Where to Start with a Business Website Design

For many business owners or marketing managers redesigning a company website seems like a long and complex project. We hear many stories from clients that come to us that the initial conversations they had with website design agencies seem intimidating and that the cost of the project ranges are so large, that they ultimately don’t know what the right decision is. Here are a few steps that can hopefully help you with the process.  These items highlight the overall need for redesign and ultimately the goal you wish to achieve.

1.  Set a performance goal for your website.

   It’s more productive to start the process not by mocking up your navigation structure but by focusing back on the big picture.  Why are you planning a redesign?  Is it purely for aesthetic purposes (if that’s the case you’re not leveraging the power of digital presence), is it to increase your overall traffic, or is it bringing in more conversions – online sales, form fills, or contacts? I will say here what I say to all our clients.  The website needs to serve a purpose. For us as web designers and SEO experts, it is to ALWAYS improve your business. There are many ways how this can happen, including expanding your markets or reaching a new client base.

2.  Connect with the right website design agency.

   The agency has to be right for you and the size of your business.  If you are a startup with a minimal budget, don’t reach out to national agencies that only work with multi-billion dollar clients.  Their web pricing will be out of your range and you’ll feel as if you’re just wasting time.  Do your research and make sure the web agency has enough experience to develop a project like yours.  How vast is their portfolio?  Set your expectations – freelance work will very rarely match or exceed the one of an agency with 20+ years of experience and team of experts. If SEO is important to you, make sure that the company you select ranks for its own web design searches in the area where they have offices.

   Our agency is not always a great fit for some of the inquiring clients and we are honest about that.  We like working with businesses and organizations that carry similar values to our business and not every client will always be a great fit.  During your meeting with the potential web agencies, make sure they understand and value the product or service you are bringing to market.

3. Ask about the platform and post-development support.

   Each one of our clients has a different team size and expectations for support post development.  We host the majority of clients’ sites but the needs for day-to-day updates vary.  Some clients will be doing daily updates on the site,  updating blogs, events or team members.  Some clients don’t have a dedicated employee to manage the site and they don’t have the capacity to do so themselves.  These companies would like to rely on an agency like ours to help with updates.  We build sites using WordPress and have full transparency in these early stages on the support that will be available post-launch.

4. Gather content and images.

   It’s paramount to make sure that the content you’ll be serving on the new website is correct and current.  Items to start with are: about story, team members and their bios, detailed service and/or product descriptions, any portfolio items or case studies. This is also the time to start thinking about photography.  Do you need new team headshots or your portfolio location images? Don’t leave this task after the development project has already started as you will be delaying the completion.

5. Enjoy the process.

   Give your web design team frequent and detailed feedback. For agencies like ours, serving clients across the country, you’ll be utilizing an online project management platform to streamline the daily communication. A good website design agency will make business website development process a breeze. Trust in their expertise and don’t present them with wireframes and specific details on the design.  The more creative freedom your design agency has, the better the final product will be.

If you are a business owner or a marketing director, leave web design to the professionals if you are looking for a well-performing site. Your primary responsibility is to focus on your business, build better relationships with clients and leverage your new online presence.