• To Generate Leads?
• To Generate Sales ?
• Engage with your stakeholders ?
• Automate Tasks?
• To serve as a Product Catalogue?
• To serve as a Directory Listing ?
• To Facilitate online Payments or Donations?

e.g. We’ve met several CEOs and Founders who have told us their website is NOT for attracting new clients. They just need to have a presence when a prospect or client looks for them. No problem there, however, it is important to ensure that when they do find your site, you don’t look outdated or unprofessional. 

Be clear about your objective(s).

• Branding Guide (logo, colours, fonts). You may already have a Branding guide for your  prospective developers to follow. Ensure that your guide is suitable for the web.
• What would you like your brand design to communicate – corporate or fun, modern or traditional, elegant or casual … ?
• “User Experience” (UX) expertise is a specialized skill which can be extremely useful, so please don’t skip this step. Doing the leg work and understanding your demographic, what and how they prefer to communicate with your brand, etc. can be critical to achieving your objectives. User Experience expertise studies can include your Information Architecture, User Interaction & Navigation, to name a few.

• What should your website do? We recommend not trying to think of the various individual elements that your website needs. E.g. Meaning if you think you have specific needs such as a calendar or a gallery. We recommend a broader approach in communicating your needs to your developer, so that you can conceptualize your website together using the developers expertise. So, tell your developer what you want to achieve in a broader sense, like “I need an online booking platform” or “I would like to show photos of my work.” In other words don’t limit the developers as they are trained to be innovative. Rather, explain your needs in a broad sense and you’ll probably get a better suited solution.
• Also we do not suggest that you dictate  which platform you want, unless you really know for sure. E.G. Clients sometimes request for development to take place on a certain proprietary platform. However, that can often  mean that your website can never integrate with 3rd party software, resulting in you hindering your own progress. Or, it can mean that it’s not the most suitable platform for your project. Our Software Engineers are qualified to guide you on these matters.

• Storage – how much data you do expect to host on the site.
• Expected traffic – if you know, average number of clients.
• Security – this may vary based on your industry. For example, platforms for medical and government may have a completely different set of security requirements.

Depending on your industry, certain website standards and policies may apply. It may be important to communicate with your developer on these, as some of the standards may be legal requirements. In some instances, following these standards may also lead to the improvement of the quality of the website.

There are also “best practice” standards which may apply.

For example, if you are in the government or healthcare industries, you may be required to adhere to standards with respect to accessibility for disabled persons.

• Web Accessibility – We know that not everyone can afford to incorporate all of the web accessibility standards. However, even if you can’t adopt all the standards, there are some simple standards you can insist on, such as: alt tags for your images, using the appropriate colours and fonts.
• Sitemap.  
• Terms and conditions. Whatever your refund or return policies are, publish them.
• Privacy policy. 

Presenting The Proposal

Probably best after you have shortlisted perspective developers. 

• Allows both the developer and the recruiter (or hiring group) to address an uncertainties that may be unclear.
• To get a feel for the organizational fit for the developer who will be working alongside you and or your team.
• Discuss any additional areas outside of the proposal such as, long term objectives, understanding your clients behaviors and any additional nuances

• When you send them a RFP and you already have a developer selected. Especially when the RFP requirements are huge. There’s got to be another way than to waste people’s time! And truth be told, you will get a reputation and people will stop applying to your job – which may mean that you end up with inexperienced developers bidding on your project. 
• Impractical payment terms. For example, if you mandate 10% mobilization fee in circumstances where web development work is heavily front-loaded. This may force the developers to hike their overall prices so that they can secure their own interest.
• When you don’t give a budget (most companies know their max spend), or low budget with complex specifications. We know you hope that the developers come in under budget, but the thing is, the more you put into your website, the more you will get back out of your website. Literally, as a Return on your Investment (ROI), which is often measurable, hence justifying the investment.