You are paid to solve a business problem. Your client will have specific goals in mind. Take the time to interview important stakeholders to identify what success means, what is required, and any metrics of what success means to them. Try to limit your client to three primary goals. Most clients have too many issues, all fighting for importance, spawning too many objectives. Focusing the site’s objectives will make the process smoother, creating a more effective final product. These are how you can set the project’s goals.
Work through these questions at the beginning of the project:
- What are your goals for your company?
- What are two or three specific measurable goals this project should achieve?
- What does success look like?
- Are there any hard deadlines or holidays we need to account for in our timeline?
- Who are your competitors?
- What are all the technical requirements for this project? (Before setting up your database, you should have an agreed-upon checklist of tech needs (like a blog, contact forms, interactive maps, etc.) and a simple solution for what you will use. For complicated websites, list out the libraries or plugins you want to use.)
- How are you driving traffic to your site or plan to?
- What expectations do you have for your ranking in search results?
Transform these findings and your scope of work into your task list for the project. Add the goals to your Creative Brief, and remember, simplicity is key. It’s easy to remember two or three objectives as you build the site.
