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Communications Director at Foundation for Law, Justice and Society
12 November 2007 11:38am
I'm about to commission a new web design agency to redevelop the website that i am responsible for (www.fljs.org).
Not having much experience in the process of developing a project plan for this, and providing a detailed brief for the redesign, I'd appreciate any advice anyone is able to offer on this.
Thanks,
Phil
blaa at blaa
12 November 2007 13:07pm
Hi Phil,
What you can do depends on a number of things, including your budget. You need to think about why you are commisioning the redevelopment and what you want to acheive from it, for example it may be better accessibility, usability and SEO or improved workflow with content management or even all of these things and more. If usability is the main issue you may want to do some user testing on the current website and content to define exactly what the problems are now so that you don't repeat them with the new site. Put all of this into writing and present it to your chosen website development company. If you haven't been through the tender process yet then you will want to put this information into your outline documents. Just be clear about what you want to achieve and make sure you communicate this properly to the website development company. If they are good they will be able to help extract this information and present it back to you before beginning any design or development work.
Amanda
www.amandacano.co.uk
Technical Project Manager (MBA, MBCS, CITP, CEng) at Naxtech.com
12 November 2007 22:00pm
Hi Phil,
I'd be happy to give you a helping hand with this if you want and help you put something down in writing.
Feel free to contact me at denis AT naxtech DOT com.
regards,
Denis
Managing Director at Inspiration Inc
13 November 2007 09:02am
Hi Phil,
My wife (and now business partner) redeveloped a national NGO website when she was their communications manager. I assisted where possible but we'd be happy to give you a few pointers:
1) Get the people who sign the cheques (Directors etc) to give you a complete idea of what they expect the website to (a) do and (b) be like, once agreed put out an email to them that says exactly what it is you intend to say to consultants. That way you can put together a brief for suppliers that doesn't need to keep changing.
2) Don't go with least expensive quote immediately think about the real value of what you are being offered.
3) Ensure you do all the basics right. Accessibility and Usability wise make sure you comply with best practice - all the consultants should be able to discuss this with you. Get some basic SEO, again all the companies should be able to do this but just ask what they'll do for you.
4) Get a professional web copywriter to write it for you. If you're set on writing it yourself as an organisation at least give it to a web specialist copywriter to edit. Your words are the most important part of your website but usually done in a rush, at the end, by junior people, who don't understand the huge difference between how people read on-line compared to off-line.
Hope that helps and feel free to get in touch if you want to chat.
Chris.
www.iipr.co.uk
Account Manager at Bluhalo Ltd
13 November 2007 10:16am
Hi Phil, as the guys said above you firstly need to establish what your budgets are as there so many agencies out there - with a wide range of skills and hourly rates. From here you will fall into a bracket which I am happy to help you with. My agency deals with several huge corporates + your local SME so I am sure I can help, or point you in the right direction. Contact me on and we can go from there. Look forward to hearing from you. Si
BDM at PHI Creative Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
13 November 2007 11:42am
Hello Phil,
First and foremost you need to state the objective of the revamp, post which you would be able to plan on "how" to achieve the stated objective.
Also, since revamp is a very broad term, it shall help if you fix the budget for the activity. Then it would be possible for the selected agency to share ideas relevant to your objective and suiting your budget.
Also, clearly state out what the long term web vision for your website is. Maybe you can achieve your long term objectives in phases.
Would be glad to assist you. Just me at vishaal.shah AT phicreativity DOT com
Vishaal S Shah
www.PHIcreativity.com
On 11:38:56 12 November 2007 PhilDines wrote:
Director at The Cogworks
14 November 2007 07:42am
Hi Phil
As with most things budget is generally the most important area to concentrate on. Time and time again we come across companies who have unrealistic expectations on the amount of time and effort it does actually take agencies to design and develop high quality, professional websites.
A good agency will generally help you with the project planning and will work with you to find out exactly what you requrie and provide ideas and solutions to problems you may have with the current site or new technology in the industry that will make you site exciting and very usable.
We are a web design agency who is well versed in designing and developing websites for a number of different clients and would be more than happy to have an initial chat to discuss your requirments in more detail and maybe provide some ideas for both the design and the technology i.e. CMS ideas.
We currrently provide support for both SEO and website to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (http://www.cipr.co.uk/) as well as a number of other clients in different sectors.
I look forward to maybe hearing from you soon
Adam Shallcross
ashallcross@thecogworks.co.uk
www.thecogworks.co.uk
If you'd liek more info please contact me ashallcross@thecogworks.co.uk
On 11:38:56 12 November 2007 PhilDines wrote:
Account Manager at Harlequin Solutions
14 November 2007 13:54pm
Dear Phil,
Give me a buzz on 020 8962 4718 - Harlequin Solutions - www.solutions.co.uk
We can help you. We have a wide range of experience over many fields, give our website a look.
On 11:42:41 13 November 2007 Vishaal-S-Shah wrote:
Email Campaign Manager at Butlins
15 November 2007 12:43pm
Hi Phil,
Not sure what happend there! Try again
I think most of the points have been covered here, but you should consider employing a separate company for your usability testing. Asking your web design agency to do this can sometimes be like them marketing their own work!
RedEye would be happy to provide you with further information on usability and acessibility.
I look forward to hearing from you with any requirements.
Kind Regards
Susan Corless
On 11:38:56 12 November 2007 PhilDines wrote:
Managing Director at Cranmore Digital Consulting Ltd
19 November 2007 09:41am
Phil,
I agree with the guy who suggested getting help with your words. Your web agency will help you with a site map and wireframes but if you then have to put existing or brochure or poorly written copy into it you REALLY reduce its effectiveness.
I would say get some bullet points of what needs to be covered from your ubternal resources then get the web devagncy, the web copywriter and your internal people all together fo a couple of hours. Go through the bullet points and how the site works and let the writer walk away with some background material to work from plus a clear idea of how the site works and what the organisation wants it to do for them.
Best of luck and if you want to chat through that process email mr
Sarah
On 11:38:56 12 November 2007 PhilDines wrote: