your Project Manager from day one and continue that process throughout the website project.
If you are going on vacation or work has you out of town, let your Project Manager know so they can set a task to touch base with you when you get back (and not annoy you while you are away!) Understand that a Project Manager’s main role is to work with the client and keep the website project on track for them. However, if something happens internally to throw this off, it’s okay! We’ll make sure to continue to accommodate, just let us know how we can help!
- Organize your website content in one place
Develop a Google Drive or Dropbox folder with content for your website. Keep everything in these folders and tell your Project Manager to reference that folder throughout the project. As you add to it, state clearly what each file name is called and what page on your website it belongs to.
Example: “Check Dropbox for the About Us folder. This folder has a Word Document (AboutUs.doc) and photos (About1.jpg, About2.jpg and About3.jpg) that will be used as photos throughout the page. Pick whichever one works best for the inner banner.”
Hope these few tips help you get ready to go for your website project and be the best client you possibly can!