The Most Crucial Thing to Remember When Building a New Website

Dear Business Owner,
Please do me a favour and think for a minute before you go out and hire a web designer to create a spanking new website for you.

Don't let design wag the dog!

Time and time again I come across businesses who, together with designers, have got carried away with the branding, the look and feel of a site, without actually thinking strategically about how it will work with the content you’re going to create in the future.

After you ask yourself:

• What do we want the website to achieve?
• What key function will it have in helping our business achieve our goals?

You need to think about the content you’ll be creating:

• Is there space in your new design for new stuff?
• Will you be able to easily add new, varied forms of content (think audio, video, slide decks, etc) without having to go back to your designer and ask for help, which will cost you?
• Do you understand how to juggle around things like newsletter sign-ups, call-outs and widgets?
• Do you have splash or squeeze pages optimzied to achieve your goals?
• Can you make tweaks to the site for split-testing, again, without having to go back to your designer?

It’s so important you don’t tie yourself into a set-up which will require you to go back to your designer every time you want to tweak your content.

As someone that deals with online content marketing on a daily basis I want you to try and think about your goals, the content that will help you achieve those goals and then where the design fits in.

It’s not that I’m saying design isn’t important. On the contrary, it’s an essential part of delivering your content. But just don’t let the tail wag the dog, because if you do you could end up with the equivalent of an online white elephant!

Why not talk to us?

Want a new website that looks good and is a great platform for your content marketing as you go forward? Email or call Jon.