Rebuilding Your Web Site?

If you haven't changed your web site in a couple of years, it is time to consider a makeover.  When deciding what approach to take when rebuilding your web site, work your way through the following steps to make sure you cover all your bases.  Don't forget to keep a sharp eye on the budget, because return on investment (ROI) is the name of the web site project game -- just like it is with everything you do in business!

One Simple Decision
There is a very basic question you need to answer before you start this exercise.  What are your plans for your web site?  Will you use it to sell products online or to inform visitors about what your business does and who to contact?  Decide the basic goal and remind yourself constantly of that goal as you proceed and you should be able to maintain focus as you develop your new site.

Two Related Decisions - Budget and Functionality
It is nearly impossible to come up with a budget without knowing about the site's functionality.  The sites of the late 1990's and early 2000's were full of flashy graphics and user tools like email, calendars and the like -- but VERY short on information and software that helped sell products.  All that has changed - software functionality has increased and prices have come down.  Web templates, content managers and reporting tools for database delivery are generally easy to use and quickly deployed.  So decide what software is important to your end goal -- and then include it in your budgetary spreadsheet.

The budgetary process is a bit more complex, but eventually boils down to a simple equation:  will the cost of the software be paid back in a short enough time to make its inclusion worthwhile?  Even 'brochure-type' sites need to be treated as an investment.  With a brochure site, analyze your expenditures in the same fashion as you would any corporate marketing initiative and decide your budget accordingly.

Traffic...Where Do They Come From?
Make sure that you include the tools and processes necessary to drive web traffic to your site.  Get listed in online directories, join trade associations and consider search engine marketing (SEM) and optimization (SEO).  With SEM and SEO, there are a lot of steps in the process and most of them will be new to you.  You can try doing it yourself or having your internal IT staff get involved, but we strongly recommend that you hire a consultant, but with one caveat.  When hiring a consultant, make sure that you understand the work process and services to be provided, the timing, the cost (including any ""upgrade"", ""update"" or ""maintenance"" services to be performed in the future), and who are their references. 

Keep Content Current
There are very few 'static' web sites anymore and the reason is that customers and visitors see fresh web content as a sign that your company is very actively involved with new information initiatives.  We always recommend that companies at least investigate the benefits of the latest content management systems (CMS).  They are hosted applications which are easy and inexpensive to maintain and update content.  They allow for increased interactivity and data management at the clerical level and avoid expensive interventions from developers.  (NOTE:  The SBW site runs on CMLite™ from MadTek, a basic hosted content manager that took our editorial staff about 15 minutes to learn how to use.)

If you plan on changing your web content often, a content manager is an essential component of your web strategy.

If you follow these steps in planning your web site's makeover, you will find that you cover the major details and steps in the process.  Soe of them, like deciding functionality and budget, will pay big dividends as you promote your business via the Web.