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Having been involved in the website design business since 1994 we have seen RFPs (Request for Proposal) from hundreds of companies large and small. In most cases these RFPs are created as if the requesting company were writing an RFP for designing and printing a catalog.
On the whole, designing a website has little in common with any other creative process. It is unique unto it’s self. So, in an attempt to simplify and clarify the process we have produced the following guidelines on what you need to look at prior to creating a RFP.
- List your business / organization goals: Business websites should not be classified as advertising, marketing or information sites. They should, in fact, be extensions of your business. Your business website should be focused on positively affecting your business goals.
- List the goals for your website: It is impossible to create a valid proposal for a website without understanding what the requesting company expects the website to accomplish. These website goals should align with your business goals. For instance, if your business goal is to increase sales one of your site goals may be to increase the number of people requesting information or the number of people who email you. If your business goal is to reduce the cost of customer support a site goal may be to increase the number of people using your online, automated self-support site.
- List the main sections of your website and define the features and functionality of each. Remember alignment: you want your site sections to align with your site goals…and your site goals to align with your business goals. You also need to define the preferred action you want the site visitor to take in each primary page (or section) of the site. The default action for every site visitor is clicking the back button. If you want them to do otherwise you need to provide adequate incentive for them to do so. For example, if your site goal is to increase the number of people using your online, automated self-support site that site section needs to provide the necessary information, navigation and search functions to allow visitors to easily find the information they need.
- List the required keyword optimization for your site. Search engine optimization MUST be planned from site inception. You do not want to even begin to create a website with out taking into account how search engines are going to find, index and rank your site for key phrases most suited to your business. If you have not conducted your own keyword research your request should include the necessary keyword research.
In some cases you may not have enough information to do all of this yourself. If not, feel free to contact a web design company for help.
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