The Web Design Questionnaire Template Edmonton Businesses...
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A practical web design questionnaire template for Edmonton businesses — the real questions to answer before hiring an agency, built from 100+ SMB projects.
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When an Edmonton business hires a web agency, both sides often skip the hardest part: the discovery questionnaire. The result is predictable — unclear scope, content gaps, miscommunication, and a site that launches okay but doesn't deliver business outcomes.
A good questionnaire asks the questions that surface what you actually need. Here's the template we use with our own Edmonton clients, adapted so you can copy-paste it and fill it out whether you're hiring us or anyone else.
Copy what's useful. Skip what doesn't apply. The answers make the difference between a $10K website that earns its keep and a $10K website that sits there.
Plain language. As if you're explaining to a friend. Not the marketing tagline — the actual thing you do.
Exact years and Edmonton-area location (or full address). This affects local SEO strategy.
Solo, small team (2-10), medium (10-50), larger (50+). Affects what kind of site makes sense.
You don't have to share exact numbers. Ranges are fine: under $100K, $100-500K, $500K-2M, $2M-10M, $10M+. Determines realistic budget and ROI expectations.
Names + websites. Agency will audit these in discovery.
Even if you've never articulated it, try now. "We respond faster," "our prices are lower," "we specialize in [niche]." This becomes the backbone of your site's positioning.
Specific. Not "businesses" or "homeowners." More like "Edmonton homeowners aged 40-65 with homes over 20 years old" or "Alberta-based mid-size law firms with 5-20 lawyers."
Their problem in their language. Not "we provide X service" but "our customers are dealing with [specific problem] and we [specific solution]."
Referrals, Google Ads, organic search, social media, Google Maps, networking events, industry directories. Rough percentages if you know them.
Even ballpark. Determines how much a better website is worth to you.
Single transaction, recurring revenue, long-term relationship. Affects what kinds of conversion mechanisms matter.
The real objections. Price? Trust? Uncertainty about outcomes? Comparison to DIY alternatives? The website should address these directly.
These become FAQ content (also good for AI search visibility — see E-E-A-T signals for AI).
If you have one. Note the platform (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, custom, etc.).
If you can guess. Sites over 3 years old are usually due for serious attention.
Sometimes the answer is "nothing." That's useful too.
Specific complaints. "It's slow," "the photos are outdated," "I can't update it myself," "mobile looks bad."
Even rough Google Analytics numbers. Determines traffic baseline for measuring improvement.
Form submissions, phone calls, chat conversations — whatever you can track. Establishes the current conversion baseline.
If you've set up GSC, agency can pull your current ranking data. If not, that's fine but worth setting up during the project.
Site going down, security warnings, slow loading, mobile usability issues. These inform whether a rebuild or upgrade fits better.
Top 3 things. Not "look better" — what should it do for your business?
Specific, measurable. "20% more leads per month," "we stop losing customers who find our site unprofessional," "we rank for 'Edmonton [category]' queries in AI engines." Vague answers lead to vague outcomes.
Honest ranges, not games. Budget determines scope. Agencies don't pad quotes based on stated budget if they're operating honestly.
Hard deadline or flexible? Product launch, event, fiscal year, just wanting it done? Timeline affects scope and pricing.
"We launch 6 months late," "we spend double the budget," "the site looks unprofessional," "we can't update it without paying the agency each time." Discussing failure modes upfront prevents them.
Estimate. Typical SMB sites: Home, About, Services (maybe broken into separate pages per service), Portfolio/Case Studies, Blog, Contact, Privacy/Terms. That's 10-15 pages baseline.
If yes, how often will you publish? Who writes? Agency-written blogs are common at $200-$800/post.
Even simple product sales. Adds 1-3 weeks of build time and $2-10K to cost.
Calendar integration (Calendly, Acuity, etc.) or custom booking flow. Custom flows add $2-15K depending on complexity.
Client portals, membership areas, gated content. Significant scope addition — usually $5-25K extra.
French content for Edmonton is rarely necessary (different in Montreal). If you serve specific immigrant communities, consider.
Calculators, configurators, quote generators, custom forms, integrations with other tools. Be specific.
AI chatbot, AI voice agent, AI content generation — all increasingly common in 2026. Scope these explicitly.
CRM (HubSpot, Salesforce, etc.), email marketing (Mailchimp, ConvertKit), booking (Calendly, Acuity), payment (Stripe, Square), analytics (GA4, Plausible), chat (Intercom, Tidio). List everything.
