The client questionnaire

This is a great starting point, what it'll do is very quickly identify the kind of project (and possible constraints) you may run into.

What this should do is highlight the core reasoning behind the new site. Is their e-commerce site not producing enough sales? Is their site simply outdated? Are they in the process of rebranding?

This open a can of worms. The client can go into more detail than you would imagine you'd need. But what it does do is to push right to the forefront of your mind what exactly it is the client does, how their business operates and is structured.

Having a clear idea of the competition and therefore the eco-system in which your client's business operates will really help you hone in on the core problems and issues surrounding the project. It will also help you isolate the unique selling points.

This is key. These considerations will greatly affect your design. Older customers? You should possibly avoid more involved user interface instances. Customers in locations where high bandwidth connections aren't prevalent? Page weight needs to be very tightly controlled. Female customers? Using pictures of scantily clad young women to sell your products might not be appropriate (if any of you say 'Well duh!' you'd be surprised how often I've run into this kind of thing).

Again, this is going to greatly affect your design. Building a site that is 'on brand' is absolutely critical. Get as much detail as possible, get copies of vector logos, font packs, colour palettes, anything and everything. If they don't have one, you can sell more of your services here.

This is a tricky one. The client may be reluctant to tell you because they wish to negotiate, or they simply might have no idea how much these things costs. Either way, you should be prepared not to get as clear an answer to this question as you would want.

Would it mean a percentage increase in online sales? More web generated sales enquiries? More visitors to their site? Higher ad revenue? Trying to get a defined set of goals is another great way of again isolating the core purpose of the site.

Like the previous question, this may have no simple answer, and it may rely on you leading them into an estimation. But this has obvious connotations to your quote.

This area (training) is a common one that is undercharged and underestimated. You can spend much more time training than you think, so getting a good idea beforehand and building this into your quote is very important.

This will very obviously determine a large chunk of the site's functionality. Try to convey what you think might be reasonable in their circumstances, as they may well may have no idea.

This one always ends up generating quite an ambiguous answer. But it can be really helpful in getting a good idea as to the design direction the client would like the project to go. It can also be a good opportunity to guide the client to websites you think may be relevant to their project and its design.

I can tell you from experience how helpful this particular question is in reducing time consuming and frustrating revisions later on.

This can help you define which (if any) CMS you will use as well as the site's information architecture and organisation. It can also help you with training people on writing good web copy. Will you be writing the site's initial copy? Will the client provide it?

Businesses have an ethos or 'feel' they wish to convey to their customers. Young and energetic? Restrained and professional? This is usually already well established and communicating it is incredibly important.

Nailing down the general size and breadth of the store at hand is very important. You don't want to go in thinking you're designing the user experience for 50 products and then get told there are 2000 and have to start from scratch.

The product's aesthetics: you're gonna need to focus on imagery. The specifications: you're gonna need to focus on conveying that. The brand: again, you'll need to put focus on that.

Using captivating and well produced imagery is incredibly important to conversions, and well crafted and concise copy equally so. It's also another opportunity to sell other services like photography, or identifying potential hold-ups to the project while it's completed by a third party.

This one is fairly straightforward, it will effect you and getting it out of the way early on is important. If they don't know, this can be a good point to recommend them some alternatives to look into.

Isolating the key paths a business uses to communicate to the customer is very important. How are they going to bring in business to their new site? Social media? Search marketing? Offline marketing?

Integrating their new site with an existing social media strategy is crucial. You don't want to replicate tasks or features that'll dilute their marketing, or mean unnecessary work on your part. This is a further opportunity to sell your services.

This represents the beginning of determining keywords with the client and helping shape their consequent expectations. Encourage them to put some thought into it, provide them with some basic resources to research with. This can be another opportunity to sell services, or to recommended a search specialist.