Nobody seems happy with their website.
In talking with lots of Marketing managers over many years,
I’ve found that they tend to fall into one of only two camps:
- People that are currently redoing their website, or
- People that are planning to redo their website.
In other words, nobody’s really happy with their
existing website.
Over the last year, I’ve worked with 4 different clients on
a complete overhaul of their websites. And
I’ve recommended suggestions for website improvements for almost every other
client.
Too many choices
One of the most challenging parts of overhauling a website,
or building one from scratch, is all the choices. You need to make decisions about design,
text, navigation, development, illustrations, ad infinitum.
Though certain conventions have been established (e.g. a
navigation bar running horizontally across the top of the page), there are
still millions of details to wade through.
I’ve had discussions about the right color of a person’s hair in a stock
photo, I kid you not. Working through
all these issues large and small, it’s easy to get lost, stuck, or frustrated. You can head down a lot of ratholes.
Based on my experience – meaning I’ve gone down lots of
these ratholes myself - let me offer some suggestions on avoiding the same
mistakes.
Keep your goals top-of-mind
Specify your primary goals at the start of your website
overhaul, get everyone on board, and keep those goals in front of you
throughout the project. They’ll help you
stay focused, remind you of your priorities, and guide you as you work through
details.
As you think about whether to add a particular section, use
a screenshot instead of an illustration, or where to put call-to-action
buttons, refer back to your overall goals.
Which action best supports those objectives?
By the way, you may find that some of these choices make no
real difference at all, in which case you’re wasting time fixating on
them. Move on.
Clearly articulate your value proposition
The key benefits and advantages of your solution should be
consistently conveyed throughout your website.
In fact, that should be the case with all your marketing programs. (See “Two
essentials for SaaS marketing.”)
You can argue about particular words or illustrations, but the
messages should be set in stone. It
should be crystal clear to the visitor who your solution is for, what problem
it solves, and why they should buy it from you.
Don’t move ahead with the website until the value proposition and
messages are in place.
Work from an outline
Before you start writing text, selecting illustrations,
considering designs, or doing anything else, prepare an outline. Think through and get agreement on the
structure, the purpose, and contents of each page or section. You’ll probably end up making changes as you
get into the project, but to use a construction analogy, you don’t want to be
designing the house while you’re building it.
Measure what can be measured
Rely on actual website data when it’s available. Information
on visitors’ behavior collected on the
You’ll see how visitors found you, how they entered and navigated
through the site, what material was most popular, what material was never found,
and other vital information that can help you make improvements with the new
site. Referring to data can often be
more useful than opinions in guiding the project.
existing site can often be helpful in
making decisions about the new site.
Overhauling a website or building an entirely new one is a
big project. But that’s what you should
expect with such a critical piece of your customer acquisition process. It will require hard thinking, difficult
decisions, and probably more time than you think. By following a few basic rules, though, you
should be able to make the experience a bit less frustrating and a lot more
productive.