Words, images, videos, brand assets. What's ready vs. what needs creation.
You, agency, freelance writer, AI-drafted + reviewed. Affects timeline and cost.
Professional headshots, product photography, location photography, drone footage. Separate budget item ($500-$5,000).
Brand video, explainer videos, product demos. Another separate budget item.
Logo files, fonts, color palette, tone/voice guide. If yes, provide. If no, agency may need to develop some.
With notes on what specifically you like. Design direction starts here.
With notes on what specifically you hate. Avoids the same mistakes.
Pick 2-3 descriptors. Extra points for clarity: "Professional but warm" vs. "clinical and sterile."
Existing brand guidelines, corporate color palette, mandated logo placement, regulatory disclaimers, accessibility requirements beyond baseline.
Be specific to Edmonton. "Emergency plumber Edmonton" not "plumber."
Google it from an incognito window. Note roughly where you appear (or if you don't).
Yes for almost everyone in 2026. But requires specific schema + llms.txt + content work. See our GEO practical guide.
Claimed and verified, with photos and reviews? Critical for local AI citations. See our guide on how AI cites local Edmonton businesses.
Sometimes you have a service page that should rank for a specific term but doesn't. Note these.
You, your team, the agency on retainer, a freelancer. Affects platform choice.
Daily, weekly, monthly, rarely. Informs CMS choice.
Agency-recommended, existing provider you want to keep, specific requirement (Canadian hosting for privacy reasons, etc.).
Healthcare (PHIA, PIPEDA), legal (LSAPI), financial, education, accessibility (AODA in Ontario, WCAG AA baseline). Different for Edmonton businesses than US — make sure agency knows Canadian frameworks.
For industries where data must stay in Canada. Affects hosting, CDN, and analytics choices.
One person ideally. If it's a committee, name the tiebreaker.
List all stakeholders. Agency plans communication accordingly.
Email, Slack, Zoom, Asana, other project management tool. Weekly calls vs. async updates.
Vacations, industry events, quarterly closes, personal commitments. Agency plans around these.
Be honest. "I'll review within 24 hours" vs. "I get to things in 3-5 days" vs. "I need to route through 4 people." Timeline planning depends on this.
Budget overrun, timeline slip, unclear results, quality disappointment, being locked into a platform, not being able to update the site yourself, dependency on the agency. Naming it helps address it.
If yes, what went wrong? Helps agency avoid repeating the same pattern.
Internal politics affect project success. Acknowledging this upfront lets the agency help navigate it.
Fill this out as much as you can before our first call. We'll ask follow-up questions and refine together. The more you've thought through before the kickoff, the more time we spend on strategic questions rather than foundational ones.
Fill it out anyway and share it with whatever agency or freelancer you're evaluating. Their response tells you a lot:
Fill it out for yourself. It forces clarity on what you're building and why. Most DIY projects fail because of unclear goals, not technical issues. This document solves that.
Bad: "We want a nicer website."
Good: "Our current WordPress site is 4 years old, slow (LCP ~5s mobile), ranks poorly for 'Edmonton dental clinic recall' where we want to be visible, and generates 3-5 leads/month. We want to double leads to 8-10/month over 6 months through a modern, fast, AI-visible site that reinforces our specialty in dental recall automation for Edmonton clinics. Budget $15K-20K. Timeline 10 weeks."
The second version has: current state, specific goal, measurable outcome, budget, timeline, positioning. An agency can quote, scope, and deliver against that precisely.
2-4 hours if you're thinking carefully. Don't rush it. The clearer this document, the better the project outcome.
Good ones do. If an agency ignores your questionnaire and sends a generic proposal, they'll approach your project the same way. Move on.
That's fine. Write "I'm not sure" or "need agency input." The blanks themselves are useful — they reveal where strategy is needed.
A discovery call is necessary but not sufficient. The questionnaire captures information systematically; the call extracts nuance. Both add value.
Adapt. This template covers standard Edmonton SMB web projects. Complex projects (SaaS, e-commerce with custom requirements, multi-brand organizations) need additional depth.
Typically yes, but "longer" isn't the goal. Bigger agencies often have 80-100 question brand/design/technical questionnaires that are useful for enterprise work and overkill for most Edmonton SMBs. This template is calibrated for typical SMB scope.
Need help filling this out or turning it into a project brief? Send us your draft, or book a free consultation and we'll walk through it together. See our web development Edmonton service for what we actually build. Works best in combination with the cost of a website for small businesses in Edmonton for budget context.