Building a website it’s easy —at least the technical part. When it comes to telling the world about what you do, in a way that resonate with what people need, then things get a little bit fuzzy. Before you build your website, take a moment to answer some basic questions that will help you communicate better with your audience. Make sure that you keep your answer short, simple, direct to the point. Most use a vocabulary that your target audience can understand. In a nutshell, these are the questions that you must answer to your constituents. Here we go:
- In 15 words or less, what does your business do?
(e.g. Create websites and apps to help business catch up with technology)
ANSWER:_______________ - Who is your client or target audience?
(e.g. Small businesses and professionals who can benefit from using websites and apps for business)
ANSWER:_______________ - What is the problem that your product or service can solve?
(e.g. Deliver simpler, faster, affordable websites to small businesses)
ANSWER:_______________ - What is the most common, alternative solution used by your target audience to address the problem that you are trying to solve?
(e.g. Do things in-house)
ANSWER:_______________ - Provide a list of products and services that you offer today —please include average price.
(e.g. Website Programming and Design: $5,000; Mobile App Development: $10,000; Hosting and Support: $49; Technology Consulting: $120/hr).
ANSWER:_______________ - Can you offer discount or free trial for your products or services?
(e.g. 10% off first time customers, FREE up to…)
ANSWER:_______________ - Can you give me 1, 2, or 3 names of prospects or current clients that you believe are your ideal target audience?
(e.g. ABC Cleaning Services, Good Food Restaurant, Smith Legal Services)
ANSWER:_______________ - What make your services unique? —why choosing your company over your competitors?
(e.g. Unlike competitors, we built for our clients personalized, enterprise quality solutions that are affordable and implemented by experienced professionals).
ANSWER:_______________ - What is your biggest business challenges that you expect can be minimize by having a website?
(e.g. Customers not always understand the difference between “price” and “cost”. While some customers might think that the “price” of our services seems high, the “cost” of not having a professional website or mobile application is several times higher, when compared to the potential loss of revenue caused by not being able to promote client’s products and services online).
ANSWER:_______________ - Which of your competitor is doing better that you? … Why?
(e.g. XYZ Competitor, which target high paying customers)
ANSWER:_______________ - What would you like to add to your website, to help your business succeed?
(e.g. Short videos to teach customers how to use our products to generate more revenue).
ANSWER:_______________ - Who takes care of the website? —programming and design
(e.g. Appcropolis LLC)
ANSWER:_______________ - How much time do you spend or expect to spend maintaining your website? —Hours per days, week, or month (adding new content, SEO, Online Marketing, etc.)
(e.g. 8 hours per week)
ANSWER:_______________ - On average, how many people visit your website on a monthly basis?
(e.g. 5,000 unique visitors per month)
ANSWER:_______________ - How having a website or a mobile app will benefit your business?
(e.g. Connect with potential customers that are search the web looking for product and services that I offer)
ANSWER:_______________ - Do you use Social Media? —please provide your Facebook, twitter, Instagram, etc.
(e.g. Yes, Twitter: appcropolis; Facebook: appcropolis; LinkedIn: appcropolis)
ANSWER:_______________ - How often do you contact your customers? (emails, newsletters, phone calls, greeting cards, etc.)
(e.g. Monthly newsletters; christmas cards).
ANSWER:_______________ - Currently, what is your most effective way to acquire new customers?
(e.g. Attending networking events to learn about prospect needs).
ANSWER:_______________ - Do you keep a list of prospects or potential customers? —if so, how many contact do you have in that list?
(e.g. Yes, 550+).
ANSWER:_______________ - Iy you do not have a website, how would that affect your business?
(e.g. I won’t be able to sell my products).
ANSWER:_______________ - In you could accomplish only one thing with your website, what would that be?
(e.g. get more leads that I can call)
ANSWER:_______________ - How many hours a week/month are you willing to spend adding content to, or marketing your website? —estimate total hours per year
(e.g. 10 hours per week; 10hr X 52 weeks = 520 hours per year)
ANSWER:_______________ - How much revenue do you expect will originate from your website in a year? —consider customers who found you online, or make the decision to buy base on the information in the website, of purchase your products or services directly from the website (feel free to make your best guess or just set an ideal goal).
(e.g. $150,000).
ANSWER:_______________ - Determine your expected/desired Return On Investment (ROI) —Divide the amount of revenue you expect will originate from your website by the amount of time you will spend working on your websites.
(e.g. $150,000 ÷ 520 = $272)
ANSWER:_______________ - In a scale of 1 trough 10, 1 being “just kidding” and 10 being “I am an dead serious”, how serious are you about building and running a successful website?
(e.g. 10 —Nothing will stop me!)
ANSWER:_______________
Although this questions might feel overwhelming. Do your best to answer as many as you can. Expect your message and your value proposition to change over time, as you learn how people react to what you have to say in your website. I hope this can help!