7 Things Every Business Owner Should Know Before Building A New Website
Just about every business in today’s world needs a website. Often business owners have little experience building a website, they don’t know what they don’t know. Well we’re here to tell you the seven most important things every business owner should know before building their new website.
Understand the purpose of your new website
What are you ultimately trying to achieve with your website? Will visitors purchase your product or service online or in person? Is this an information resource or is there another purpose? Really think through the short and long term goals for your website. Identifying this from the beginning will help you make the right decisions about how your website should be built.
What is your budget?
Building a website often costs more than you think it will, but it is your most important marketing tool so you don’t want to cut corners. Websites have many pieces and they are all vital to making it operate smoothly. Be patient with the process, websites are not built overnight, they take time.
Have everything ready before you start
In our experience, often what delays the web development process is waiting for the pieces and details for the build. You can eliminate a good portion of the wait time by having content, images and all the details ready at the start of the project. Having all of these pieces ready also gives the web developer a clearer picture of what the have to work with.
It’s not just about the build
Yes, you are “building” a website, but that’s just one piece of the puzzle, thinking through how it will be used should be baked into the process. Think about what you want the customer experience to be, how you want the user journey to go, how you want the website to be used on the backend, and how to drive people to it. It’s not just about the build, the usability is equally as important.
How will your new website be managed after it’s built?
Do you want the developer to manage it or do you (or one of you employees) want to manage it? This is actually a very important decision and will drive how your website should be built. If you want to manage it, it needs to be built in a user friendly way on the backend. Your developer should be able to train you on how to use it and then hand it over to you.
If you build it, they won’t automatically come
This is a common misconception we hear all the time. “My website is live, why aren’t I getting any traffic?” Attracting visitors to your website takes time and effort. This is really step 2 after your website is built, developing a plan for how to drive qualified traffic to it. There are many strategies and tactics: social media, email marketing, SEO optimization, and more!
Websites cannot just sit, they need maintenance
Once your website is built, it is just the beginning! Technology is always changing and hopefully your business is keeping up. You need a plan for updating, maintaining, and improving your website on a consistent basis. Don’t think of this as a chore, consider it an opportunity! Your website should be dynamic and integrate with every aspect of your business.
Having a website that represents your business well is so important. Building it will be a lot less painful if you have an experienced team to guide you through the process. If you are considering building a new website for your business, we can help! Contact us today.
About the Author
Keri Stafford is Director of Marketing & Operations at Luminary Digital. She can find a reason to use a spreadsheet for just about anything and is so obsessed with content marketing that she won’t stop talking about it.
Tweet to Keri: @keristafford