What is the Discovery Phase?

So now we’ve figured out if you need a new website, developed your plan for the website, decided you need to hire a developer and found a developer you think will help build the website to help your business.

What’s next?

Well, when you and your developer are ready, it’s time to for the discovery phase.

What exactly is the discovery phase, you might ask.

Well, sort of like the discovery phase in a trial, this part is where the developer is going to come in to try to learn more about your business and your wants and needs for this new website. And then they’re going to turn that into a plan for the website to be built.

This can be a bit of a tricky process, especially if this is your first time working with a developer, but it’s an important process. If done correctly, this will put you and developer on the same page to build a website that’s help your business.

So let’s talk a little bit about the discovery phase so that you can know what to expect when the time comes.

What is going to happen in the discovery phase?

So in the simplest of terms, the discovery phase is the part where the developer comes in and learns more about your business and your wants and needs for the website so they can design and develop a solution to fill that need.

They’re going to be coming in and learning about why you started your business, what your business does, who are your actual customers and what is the problem is that you’re wanting to be solved.

They’re also probably going to be learning more about your technological skills (so they don’t build something too complicated) and also what your business can and can’t handle. And of course, they’ll always ask for your input and what you want and need for this website.

So this means that there are going to be a lot of meetings between the two of you as they try to figure things out. And ultimately by the end of the process, they’re going to have developed a plan to build out this website that’s going to help you and your business be successful in the future.

Be prepared for questions

As a part of the process, the developer is obviously going to be asking you a lot of questions. After all, they need to know more about you and your business so that they can develop the right solution for.

So you should be expecting these questions at the start of the process. So, you should tell them about where your business is currently at, where you want it to be in the future and where you see this new website fitting in all of that, in addition to your wants and needs for this website.

This is where that previous planning that we’ve done so far comes into play. Those things I just rattled off sound a lot like what we’ve talked about in our first few videos. The answers to those questions will help guide you to what you want with this website and to be able to articulate that to the developer.

And sure, you might not have a readily available answer for all the questions you’re going to be asked. In fact, you probably won’t.

But those answers from before help give you the focus for what you want this website to be. And then you can give answers that fit that focus. This is as opposed to wandering aimlessly, thinking “I’m might want this or I might want that,” and that doesn’t help anybody.

The more direct you can be with the developer, the easier it is for them to see your vision and to come up with a solution that helps you get there. It’s a win for everyone.

Be open minded with the developer’s solution

So you likely already have an idea for what you want your website to be. And that’s great. It’s really helpful for developers to have a client that knows what they want. We can have more direct communication and get to work much quicker.

But sometimes your ideas might not be practical on the web. Or they might not be the solution that’s going to help you the best. And the developer might tell you this and suggest going down a different road.

And that’s okay.

Be open-minded about what they come back with. Again, we’re the experts in this area and we have a lot of experiences that we can draw from. We might know from a past experience with a similar client that this solution works better than maybe the one you’re suggesting. And don’t worry, we still have your best interest at heart.

Now, you are well within your rights to ask why this solution that they’re suggesting this solution is better than the one you’re thinking of. And if they can’t really answer that, then that does raise some red flags.
But just know that through this process, the developer might just kind of guide you down a different path to hopefully get you to a better website that’s going to help your business.

Be patient

Finally, you’re going to need to have patience during this phase. This isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight.

Ideally, it should take about two to three weeks for the discovery phase. That gives the developer enough time to learn about you, your business, the problem that you have and come up with a solution for said problem. And this is something that is going to have to work for it to be worth it for your business, so it’s better to take the time now and make sure you’re doing it right the first time.

Again, this is why I say over and over that it takes a long time for a website to be built, even if it’s being built by a developer. Everything good takes time to come to fruition.

So just during this phase, relax and focus on your business. After all, isn’t that you’re paying the developer in the first place?

Next steps

So that’s what you can expect during the discovery phase. It can be a little bit scary at first, especially if this is your first time, just because of the number of questions you’ll likely be asked.

But have open conversations with the developer. Tell them where your business is now and where you want it to be. Tell them what you want or need from the website. And you can even tell them about some of your favorite websites and some of the elements on there that you like. That will help them get into your mindset, and ultimately develop a better product.

The discovery phase is really where you can really set this website up for success.

If you have any questions, feel free to leave them in comments below or reach out on social media. You can also learn more about creating a website for your business over on my website. I have a bevy of resources and blog posts that can help you make informed decisions during this entire process.

When you’re ready to move on to the next step, I’ll see you in the next video.