Your web site needs to do more than make your company look good. It has to support your overall business operations - customer service, sales and marketing and collaboration. Whether you're planning an intranet or Internet site, don't start before you check your strategy against this comprehensive checklist.

The following checklist and the associated answers will facilitate the analysis process ofr designing and building the website that allows your company to turn the corner.

GENERAL

1. Where did you hear about us?

2. Do you have a domain name? If not, do you have ideas on one? If so, what is it?

3. What is your company name? Do you want to use the entire name on the site, logo, and graphics?

4. Do you have special features in mind like ECommerce shopping cart, BLOG, RSS, Forms with emails, EZine, Newsletter signup, autoresponders, advertising landing/call-to-action pages, etc.?

MARKETING

5. Who is your intended audience? Are they regional, industry specific, company size specific, etc.?

6. Do you intend to provide a call to action - make a sale, call in to your office, fill out a form, etc?

7. Describe your ideal client and the specific attributes that we'll be targeting in the website.

8. What are your website expectations, main emphasis and primary goals - increased sales, increased leads, etc.? Please prioritize.

9. What separates your company from your competition and what do you expect will draw clients to the website?

10. How do you plan to market the website?

11. What company properties do you want to emphasize on the website? Please prioritize.

IDENTITY

12. Do you already have a logo and other graphics to be used? If not, do you want to have one created?

13. Have you identified a tagline? That would be something like "Just do it", "Reach out and touch someone", etc. Here is some information on the subject http://advertising.about.com/od/copywriting/a/guesttagline.htm.

14. What keywords do you want to be found by in the search engines?

LAYOUT

15. Please provide a list of websites that you like and don't like. Why do you or do you not like these sites?

16. Please provide a list of competitors websites.

17. Do you have ideas of the colors to be used, and colors you don't like? Please provide example sites.

18. Do you have an intended website screen size - 1024x768, 800x600, or stretch to the entire width of the screen?

19. If the site isn't the entire width of the screen do you have a preference for left or center alignment?

20. Do you have a horizontal or left-side vertical preference for the main navigation?

21. Please provide the main pages you need in the website.

22. Have you created the copy text for any of your pages?

23. Do you have existing business cards or other printed material we need to match?

24. Are you leaning towards custom drawn artwork or photographs?

POST-CONTRACT

25. Once we start designing the website we'll need the following (Note that this information will be kept in strict confidence):

a. FTP access information - username and password

b. Hosting company and their tech support phone number