What Does Your Website Need to Do? How to Define Your Requirements
If you’re thinking about creating a new website, you’ll need to consider what it needs to do. In other words, what are your website requirements.
Website requirements are, simply put, any functions, capabilities or qualities your site needs to have.
For example, does your website need to be in more than one language? Do you want to sell products? Do visitors need to be able to sign up for an email list? Do you need your clients to be able to sign up for a workshop? See upcoming events?
You can basically use the terms “requirements” and “features” interchangeably.
Requirements are often broken into several categories. The main ones are:
Business requirements (I refer to these as objectives)
User requirements - what qualities a website requires for general user friendliness and to guide the user towards specific flows or tasks
Functional requirements - capabilities and functionalities of a website; what it needs to do
Functional requirements are what I’m talking about in this post. This sounds very tech-y and jargon-y but it’s really not.
Hopefully you’ve thought about your website objective - or business requirements, in other words, the ‘what’ of your website. What your site needs to do and why.
Requirements are the “how.” How is your website going to increase your sales? Allow you to book your workshops without digging through email? Make your bookkeeping more efficient?
You might not know if or how a website can do any of these things. Use the list you came up with when you defined your site objectives. Create a dream laundry list of things you wish your website could help you with.
Why do you need website requirements? For a couple of reasons.
Picking a platform
Understanding your requirements is really helpful when it comes to selecting a platform. Squarespace does some things better than Shopify, Wordpress does some things better than Squarespace, there are some things Wix can’t do at all. Knowing what your website needs to do will go a long way in making sure you don’t pick the wrong platform.
Pricing and timeline
If you’re going to work with a web designer, she’ll need to know what kind of site she needs to price and plan for. As an old boss of mine used to say, “We need to know more than if it’s bigger than a breadbox and smaller than a truck.” She can also provide insight and expertise on platform selection based on your requirements. A good website designer can also help you refine your requirements. Some of your requirements may be redundant, a little probing may reveal that you don’t need all the functionalities you think you need, or there may just be a more efficient way to go about it.
Don’t overlook understanding and defining your website requirements. Skipping this step can lead to getting stuck with the wrong platform, the wrong website and lots of wasted money and time.
If you want to shine and thrive online, it’s really key to be thoughtful and intentional before you take action. Yes, getting online pronto is necessary. It’s good to have a sense of urgency, but don’t rush the thinking part.
Getting online the right way will get you a website that catapults you out into the world in a way that thrills you and will also help you knock your business goals out of the park.
Need help defining your requirements?
Schedule a free consult call to see how I can help.