You think you need a website that does a million things. You need it to warehouse every piece of information about your company while making each department and function feels like it’s given equal time and attention. Most importantly, you need it built fast.

Unless you don’t.

The Three Questions

Before setting out to build an award-winning, user friendly, attention-grabbing website, you need to ask yourself and your team three questions:

• Do we need a website? Considering how much consumer behavior is driven by content and ads on Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp, for a lot of businesses it’s worth considering. If you do need a site, does it need to be custom-built or can you use a product that offers premade templates and guides like Squarespace, Wix or Spark?
• What does the site really need to do? If your site could only accomplish one goal, what would it be? Even if the answer is, “sell stuff,” you might want to go back to the first question and explore the minimum viable method of getting your business online.
• When does it need to go live? Even if the site launch is urgent, it’s important to slow down long enough to make sure that it does what you want it to and supports the right business goals both when it’s pushed live and after a year or two.

Taking the time to consider these three questions won’t only tell you if a website is the right solution, it will also direct you to the right next steps.

Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan

Think of web development like you would real estate development. Just as a developer needs the appropriate infrastructure in place, your site needs the appropriate certificates, hosting and foundation. Your blueprint might be a site map and wireframe instead of lines on graph paper, but equally important to chart. That blueprint dictates how your site is laid out and built so people use it the right way to meet your named business goals. Only once you’ve determined the right infrastructure and blueprint can your designers start shaping the website’s look and feel. 

And don’t forget a maintenance plan—once a site is finished, it will need updates and reevaluation throughout its lifespan, such as regular SEO audits and content updates. Planning for that upfront will extend your site’s lifespan and save you time and money in the long run.

Creating a new, custom site requires time, effort and the right partner. Make sure it’s the right path for your business before taking the plunge. Decided a website is right for you? In our next post, we’ll discuss the four questions to ask before writing a stitch of code.

Looking for an agency to build your new site? Here’s four ways to find the right partner without issuing an RFP. You can also start by emailing us or giving us a call at 317-631-6400