Which item had the biggest effect on how you think about your website?
Which one applied least to your situation?

Your feedback helps me make this the most useful tool possible. Soon, we're going to launch an interactive tool to help prospective clients or anyone who needs to create a new website get all these design elements well in mind before the coding even begins. It will help them get the right website for the right price from the right developer.

Of course, I hope that's me, but if not, you still deserve the best website you can arrange. If this tool contributes to your success, makes it just a little easier to get there, then I've succeeded.

This means you have to know what they're thinking.

If you're not already doing this, start asking folks who've visited your website what they think. Some will give you a non-committal answer. That's fine; they might be more excited about the new version. But some folks will have definite opinions about specific items. Note them. Watch for trends.

After all, if you love your new site but your prospects and clients don't, we haven't really succeeded.

Tired of the images? Color scheme boring? Navigation hard to use? Content sounding bland after all this time? Too many pages? Too few pages? Tools not working as hoped?

A thorough list of elements you'd especially like changed helps us ensure that the new site isn't just a fancied-up version of the old site but is, in fact, new.

Go through page by page, element by element on each page, and make a note of everything you assume will still be there after the redesign. Make notes of things you assume are just part of the website. Remember, unless you intentionally choose to keep it, it's not necessarily going to be part of your redesigned website.

This is another question that's about intent; making choices overtly instead of making assumptions.

At the very least, your website should have a contact form which emails a visitor's contact information and comments to you. You should also include a sign-up form for your newsletter. But there's more:

There are popular WordPress plugins for

• photo galleries
• connecting to your social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter
• tracking visits to your site
• allowing visitors to subscribe to your new blog posts by email
• creating a discussion forum
• performing backups and other maintenance on your website
• and more

Dream big. Most of what you imagine is probably already programmed, ready to use.

You don't need to choose your most technically proficient person to use WordPress. Better to have someone who loves this type of puttering take care of it, even if they need to learn a few skills and even have their work reviewed before it goes live. Let the driver be someone who enjoys this, and they'll nudge to get it done.

Search engines love love love fresh content. Even writing a blog post once a week will improve your website's findability.

Just as important is having a process in place to make changes when your business changes. We were embarrassed to realize our California contact information was still on our website when we'd had a New Jersey address for over a month. Don't let this happen to you. Have a schedule for updates, whether it's new content or a review of the existing.

For "search engine" read "Google." They own the premier search algorithms, and any other search engine is simply trying to reflect what Google does.

And what Google does is to help human readers find the content they were looking for. That's all. Google isn't trying to help you sell widgets. It's not trying to help illicit businesses trick the unwary into embarrassing situations. Just, help people find stuff.

If your website has content that is easy to find, and worth finding, that is the best search engine optimization.

SEO should be baked in, not poured on top. When we know the unique phrases you've built into your marketing so your perfect prospects recognize you when they find you, we can build those phrases into your website's copy in a natural way which is meaningful to humans and helpful to Google.

"But we don't have any 'unique phrases' about us in our marketing!" you cry plaintively.

You should. You should own certain phrases, so that, for instance, when someone hears "web design for the real world" they'll think about Spinhead. When someone thinks about getting their book out of the "someday" box, they'll think about my author coaching services.

Find a unique way to express how your business makes your clients' dreams come true. Bake that into all your marketing—including your website.

The layout of each page will be heavily influenced by repeated elements. Your logo, for instance. Copyright or contact information. Navigation.

Consider the things that make up your branding, and those things which should be a consistent part of your visitor's experience. Once again we're being nudged to think about the big picture of our business. Branding your website follows branding your business.

What's the destination? One year, two years, five years from now, what do you believe about your website? Will it serve a purpose, then fade away? Will it change and grow, living forever?

One reason for this question is to force yourself to ask another one: what's my long-term plan for me?

I am not just a technical guy who builds websites. Nor am I simply an entrepreneur who is good at coaching other entrepreneurs. First and foremost I'm a philosopher who helps other people get unstuck, get moving toward creating remarkable things in their life.

Building your website is not just a job to me. The best business relationships aren't just about business.