6 Ways to Communicate During Your Web Development Project

Building a new website isn’t just a project that succeeds with technical know-how. It also requires effective communication from all parties.

As a client, you’d love to be able to step into that first meeting, tell your web agency what you want, and then sit back and wait for the results. Unfortunately, only the simplest of projects work that way. Without communication (thoughtful input and feedback), your project will take longer, and your site’s design and functionality may suffer. 

By communicating from start to finish, you help ensure that your site will have the right design, content and functionality, attract the most prospects, AND convert them to customers. Here are six ways you can do just that. 

1. Organize Your Ideas and Share Them Early!

Starting your project organized will help your web design and development team quickly move in the right direction. 

Your agency needs to know several things quickly. Bring the following documents and ideas to the first meeting:

• Websites you like
• Some of your latest marketing content
• Links to competitor sites
• A document that describes your business, your target audience, and why you want to build a new site. At Big D Creative, each of our clients completes a questionnaire that helps kickstart communication and expectations before the first meeting.

2. Stay on Top of Meetings

Speaking of meetings, if you want a functional site, you will need more than one. Whether you and your development team pre-schedule weekly meetings or agree to meet whenever you or the development team has a concern, make sure you’re available.

Showing up late, constant rescheduling or complete no-shows will push back your project’s timeline. Extensive delays could also increase your project’s costs.

Stay on top of your meeting schedule and ensure your development moves ahead and meets or beats its deadline.

3. Understand the Approval Process

With any development project, there will always be an approval process. Every team has a unique approach and how well you communicate during the process determines how your site’s development progresses.

Once you know how your development team approaches approvals and follow their routine, your site forms smoothly with shorter gaps between drafts and final products.

4. Share Your Expectations

You’re the client, and your final word goes. Your budget, timeline, and expectations are baselines your development team needs to plan their work.

Being clear about your expectations lets us know what is most important to you and helps avoid disappointment if a part of the development process takes longer than expected.

Web design and development are time investments, and once we know what you expect from us, we’ll be able to allocate our time toward making your project a hit!

5. Organize a Point Person On Both Fronts

Having one person on both your and the development team’s side can streamline communication. 

On your end, select someone that has the power to make final decisions and can confidently approve your content and site pages as they come in. 

It’s also important to know the contacts on your design and development team. Usually, there is one project manager and a specialist for each aspect of the project (i.e., content creation, web design, site development).

There’s always the chance you’ll have concerns during your project. If you know who to reach out to when you need them, you’ll get answers and results faster.

6. Communicate Around General Statements

Without explanation, phrases like “make it pop” and “I don’t like X page” can leave your design team scrambling. Communicating your desires in jargon and general statements usually won’t yield desired results.

Whenever you want specific changes, take a moment to think about your words and describe exactly what you want your developers to accomplish.

For example, if you don’t like a homepage section during the editing process, detailing the problem by saying “remove X statement from paragraph 2”  lets your development team know what they need to fix.

Vague statements lead to guesswork, which is usually extra work that leaves you with a later launch date.

Communicate Your Way to a Successful Site With Big D Creative

Ready to create the site you’ve always wanted? At Big D Creative, we bring dream sites to life and help your brand make a name for itself on the web. 

Our team can handle everything from content creation to post-launch maintenance and SEO services. Contact us today to learn more about our process and start your journey towards a website that best represents your business.