Getting a website built can seem like a daunting task for someone with no technical knowledge, but with proper preparation you can make life much easier and be sure that you're getting what you pay for.
Opinion: why is the Macbook Air a full 300 pounds (600 dollars) more expensive than in the US?
Tendering for a website
Generally there are a number of ways of getting a website built if you are a non-technical person. You can use a friend or colleague who is knowledgeable in the ways of the web. You could hire a freelancer or an agency to do the work for you. Alternatively, if you think your business can support it, you can hire a full time web developer to do the work and then maintain it for you afterwards.
Whatever route you choose, how do you get your grand vision across to the person who is actually going to be doing the work?
The Tender Document
Commonly the first step is to get put together a tender. This will include several things:
A specification document
A brief description of the market you are targeting
The aim of the site
Any laws and legal requirements you think might be relevant to the market or function of the site
Timescales for completion
A description of what you expect to happen after go-live
A deadline for response to the tender
This may seem like a lot of information but the more you provide in your tender, the more accurate and detailed the proposal and quote you will receive.
Specification Document
First up is the Specification Document (or Product Description, or spec as it will be known here). This document has three main jobs:
It makes you think about what you actually want the website to do
It lets allows the agency or freelancer to workout whether they can do it and how much it will cost
It gives you a checklist when the project is complete so you know whether everything has been done or not.
Apart from that it can form the basis of a contract between yourself and the person doing the work so its crucial to get it right! So how then do you right a spec? There are several steps to writing a proper detailed spec:
Look to see if there are any other sites out there doing something similar to you. These can act as great examples of functionality when trying to explain something tricky
Write down point by point what pages you expect to see, and what you expect to see on each page, don't forget members area's and more obscure features
Write down exactly what you expect to be able to change and modify yourself from the website back end CMS.
Translate any jargon into plain English
When you are happy with what you have got, put it into a table and against each item rate it as 'Must do', 'Should do', 'would be nice to have'. Also add references to any sites you have found which have the same feature, this will serve to minimise any confusion.
You should also state in your specification that you want to see visual samples in the proposal document that you will receive.
Market Description
This is really your chance to explain what sort of market you are in, what you main competition is and where the main focus of the site should be. Quote figures, turnovers, etc. Give the agency or freelancer a sense of scale and a feel for the market.
The Aim of the Site
What do you hope to achieve with the site, is it footfall to your store? Raw sales through an on-line e-shop? Or are you just trying to get the word out about something? Each of the these aims requires different design mentalities and build skills so its important to be clear about this.
Laws and Legal requirements
There are already a number of laws that apply when building certain types of website (e.g. the Disabilities and Discrimination Act) and your agency or freelancer should be aware of these. However, in your industry there maybe extra legislation, laws ensuring accuracy of the information you are distributing for example. Be sure to let the agency or freelancer know about any legal requirements you think are relevant.
Timescales
Generally web development projects are notoriously difficult to estimate timescales for. You should specify at the very least a date for completion, although it often pays to be more precise and also specify when you expect to have the site to test, how much testing time you'll need and when you expect the site to go live.
To a certain extent you may have to be lead by professional advice in this regard. As a mimimum you should allowa month's lead time for the project to start andat least a month to build when working with a busy agency, freelancers might be able to react more quickly.
Post go-live
When you finally have a nice new shiny website, what happens then. Truly speaking this is the beginning not the end. You may need on-going maintenance or active development as you find bugs (and there WILL be bugs!) or find that parts of the site are not performing as expected. Also you might need some form of online marketing or search engine optimisation.
You should use this section to find out what post-live support you are likely to expect and what other post live services you can take advantage of once the site is out there.
The Proposal
Once you've gone out to tender, you can expect to receive a number of proposal documents back. These should respond point by point to every element in your tender and allow you to directly compare the offerings of each. You may need to ask questions and clarify points in each proposal so don't be afraid to go back and talk to the agencies/freelancers to clear things up.
Generally you can tell a lot from the presentation of the proposal and associated visuals. If there is clear attention to detail and professionalism then the chances are good they are keen to win your business and will be eager to please. Don't be tempted to always go for the cheapest price, its a good rule of thumb that you get what you pay for in web development so spend out if you can!
As always, if you think of any questions or want to contact me to discuss anything in this article you can alwaysdrop me a line here.
