Information to give a web designer
How much and how soon?
The two big questions everyone needs to know is:
- How much will a charity web site cost?
- How soon can it be built?
But like anyone else doing a job, unless you can give your web designer a clear understanding of what is needed and how much work that will involve, it’s not possible to answer those questions with anything more than a random guess!
The more time and effort put into discussing these details, the more accurate an answer you’ll get and the less surprises there will be along the way!
Request for Proposal for Web Design
If you do decide to go down the Request For Proposal (RFP) route and need help, there’s a really good Request For Proposal for Web Design Template that’s available from HubSpot here:
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/rfp-template
However, rather than going down that route, you might find it quicker and easier to just get in touch with the agency directly to start things informally, as it’s rare for them to require an RFP to be mandatory.
Some charities rush straight in and send an RFP (request for proposal)
Top tip: make sure you choose an agency who takes the time to discuss the details of your project with you before quoting a price and schedule – otherwise everyone’s in for some unplanned surprises ahead!
Things you need to consider:
The more information you can give to a web designer, the better understanding of the project scope they have, and so the more accurate budget and schedule they can give to you.
Whilst nobody expects you to know every detail of your new charity website, the kinds of things that are really helpful to know are:
If you’re starting from scratch or already have an existing website, or good content prepared and ready to use?
How big is the project in terms of the number of pages, blogs and documents?
If you’d like a shop, how many products are there in the shop, and how will they be broken down into categories to make it easy for people to navigate your shop and find what they want?
What kind of features and functionality would you like?
Don’t worry if you don’t know all these things, a good web agency will be looking to find out more about your organisation and suggest options that are going to work well for you.
Another important thing is to let them know if you have a budget set aside already, whilst some clients prefer to keep this figure private, the more open discussions we can have about your investment into your online presence, the more realistically we can tell you what is and isn’t possible to do.
If you have a timescale you’re wanting to work to, once an agency understands the scope of your project, they’ll be able to tell you if they can fit in the amount of work into their diaries and do it in time to meet your deadline. Sometimes phased solutions come out of these discussions, with project steps agreed and delivered as milestones.
Some agencies will offer additional services and it may be worth considering these services at the same time as building your website, such as:
- Logo Design
- Brand Creation
- Online Marketing Services such as:
- Pay Per Click
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Newsletter Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- Printed Media Design
- Merchandise Creation
- Professional Photography & Videography
- Virtual Tours
Not all of these things need to be (or should be!) tackled at once. But having a good partner who can look after all these things for you ensures that even if they’re not being done straight away, the work that’s done now can be done with good consideration and laying solid foundations for future plans.
It pays to be open-minded – remember any good agency will have delivered countless websites before yours, so will have the experience to be able to offer advice and ideas beyond what you’ve initially thought of from your own organisation’s perspective – and successful ideas built for other charities are likely to generate a good income for yours, which helps your website pay for itself!
Finding an agency that suits your organisation’s unique requirements is key
Remember: it’s not just about the short-term project of building a website, but a longer-term relationship as partners, continuing things beyond the initial website built to include ongoing maintenance and future growth of your online presence!
Good Agencies will fit in with you
Depending on the size of your organisation, you may have to follow certain procedures, such as generating a Request for Proposal (RFP) – this isn’t uncommon for larger organisations to standardise their requests and send them out to several agencies to compare prices and services.
Good agencies will also have their own processes and procedures but the best ones will always work flexibly to fit in with the client’s procedure.
That said, generic RFPs do not work well for web projects as the agency will likely have questions about the project scope that a standard RFP will not consider, make sure you’re in a position to be flexible enough to discuss details beyond the RFP – these discussions will only help you better refine your project.
Urban Haze’s Process for Charity Websites
If the client doesn’t have a process, then we have our own process in place, with these steps, to ensure everything important is considered:
- Initial Discussions
- Getting To Know You
- Scope and budget planning – usually done with a Discovery Session
- Discovery Roadmap and Proposal, including Sitemap
- Wireframe
- Content Added
- Creative
- Text & Visuals
- Functions
- Testing & Delivery
- Go-Live
- Training & Handover
- Ongoing steps such as growth, marketing and maintenance
If you do have a process, we’ll fit these steps in around yours to ensure the project meets your expectations