5 questions to ask yourself before building a new website
The internet is noisy—it has to be. Since 2005, the number of worldwide internet users has increased by close to 3 billion, and that growth shows no signs of slowing. With millions of brands constantly vying for our attention online, the only way to avoid floundering amidst a sea of competitors is to have a web strategy that’s smart, up-to-date and designed to connect you with the right audiences. Even if e-commerce isn’t your thing, your web presence can make or break you. Failure to adapt will inevitably lead to brand obsolescence: take Toys ’R' Us, for example.
Fortunately, you have complete control over how your website represents your brand. The tough part is knowing whether your current website is doing the job properly or whether to invest major resources in a new site that could offer a better user experience and gain audience share by maximizing SEO.
If this is where you find yourself, here are 5 questions to help you determine whether you need a new website—and if so, what to think about before you start building.
1. Do I need a new website?
Short answer: If you’re asking, you probably do.
If you’re not regularly updating your site, chances are high that it has become obsolete over time. A one-size-fits-all approach to web development is a surefire way to fail. By 2025, 72% of people around the globe will exclusively use their smartphones to browse the web. If your site is designed to display on a traditional desktop, you’re alienating a huge portion of your potential audience. In fact, 57% of internet users won’t recommend a brand if its website performs poorly on a mobile device. If your site isn’t responsive, you’re not only alienating a large portion of your audience, you’re handicapping your SEO. Since 2015, Google has prioritized responsive websites in its results from searches conducted via tablet and mobile devices.
Additionally, if you’ve made major changes in your branding or offerings recently, a new site might be necessary to align with your brand strategy. Building upon your brand promise through consistency is key to improving trust and perception.
When your site doesn’t match your messaging, the disconnect can be jarring for potential customers, and of course you want people’s first impression of your work—yes, your website is your work—to blend seamlessly with what you’re saying about yourself on other platforms. While it might be tempting to simply update an existing site, if it wasn’t originally designed with growth in mind, major branding updates could create an underwhelming product. Remember that websites are an opportunity to foster positive relationships between you and your audience—a negative or outdated user experience won’t help anyone.
2. What are my competitors doing?
Take a moment and Google your competitors. How does your site compare?
Leave no stone left unturned when familiarizing yourself with competitor sites. Evaluate the user experience, copywriting, branding, and SEO strategy. What messages do they put front and center? What part of their story is missing? What elements are really impressive, and what pages come across as an afterthought? Consider their strengths and weakness when planning your site updates.
Don’t limit yourself to your direct competition either. Review sites that might be in the same sector but don’t compete over the same clients. For example, if you’re a nonprofit you can be inspired by any other nonprofit, especially if they’re a thought leader in your field. Learning from the best is key to improving. Ascertain why their sites helped them rise to the top and integrate those findings when developing your site.
3. Who is my end user?
Your end-user is who your site is designed for. Great websites take a user-centered design approach to development, considering the end-user first to improve user experience. It’s about knowing your user, what information they need from your site, and how to engage them. It might sound simple, but in practice, it can be much more difficult.
For example, your end users might be split into multiple audiences. To go back to the example of a nonprofit, typical end users might include clients, who need to know about services and how to access them; donors, who want to know more about fundraising and programs from an investment perspective; and other partnering organizations and governmental entities. How can you talk to each of these end-users effectively without alienating the others? This is where clever site design and content strategy come into play.
4. What's the goal of my website?
This might be the most difficult question on the list, but answering it is key to having direction when developing your site.
The overall goal of your site changes depending on your brand’s mission. Are you a clinic that offers one-on-one services to your clients? You probably want a simple way to schedule appointments front and center. Are you a hotel with rooms available? You most likely want a site where users can book seamlessly. First, determine the overall goals, then determine how best to get your users to accomplish them.
Tracking metrics such as bounce rate, conversion, and click rates are useful for gleaning user behavior. Uncovering how users act and react is key to building an effective site and improving these key performance indicators, which in and of itself can improve your SEO.
5. What Should My Website Say About My Brand?
Imagine a bank, and then imagine its website. Is it traditional and text-heavy, with a focus on its storied history and a list of bespoke services? Does it have photos of smiling associates shaking hands and talking about the relationships and trust it builds with its customers—and a lot of buttons making it easy for users to put in their email so that someone from the bank can contact them? Or maybe the background is a vibrant pink or yellow, the copy is large, sans serif, and casual, and the focus is how their online banking app fits seamlessly into your digital life.
You can already imagine what type of business each of these websites represents. Copy, color, tone, structure—in a great site, these should all work together to not only appeal to your audience but say something about who you are as a brand. So these are really two questions: what do you want your site to say about you, and how can you convey it?
What to Do Next?
Whether you’re building a new website from scratch or need to make the most of the messaging on your existing site, be sure to make every element work together to make an impact. Think holistically and use integrated marketing principles to align web design with branding, content marketing, media relations, or other services so that your brand story and your marketing assets come together cohesively.
That’s how you create something worth surfing the net for.
Sarah Nielsen
Deputy Creative Director Sarah Nielsen is highly skilled in creative storytelling as well as creating compelling and precise content for brands.