Standard and Premium Site Initial Call Guide
Greeting
- Hi, is [customer name] available?
- Hi, [customer name], this is [your name] from GoDaddy Website Design Services! How are you today? [PAUSE for response]
- I’m calling you for your website consultation.
- Our call today should take us about 45 minutes.
- Are you near a computer? You’ll need it in a few minutes.
- Before we get into things, I want to let you know that this call will be recorded and retained for quality and training purposes.
- I need to validate into your account. Do you have your 4 digit PIN? [PAUSE for response]
- I want to thank you for working with us! I’ll be your main point of contact throughout the process.
[PAUSE for response]
[Verify main point of contact's information]
- [Customer name], I want to make sure I have your correct phone number and email address for our communication during this project.
- I have your phone number as [say phone number] and your email address as [say email address].
- Is this all still accurate?
- Today, our call has 3 basic sections. First we'll talk about your business, then your design options, and then your website content.
- Thank you for providing information about your business through the pre-consultation. We'll review that information together and also discuss more about your business and features you will need for your business goals. [PAUSE for response]
- Before we get started let’s review the time-frames and the process for your website.
- We will have a total of three calls during the process.
- Initial website design consultation (That’s this call)
- Initial Draft Review for any changes you may have for the initial draft, and
- A final publish call where we get your website live!
- Our designers use the information you provide today about your business, target audience, and branding to create a unique website that captures your vision and your business personality and will be ready for you to review in 8 business days.
- We’ll send you an email to preview the initial draft.
- That email also includes a link to let us know how we did.
- There’s also a document you can download to organize edits before we meet again.
[PAUSE for response]
- On our next call we will review any changes you have for your site, then our website designers will take care of these revisions. Occasionally our first draft doesn’t quite capture your business personality, and that’s why our revisions review is so important. We’ll send you a new preview link for you to review before our final call. The revisions to publish process should take less than two weeks.
- One of the most exciting parts of the process is going live! Once your website is published you and I will wrap up our work together. For any last-minute minor changes we can submit a ticket together and our team of specialists will follow up with you to assist. You can also give us a call if you have any questions and one of our site specialists will be there to help you out.
- The total time-frame from this consultation to publishing your site live is about six weeks from start to finish.
- We also have a subscription service called Marketing Services for maintaining your site and continually improving your site's performance.
- I know that is a lot of information! Any questions before we move forward? [PAUSE for response]
Plan Breakdown
We will be building your website on our Standard WordPress plan. For the initial design the plan includes:
- Up to 4 pages and 5 blog posts
- 20 images
- Basic website features including forms, social links, and more that are tailored to your business goals.
You can always add more content later with our Marketing Services subscription.
We will be building your website on our Premium WordPress plan. For the initial design the plan includes:
- Up to 10 pages and 5 blog posts
- 50 images
- Robust website features including forms, social links, and more that are tailored to your business goals.
You can always add more content later with our Marketing Services subscription.
Business Consultation
[Add customer's First Name/Last Name/Email under About You section on the Basics tab]
- Let’s talk about the answers you sent in your profile.
Basics Tab
- Business Name
- Business Type
- Tagline (optional)
- Business Brief
- Website Goal
- Business Hours
- Contact Information
- Address
- Social Media
Branding Tab
- Do you have a current website?
- What is the domain name?
- What, if any, design elements would you like to utilize from the old site?
- Reference Website(s)
- What do you like about this website?
- What domain name are you using for your new website?
[Add Domain Name under About Your Company]
- Next we will be reviewing more information about your business.
- What specific services does your company provide?
- What sets your company apart from your competition?
- Who is your target client?
- I see here the goal of your site is to [generate leads, showcase your work, provide information, sell a product or service, other]
- Based on your goals, here are some options we can add to your website that can help achieve your goals.
Here are some design options we will include on your home page to help you generate leads:
- Announcement bar
- Call to action
- Subscribe form
- Social links
Do you want to include a gallery page to showcase your work?
If you are providing information through your website, blog posts or services pages can be incorporated into your site. The designers will use the content for the site ensure we highlight the information you need for your goals.
Here are some design options we can include on your home page to help you generate leads:
- Display Pricing
- Testimonials
- What keywords do you think a visitor would use to find your website?
Design Consultation: Branding
Existing Website
- I see you currently have a website. What do you like about your website?
- Why do you want a new website?
[Continue to website features question]
- What features will your website need?
Reference Websites
- I see you added some reference sites you like. What do you like about these sites? [Pull up reference site on Screen Share]
- Do you have similar websites you like? If not, that’s okay, we can review websites from our Portfolio. [Pull up reference sites or search industry on WDS Gallery and share search results with customer on Screen Share]
- Next we’re going to talk about your design options.
