Once you have decided what you expect from your website-- general purpose, website business goals, visitors, sales, and results--you are ready to write specific business requirements. Your website developer and programmer will use these requirements to design your website and program its features and functions.

Later, you will define user requirements and the functional requirements for your website. Your business requirements drive the features and functions of your website. Begin with them.

Requirements play a critical role in getting your website right, whether you are creating a new website, modifying an existing one or thinking about making changes to your current website. These guidelines will provide you with direction wherever you are in the process.  

1.   Begin with primary requirements. Primary requirements are the major high-level requirements that identify your "big picture" expectations for the website. Make statements that reflect your sales, marketing, branding, order fulfillment , customer service and other expectations. Later, you will drill down and create secondary requirements that support each of your primary requirements.

2.   Build requirements that support the major purpose of the website. If you expect the website to produce a certain percent (or all) of your sales results, start with that.

Not all websites are used for online sales. Websites may also introduce a local business to potential customers or provide someone making a major purchase with information that will assist them in making their buying decision. It may also be designed to provide ongoing information and support to existing customers.

Sometimes websites have several major purposes. For example, to build visibility in a specific demographic and to create sales leads. A law firm or CPA firm may provide some services, like publications, online.

However, most law or CPA firms work directly with clients and potential clients. Therefore, most legal or accounting websites are intended to provide visibility, establish the firm's credibility in getting results for their clients and motivate a potential customer to contact that firm.

3.   Be specific. Requirements describe measurable and identifiable outcomes. Ask yourself: how will I know that this requirement is being achieved? Can another person read this requirement, go to the website and identify how the website fulfills the requirement?

4.  Focus on one outcome at a time. A requirement should identify only one specific outcome. If you find yourself using the word "and," break that requirement into two.

5.  Involve everyone with a stake in the website to participate in defining requirements.  It is easy to become so focused on the marketing and sales aspects of a website that some of the realistic aspects of doing business online are overlooked.

      For example, in a business that uses its website to generate referrals, it is easy to overlook a feature that will allow you to determine which leads are coming  from the website and which are from other sources. The more staff members you consult in the requirements process, the more likely you are to identify all the major requirements for your website. Involving everyone with a stake in the website also allows you to verify and validate the features you expect in the website.

6.   Define how people will find your website. Doing business on the Web is no longer as simple as simply having a web presence. Most companies these days need a presence on one or more social media sites and listings in online directories. Include that information in your requirements.

Many website owners think in terms of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Simply put, SEO is based on understanding and taking advantage of the way search engines locate and prioritize websites in an online search. 

A good SEO strategy can deliver a lot of hits to a website. However, SEO has done its job when someone arrives at a website. It does not guarantee that someone will stay there more than a few seconds or that he or she will buy the product, follow up with the business or use the information on the website.

SEM is a broader process. SEM usually uses SEO combined with other strategies like paid advertising or pay per click to other websites to draw visitors to a site.

Here's an example of a typical requirement someone might write at the beginning of the requirement process:  The ABC website will consistently represent our brand online and will attract young homeowners between the ages of 25 and 35.

That's not too bad. It's clear the website is aimed at the interests of younger homeowners. However, it is not clear how the website will represent the brand online or how the website supports the business. There are also at least two requirements embedded in this statement.

A better approach would be something like this:

• ·        The website will reflect our brand image for customer service to new homeowners. A "new homeowner is someone who is living in a first home and has owned that home for less than six years.
• ·        The website will emphasize the financial aspects of home ownership that are critical to the success of new homeowners.
• ·        Our Facebook page will include short tips and answers to frequently asked new homeowner questions.  Facebook content will lead to more detailed content on the website.

Writing requirements is probably the most cost effective process you can follow when revising or creating a website. Requirements allow you to clearly define what your website will do and how it will work before you commit time and resources to development. It is much easier to think about these issues upfront than to wait until you are in the middle of development or until your website is online but is not producing the results you expect.

Please share your ideas, comments, questions and suggestions about this blog with us. Feel free to leave comments below or to email Judy at [email protected].

Judy Cobb is an independent writer and business writing coach whose clients have included Parsons Engineering, Mattel Toys, The Los Angeles Times and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She has specialized in developing training materials for instructor-led courses as well as interactive online courses and websites. She holds advanced degrees from Columbia University and Stanford as well as an MBA from UCLA's Anderson Graduate School of Management.