Planning to scale up - website ideas

[Bill Ryan]

I am planning a number of changes in my business offer and I would really welcome some help and advice.

I am considering a new website.

I want CMS with abillity to do blog type posts "news", facility to play a video, pdf downloads & an online questionaire with a range of questions for to give me the relevant information to produce wills.

I want to be able to take payment online. I guess there would be no more than 10 'products'.

It needs to be well coded and fairly fast loading.

If I am able to tweak my own online SEO like in Wordpress (e.g SEO friendly page/post links) that would be useful.

Probably more concerned with off page SEO and other marketing methods than on page SEO - but that view may change I suppose

What should I be asking a potential supplier about the job they can do for me?

Should the look of site be a matter for the web developer or is it better to use a graphic designer as part of a package doing logos, stationery, banner stands etc?

One other consideration is I am looking at an offer to two distinct groups of people based on location. There is a lot of overlap but my gut feeling is to have two separate sites (rather than one offering to both sets of potential clients). I am a little concerned that having them together might cause confusion for one of the groups! So if I opt two sites I guess they could be the same content/structure with a few changes to meet the differences required.

My mind is spinning about the different ways of approaching all this and I do not have an unlimited budget

Thanks in advance for any observations.

 

[ORDERED WEB]

Hi Bill

I wrote a few articles that cover this

http://www.placeofdesign.com/category/setting-up-a-website/

Feel free to call me, and go through things (we are working today). The least we can do is get you thinking about the right questions and get you pointing in the right direction

Best wishes

Richard

 

[Duncan_W]

Looking at all your questions, I would actually take a step back and look at your issue from a broader perspective, as I think this may give you some answers.

Ultimately Websites are simply a marketing tool (nothing more) A very powerful tool I grant, but still nothing more.

With this in mind, the first thing I would ask myself is have I got my marketing strategy/plan straight. If the answer is "yes", this should lead to answers to your other questions and ultimately what tools you need to make it happen.

On the Web designer/developer question, my view is you need both, and if they are marketing experts too, all the better!

Bare in mind, different people will come from different perspectives & will suggest different tools as "the one to go for", and in reality, there is no right or wrong answer, it just depends what you are trying to achieve from a business perspective.

Maybe a bit "Zen" for a Monday morning I think!