Branding
- Does your company have established branding?
- Do you have it handy now?
[If YES]
- And do you want to match the website’s color scheme to your branding?
[Instruct customer on how to upload the logo to the Photo Library. If they need the link, tell them it’s in their Welcome email. You may use the Help article for bulleted steps for accessing and uploading, if the customer needs additional help.]
[Move to the Logo section]
Logo
I see you purchased our Logo Design Service. Let’s review the design elements of your website first and then we can discuss your logo design.
- Do you have a logo that you’d like to use? [PAUSE for response]
- Do you have it handy now?
[If YES]
- And do you want to match the website’s color scheme to the logo?
[Instruct customer on how to upload the logo to the Photo Library. If they need the link, tell them it’s in their Welcome email. You may use the Help article for bulleted steps for accessing and uploading, if the customer needs additional help.]
- Ok, we can use your name and a font that fits your brand and lay it over a simple background to use for your site.
Website Colors
[If customer has chosen or provided an inspiration site whose color scheme they like:]
- For your color scheme do you want us to use the colors provided in your [logo/branding/inspiration site]?
- And based on your colors scheme I would recommend a [dark/light] theme for your website design. Would you like to go with that for your site as well?
[PAUSE for response]
- What colors would you like us to incorporate into your website design that represent your brand?
- Do you have an example for the colors we should use [business cards, newsletters, flyers, logos, signs]?
[If the customer provided a specific color choice, ask if they’d like to provide direction for how to use the colors, and enter that into the box below:]
- Do you have any specific instructions for your website designer on how to use your colors? For example, is there one you’d like to use as the primary color?
Design Consultation: Fonts
- Our final branding choice to make is the text styles for your website. Our designers will use your [logo/branding/inspiration site] as a reference when designing your website unless you have a specific text styles you would like us to use.
- Our final branding choice to make is the font. Unless you have a specific font you’d like to use, we’ll leave this up to our website designers.
- Was there anything you had in mind, or should we base that decision on the rest of the design elements we’ve talked about?
[If customer has a specific font request:]
I’ll note that here for our designers. We use Google fonts, so they should be able to find one that matches closely.
Design Consultation: Site Elements
- Now, we're going to talk about the elements to include in your design. Most of the site elements will be based on the content you provide. We want to make sure we create a home page experience that represents your business and your website goals. [PAUSE for response]
About Homepage
- First up, let’s talk about your website’s homepage. It’s the first impression that your visitors will have of your website, and it’s also where they’ll find most of the information about you. We recommend keeping this page simple and clean to navigate. [PAUSE for response]
- So, let’s tackle which elements you’d like to put on your homepage. We’ll include your logo/business name and your navigation by default.
- The builder will design your header’s layout to best suit the shape of your logo, the number of pages in your menu and the header elements you’ve selected, while keeping your business goals and website design performance in mind. Any questions so far? [PAUSE for response]
[Recommend one or more of the following options based on your understanding of the customer’s needs]
- I’d recommend adding [your phone number/ your social media links/ a call to action button encouraging your customers to ____/ a search bar so your customers can quickly find the product they’re looking for].
[PAUSE for response]
Hero Image
- Great, next is our hero image. This will be the main image on your homepage for desktop and mobile devices, so we’ll want to make sure we choose something that represents you well. Do you have an image in mind? Or would you like for us to choose an image from our stock photo library for you?
Can you get that uploaded to the Photo Library? I can review the size of the image and make sure it will work well as your hero image.
Perfect! What sort of words would you use to describe the type of image you want for the hero image? This will help our designers select the perfect image that represents you and your business.
A video on a homepage can negatively affect your website’s performance, so we strongly advise against it, especially, when people are on their phones trying to load your website -- video is harder to load on the homepage, and speed is crucial for mobile.
That said, we can add a video to interior pages! I recommend placing [name of video] on [name of webpage] -- what do you think? [PAUSE for response]
[If yes to adding video to interior page: Ask the customer to send in link to video, so it can be added, or they can upload to Photo Library]
Excellent! We’ll place [name of video content] on the [name of webpage].
Must do step: Capture the name of the webpage the customer wants to place video.
[Ask any specific design questions: Does it need additional copy? Is the video coming from a video streaming platform like YouTube or Vimeo, etc.?]
Now, for the hero image, on the homepage, do you have an image in mind or would you like for us to choose something for you? [PAUSE for response]
[If no: customer is persistent about using video on mobile and desktop version, despite the website performance impact]
I understand that your video is important to your homepage. We definitely want to incorporate your video the way you want it.
