Planning a new website can feel very exciting, and everyone in the office will have an opinion. You may be thinking about the awesome new team photos you’re going to have taken, including one with the office dog! Or wondering how you can include your new swanky video, slick GIFs or even audio.
While these are the super-fun elements of a website project, they’re not what’s going to make your website a success. If you’re planning a new website and want to ensure you create a site that both works for your business and best represents your brand, we recommend starting with a few critical questions and have shared a few tips along the way.
Why do you need a new website?
Is your content out of date?
1999 called and wants its content back! Outdated content can look like you don’t care – which, of course, you do. Modern websites should have short engaging copy that packs a punch. People don’t want to read reams of text.
Does the design let you down?
Is your website feeling a bit 16-BIT? Current website designs should be clean, simple and easy to navigate.
Does your website display well on mobile devices?
Mobile responsivity is non-negotiable. Unresponsive sites no longer show up in Google searches. Yikes!
Look at what is working and what isn’t?
Look at Google Analytics – what are your most and least popular pages? Is your most important information being seen?
Get customer feedback!
Your customers are your primary website users – reach out to them and ask what they would like to see included.
What do you want your website to achieve?
To improve brand awareness?
Make sure you include engaging content to position yourself as a thought leader – videos, podcasts, articles, whitepapers, for example.
To win more business?
Then be sure to include plenty of calls to action throughout the site, encouraging people to get in touch, make a purchase or take action!
Whatever your objective, remember that prospects will always use your website as a point of validation to check you out after meeting you.
How will your new site integrate with your other marketing activities?
- Your website is a central part of your marketing strategy, but just one piece of a puzzle.
- Each marketing activity, from website to social, events to podcasts contributes to your marketing mix – they all play a part in building your brand and driving sales.
- No one singular marketing activity is the silver bullet; instead, they are all interconnected and strengthen the impact of each other, kind of like the Avengers!
- See your website as a hub where all your content can be found and explored.
- You can also supercharge your data collection by using ‘gated content’ to collect contact info for your database to power up your email marketing.
Are you boosting your website with SEO or Search Ads?
Just because you have a website, it doesn’t mean people will flock to it. Some tactics will help to drive the flow of prospects to your new site.
SEO – Search Engine Optimisation
Plan for SEO at the start and ensure to include keywords in your copy. You can also choose to invest in SEO every month to keep you at the top of Google’s organic searches.
Paid search
Invest in Google Ads and this will help ensure your website appears in searches relevant to your business.
Social media
Use links in your social media posts to drive traffic to your website. Links from your social media posts will also give your organic search rankings a boost.
Finally, we recommend renewing your website every 3-4 years. Why?
It keeps things current
Your messaging and service offering will (and should) evolve, so it’s vital to ensure you’re putting your best self forward!
Change is as good as a holiday
Visual trends change. A modern, contemporary design will help refresh your image and ensure you keep up to date with the needs and expectations of your customers.
Starting with a clear plan of website objectives will re-align your whole team on the mission of your business – which can be a great by-product of a website re-design. By asking yourself these questions, there may be things that pop up that hadn’t been discussed or were not previously evident. So, whether you don’t have a website or need a new one – there are many positive benefits.
Thinking through the goals of your new website will also ensure you can better track ROI – such as number of visitors, page clicks, most visited pages, downloads etc.
Knowing what you want to achieve will save you wasting time on things that do not matter. If Banjo, the office dog is essential to your brand – include him!
If you’re planning a new website and would like an informal chat on how to get started, please get in touch.