Years ago, I remember being taught that a good story must have a clear beginning, middle and end…this was obviously information that not only I was privy to as some of the finest stories of modern day follow the very same ethos. Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings and the Hannibal Lecter trilogy, to mention but a few; where do you think these classics would be if their authors had been of a mind to make one installment and then stop? Unfinished, that’s where.
So for that reason and to give you as much information as possible of course, this blog shall be the first of a trilogy and entirely a work of non-fiction.
The areas that will be covered over the next three weeks are:
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The tell tale signs that your website needs a review
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How to brief a team to carry out the required work
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How to review the benefits of the changes made
PART 1
Having a website that reflects the company is vital for many businesses as more and more people are short of time nowadays so turn to online for information, to shop and to make enquiries. Before you can make an educated decision as to whether or not your website needs a simple facelift, a slightly more complicated overhaul, or a complete, full scale re-vamp you must ask some simple questions.
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Does your site fulfil a purpose i.e. to give information, to drive enquiries, to sell …etc?
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Is your website up to date with its content, images and contact details?
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Is your branding, message and tone consistent?
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Is your navigation clear?
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Do visitors understand what you do straight away?
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Are all your links and pages working?
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Are you ranking for your services and products?
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Are you getting new and returning visitors?
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When was the last time you had a review?
We understand that sometimes it can be quite difficult to answer these questions, especially if you are ‘close’ to the site, and this is not an exercise in picking faults as such but rather one in progression and improvement. Websites, much like any aspect of business, work on the basis of ‘you get out what you put it’, plus your site acts like a shop window for your business and therefore must be updated as and when things change.
Do you currently have a feedback facility for your site or run any analysis of visitors? These are great ways to ascertain problem areas that will need worked on plus you can gain some useful suggestions from real time users.
So, once you have the answers to the above questions you need to have a clear route of progression to follow… therefore you need to consider the following:
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What can be done immediately?
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What can be done in-house?
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What do you need advice on?
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What do you need to outsource?
You will know the limit of your resources, their effectiveness and the timescales within which they can work, all of which should be considered when starting a project like this. Some businesses may not have the facilities to take or obtain new images, devise search engine optimised content or even edit their own site so this is the perfect stage of the process to ask for advice from an outsourced marketing agency. Not only will you benefit from professional advice and work carried out, but the agency is likely to have contacts in other industries who they can liaise with to find you the right company or companies to work with. If you are lucky they can even project manage the whole job for you…
This is now where a brief is required…so come back next week for part 2 of ‘The New Website Saga’ and to find out how to effectively carry out the next step in the process.