Step 1: Discover
The Discover phase of the web development process is all about information-gathering. This step is important because it allows us to understand more about the client’s business and industry, their target market, and customers, and most importantly the goal/aim for the website.
Often website development agencies skip the discovery and planning steps and jump right into design, but Piranha’s roots are firmly based in strategic marketing and we have proven these first two steps are critical to building the correct website for our clients’ needs.
Ideally, what we need from our clients is answers to the following questions, with as much detail as possible. Goals should be realistic and preferably based on a business plan:
- What does the business or organisation do?
- What sets the business or organisation apart from your competition?
- Who are the competitors of the business?
- Who is the ideal customer?
- Describe the concept, project, or service this site is intended to provide or promote.
- What is the goal of the website?
- Who is coming to the website?
- What is the dream for this website?
- Is there a budget for website presence promotion?
These questions are just the starting point. We have found it incredibly beneficial to have face to face meetings with clients to allow both parties to ask further questions and discuss the finer points, past issues, and market specific anomalies. These discussions revolve around, but are not restricted to, seven main groups: client, project, audience, brand, features and scope, e-commerce, time, and budget. Each group offers important areas of potential information that will help shape the overall web design project.
We see the Discover step of the web development process as an initial consultation with our clients, but with structure and goals that allow us to better gauge the project, estimate the scope of the project and ensure the development specification meets the client’s needs and address any specific technical issues that need to be overcome.
At this point we may suggest additional features that can help meet the client’s goals, e.g., live chat, data capture, e-mail marketing link up and integrations with other systems such as accounts etc. It is also worth discussing the importance of ongoing services for website maintenance, hosting, continued development, and digital marketing (SEO, AdWords, social media, and re-marketing etc).