I’ll make a note to our builder that you still want to include [name of video] on the homepage, and that you understand how this will impact your website’s performance, and you understand it will take your site longer to load on mobile. Sound good? [PAUSE for response]
Must do step: if customer chooses not to take our recommendation about video placement on homepage of website -- do not force it. Include customer’s request in builder note.
[Add note to builder that customer is requesting video on homepage, even after knowing this can impact their website performance]
Footer
- Ok, so moving down the page, the final choice we need to make is what goes into the footer. Typically what we do here is repeat some of the contact info from the header, and add a few more informational elements. These can be links to other pages, your hours, any icons you’d like to use, like logos of products you work with, or awards you’ve won, or associations you belong to -- things like that.
[Make a recommendation based on the customer’s needs. For example:]
- Do you have any specific requests for the website footer? [PAUSE for response]
Logo Consultation: Customer Purchased Logo Design Service
Now that we have a better understanding of the design elements for your site we can talk about your new logo.
- I have your business name as [FROM BASICS TAB] is this how you also want it to appear on your new logo? [PAUSE for response/discussion]
- We chose [COLORS FROM BRANDING TAB] Do you want to use this option for your logo, too? [If yes, get the HEX codes for all colors] [PAUSE for response/discussion]
- For your business name, do you want to use [FONTS FROM BRANDING TAB] for your logo font? [PAUSE for response/discussion]
- Do you have any logo examples you like, or would you like for our designers to choose for you? [PAUSE for response/discussion]
[IF CUSTOMER COULD BENEFIT FROM SEEING EXAMPLES]
- How about I show you some examples of logos we’ve created in the past, and that way you can get an idea — we’ll share screens in a few, so we can do that then! [Reference ourlogostudio.com]
- Based on what we discussed today, we’ll create three logo options and email them to you -- those will be ready on [5 business days from now]. Once you get that email, reply and let us know which one you like the most! We’ll use that one for your website, and you’ll have a chance to give feedback on it on our next call, too.
Gathering Content
- Ok, we're making good progress, [customer name]. I’ve got lots of good info about your business, and we’ve nailed down all of our design choices.
- The only remaining piece is gathering your content for your site. Before we discuss the verbiage, let’s narrow down the pages we are going to be building.
[PAUSE for discussion and listing out the pages]
- Ok, great, now let's talk about the content on those pages. Pick the “if” scenario below that best fits.
- It sounds like you're in need of some copy. Let’s go through some quick questions that’ll help your writers create copy that’s tailored to your business.
- Do you want to use the copy that’s on your current site? I can have our copywriters polish it, and we’ll also go through a few additional questions to make sure we have everything we need to fill out your pages with tailored copy.
- Do you want to go ahead and send that email now so I can take a look at the copy? Keep in mind that we'll edit that for you, too. We’ll also go through a few additional questions to make sure we have everything we need to fill out your pages with tailored copy.
- Awesome, and if you have any other files that you would like included, go ahead and email those over to me now. And we’ll go through those copywriting questions after I take a look in case there’s anything missing.
[If customer has copy/assets, but needs to find them and send them in]
- What we can do is go through some questions now that’ll help our content writers get started on your website content today, and as soon as you’re able to send us your copy, we’ll use that to polish it up. How does that sound?
[If customer insists on holding off until they can send in their copy:]
- If you’re not able to get them to me before [today + 1 week], I’ll send what we’ve collected today to your website designer, and they’ll use their expertise to create your site. We can then spend our next call
Next Steps + Wrap Up
- Let’s schedule our follow-up call. We’re looking at [site delivery date + 1 day] to [site delivery date + 3 days], since it takes our team 8 business days to get your website ready for you to review. Let’s see what options we have here.
- Great, and we’ll email your website to you to review before that call. If you’re ready to make it live, reply to that email, and we can publish your site and send you an email with the next steps. [PAUSE for response]
[If customer wants to review:]
- If you have edits to make, or you want to discuss why our designers made certain choices, you can email those to me ahead of time, and we can walk through them together on the call.
- Ok, we’re almost finished! I’ll be sending you a recap email with all of this info in it, and here’s what we accomplished today:
- We gathered business information and content for your website.
- We decided on all of your design details.
- We established our time frame and that we’ll get to work on your website on [date of send].
- And we scheduled our review call for [date of review call].
If customer wants to create a new email linked to their domain, let them know you’ll transfer them to that team now and that it should only take a few minutes to get that set up.
- Any other questions for me before we wrap up? [PAUSE for response]
- Thank you so much for your time today, [customer name]! If you need anything from me, please don’t hesitate to reach out — everything you need will be in my email recap, so look out for that!