by Melissa Sedlmayr
Building a web site for your business can be an overwhelming process. Here, we address the top mistakes made in the conceptual and web design planning process, and what steps to take to resolve them. We’ll follow the Acme Widget Co. through the website planning process, and help them to avoid the pitfalls along the way.
1. LACK OF PURPOSE
The mistake: Building a website without knowing what the site should achieve.
The very first step to a successful website launch or redesign is to define what the purpose of the website will be. Acme Widget Co. needs a website just to be taken seriously. Realizing that you need a web presence is easy, but you should also know why you need one. If you intend to invest in using the web as a tool to grow your business, you have to do more than put up a few pages of sales copy. You must provide real value to your visitors. To begin thinking about your web strategy productively, try to fill in the blanks below:
Efficiency could be improved if our customers could _______ over the Internet.
Common questions about our products and/or services include _______________.
If prospective customers could ____________ without needing to come to our location, they may be convinced to do business with us.
The most important actions visitors to the website should take are _________, ______ and ___________, in that order.
We could offer visitors ______, ______ and _______ as benefits for taking those actions.
Identifying what you really need to build should be the goal of the initial development phase. We call this the Concept Stage.
2. CASTING YOUR NET TOO WIDE
The mistake: Trying to please everyone; not knowing who the target audience is.
So now Acme Widget Co. knows they need a website, and they have determined that they will provide customers with answers about widget installation, and helpful tips to make the most of widgeting. Customers will also be encouraged to customize their widgets on the company website. The next step is to identify who these widgeters really are.
Who are your users? What are they really looking for? How can you best provide it?
Don’t make the mistake of building a website for your business. This misconception leads to websites that are full of mission statements, objectives, annual reports and photos of the board of directors. Yes, of course you think your company is the center of the universe, and you find all of its excruciating minutia to be fascinating. It may be difficult to believe, but your customers don’t give two shakes about any of that mumbo jumbo.
Don’t build a website to please the company’s executives- they are not your target market. Put that tedious stuff in the About Us section and build a website for your customers.
An important part of this process is to determine who your customers are, and allow their needs to dictate your website strategy. For instance, a business that sells hearing devices to seniors will require a very different web design and marketing strategy than one which offers pet sitting services for busy professionals.
To get a better grasp on who your users are, answer these questions – and try to be as specific as possible:
Who is going to use the website?
How will they use it?
What benefit will they receive by using it?
Define the preferences and habits of your target market by collecting information about consumers of similar products/services, substitute products/services, as well as your current and past customers.
3. LACK OF STRATEGY
The mistake: Starting without a plan detailing the scope and functions of the website, and therefore being unable to determine a budget or schedule.
Whether you are initiating a new website project, or redesigning an existing site, you should have a clear plan for the site in mind (or even on old-fangled paper) before you begin any development. A building contractor wouldn’t start pouring a foundation without a blueprint, neither should you begin constructing your pages without a plan in place.
A competent web designer can help you build such a plan. Acme Widget Co. opts to begin with a standard website outline:
home page
our products/our services
subpages with detailed information about each product or service
about us page
contact us/ our location
If you plan on implementing any type of online shopping interface, you will also need to decide what specific functionality you need. How will you manage customers, feedback, payment processing, shipping, and inventory? Include any ideas for Social Media development, Search Engine Optimization and Internet advertising in your plan as well.
Outlining your web design strategy will go a long way toward helping you decide what amount you should budget for web design and development, as well as how much time you should expect the project to take.
How will the site be kept up to date?
Whatever can be said for substance over style, the fact remains that people do judge a book by its cover. Failing to keep your website updated with fresh content can lead to pages that look outdated, contain inaccurate information or broken links, and are incompatible with emerging technologies. Your website is often the first impression prospective customers will get. You can have the best product in the world, but if your website appears unprofessional, your business appears unprofessional – or worse – illegitimate!
The web changes quickly, and frequent updates are required to keep up with changes in technology and user expectations. When planning your website, be sure to include maintenance in your outline – and budget.
4. LACK OF RELEVANT CONTENT
The mistake: Viewing your website as an electronic sales brochure.
It is important to understand that the web is not equivalent to a print publication, a brochure, radio, or television. Acme Widget Co. has created brochures, flyers and television ads, and would like to build a website around those materials. However, materials that are optimized for traditional media do not translate well to the web. The Internet is all about instant gratification, and web site visitors are looking for information, not marketing copy. No matter how informative you think your brochure or radio ad may be, web users have no patience for a sales pitch.
The solution is to create content specifically for your web site, rather than try to repurpose materials optimized for traditional media. Begin to think of the web as more of an Information Highway, and less of a roadside billboard. For instance, a visitor who is searching for ‘orthopedic shoes’ is far more likely looking for information about orthopedic shoes than to make a purchase. (Statistically, 78 times as likely). Give them information instead of the hard sell, and you will turn visitors into customers.
You can begin to identify content opportunities by answering the following questions:
If I were in the market for the product/service that our business provides-
- what information would help me make an informed purchase decision?
- what advantages does this product/service have over other options?
- what benefits would I receive by doing business with this company?
Also:
- what related issues do consumers in my industry face that we could solve?
- how can we effectively educate consumers about the products/services we provide?
Your web visitors are not interested in watching your advertisements or reviewing promotional material. To be relevant and valuable, your web site content should answer questions, solve problems, and provide as much information as possible in an easy to scan format.
5. INACCURATELY PREDICTING WEBSITE IMPACT
The mistake: Overestimating the short-term impact of the website on your business, while underestimating its long-term potential.
The web facilitates new ways of doing business, and is one of the most important factors at play in how businesses will evolve in the future. The impact of such an revolutionary technology shift is hard to quantify. There is a tendency to expect enormous gains within the first few years of your website launch. While this is possible, it isn’t typical.
For example, suppose you run Acme Widget Co., which currently has an annual gross revenue of $500,000. You invest $12,000 developing a professional web presence for your company (which naturally, you think is an outrage). The first year following your website launch, you register a mere 250 people to your Wacky Widgets email newsletter, and begin processing some online orders. A measly 20 users a month is nowhere near what you had hoped for.
According to the Metcalfe’s Law (v=n2), you can expect to generate 6.25% more transactions within that year ($31,250 in our example). While that may seem negligible considering the expenses of website maintenance and administration; projected annually (at a constant growth rate- an actual growth rate in of 2n is more accurate), by the close of the fifth year, Acme Widget Co. will see transactions grow approximately 225% ($1,125,000 annually, not adjusted for inflation).
Of course, this data is all hypothetical. With the exponential, unpredictable growth of Internet-enabled devices, and whatever may be the Next Big Thing That Will Change Everything, it’s too soon to draw any reliable roadmaps.
The important thing to remember is that short-term results are not predictive of long-term growth. The value of your website lies in its foundation for long-term growth, not as a get-rich-quick scheme.
To recap, you can begin to create a successful website plan by:
- Clearly determining the purpose of the website, and what mutual benefits will be provided to your business as well as your visitors.
- Identifying your target market, and finding ways to provide solutions to their needs.
- Building an outline that details the specific features and functions of the website.
- Creating or curating digital content that is relevant to the interests of your visitors.
- Establishing realistic, long-term goals for the role of your company’s website in your overall business strategy.Dream Logic Web Design is a full service web design and development firm in Los Angeles, CA. We provide our services to clients worldwide. Contact us to discuss your website project.
