Forum Moderators: LifeinAsia
I have no idea what I'm getting into with this client other than 1) I know they are not web-savvy and 2) by my previous experience with them, they have to be led along to understand technical things. So BEFORE I present them with a formal contract and bid, I've composed the questions below to squeeze the info out of them. This list may be of use to those who've never been in this position, but I'm posting it here with my own question: Anything I've overlooked (except budget?)
I've intentionally left out "what is your budget" as we've already discussed that, an accurate number will be set based on the response to these questions. "Quite welcome" to anyone who may be able to use this as a checklist, and "THANK YOU!" to any suggestions or criticism! :-)
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PROJECT: Develop a web site and shopping cart modeled after the functionality demonstrated at
[cart URL here]. [My company] will be responsible for creating, installing, and testing full functionality of said pages and system before deeming project as complete.
Contact Info: Please provide full company name, address, phone numbers, email addresses, website URL, etc. for this site's entity, particularly if that info differs from the info I already have for [client company for another project].
Design: A basic template design will represent the graphic, visual, and navigational theme throughout all areas of the site. This lends a consistent look and feel to all areas, static pages and shopping cart pages alike.
1. Do you have a preference for colors, graphics, or other visual elements? (Please list them.)
2. Do you have examples of sites you like and sites you hate for their visual presentation? (Please list URL's)
3. Do you have a company logo, and if so, do you have a quality digital copy you can send? If not, are you interested in developing one as a result of this project? This is important because the resolution required for paper printing is different than web. If you need a logo designed, it should be designed with all applications in mind.
Pages and Content: The shopping cart is an entity unto itself, as products and pictures are added via the administrative interface, that content expands and is self-maintaining. These questions pertain to OTHER static pages that may be required on the website.
4. What other pages will require development for this site? (Contact Us, About Us, Privacy Policy, etc.)
5. Static pages require updates from time to time. Do you see these "other" pages requiring frequent updates (daily or weekly) or infrequent updates? (weekly, monthly, annually.)
6. Will you need to make these updates yourself or are you satisfied with a developer, such as myself, making these updates? This can be a relatively inexpensive process for infrequent updates; if the updates are frequent, see #7 below.
7. If you need to make the updates to static pages yourself, can you edit raw HTML files or do you require a web-based CMS (content management system) to make such updates? A CMS is a web-based method of editing your pages and involves additional programming, adding quite a bit to the initial cost. If your updates to static pages are infrequent, it is usually cheaper to employ a developer such as myself to apply them as needed. If you know how to edit HTML pages, the obvious answer to this question is no, I can maintain them myself.
8. Do you have existing pictures, text, or other items to provide for these static pages? DO NOT SEND SHOPPING CART INVENTORY IMAGES OR TEXT, or items for your shopping cart. This question is ONLY in relation to any static pages you will require for your site.
Shopping Cart Expectations: The basic functionality of a shopping cart will be to add, edit, and delete products in the shopping cart from an administrative area, upload item pictures, assign shipping rules, retrieve orders, inventory items, and contact customers via your web-based administrative interface. The customer should be able to select items, add them to their cart, then at checkout select a shipping method and pay via credit card or other methods. The below questions pertain to development of shopping cart functionality to suit your needs.
9. How do you plan on receiving funds from the shopping cart sales? The possible options are to 1) collect credit card information only and process the info manually (i.e., you already have an offline merchant account and all you need is the CC number,) 2) post the credit card info to a merchant gateway such as [this gateway, that gateway,] or other merchant gateway that has the funds deposited directly into your account (requires a gateway account,) 3) post payment to your payPal account only, 4) accept orders via check or money order only, or 5) some combination of any of these or some method not mentioned here.
10. What special functionality might you require of the administrative area of your shopping cart? The shopping cart at the url above is extremely robust in how it allows you to customize the products you sell; it counts inventory and sales, it contains too many custom features to be discussed here. You have full access to add, edit, or delete customer data and customer purchases. There are BASIC inventory reports but it does not present elaborate graphs or reports; i.e., while you can use the inventory reports to chart sales and orders over time, it does not do this for you. So if you have SPECIFIC requirements for the administrative area of your site, please briefly list them.
Technical Considerations:
11. Have you already purchased the domain name for this site? If so, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you verify you have the information to log in to wherever you registered this domain and have the ability to edit/update that info. For example, if you host the actual website at the hosting service example.com, we will need to log in to the domain registrar and input the DNS numbers for example.com so when someone requests your site it is found.
12. Does this site already exist? If it already exists somewhere, please provide the URL and the FTP login information to this site. THIS IS NOT YOUR EMAIL LOGIN. This is the login info to log in to the site ONLY for the purpose of copying files to the website.
13. Do you have a hosting preference for this site? If the answer to the above is no, may we assume we will develop and host this site on [some preferred host] servers?
The relevance of these last three questions is that if we have to set your site up in a "test" location and move it when complete, this is only going to add to development costs - not much, but some.
PLEASE NOTE: Search engine placement, site marketing, or other promotional considerations are not part of this project or estimate. That is a completely different project which we may discuss at completion of this site and cart.
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