5 steps to take before you embark on redesigning your website
By Jennifer Shaheen, August 1, 2009 | As featured in The New York Enterprise Report

“You’re an analog player in a digital world”—a great line from Ocean’s Thirteen. I wonder: Is your company’s website a static brochure in a dynamic Web 3.0 world? Is it time to take the plunge and update your virtual presence? And if so, with so many changes in technology, how do you embark on redesigning your website?

Today’s world of open source tools and available applications can sometimes make it difficult for a business owner to know the difference between simple and complicated. Information you hear about applications like WordPress, Drupal, Python, and Ruby on Rails can make it seem like building a dynamic website is easy. Now, add in the thousands of web developers out there that you need to choose from, and it may be hard to find someone who understands your needs.

But it is harder still to find the right developer if you don’t completely understand your needs, and how to express them. Before you sit down to write an RFP or interview a web design/development firm, there is a preparation process every business needs to go through.

STEP 1: DEFINE THE GOALS OF YOUR WEBSITE

The first step is to move away from the computer and outline your goals. This seems simple, but try to avoid tech speak and the comparison website conversation. Don’t talk about other websites that you want yours to look or function like. Look at the needs you have in every aspect of your business (sales, marketing, operations, etc.) and then determine the goals of your website based on that information.

Is it meant to generate new business? If so, how? Do you want your website to allow for greater customer communication? How? How about internal processes you want to streamline? Are there marketing initiatives that need to be integrated into the website? Do you have social campaign strategies planned? How does your website relate to these plans?

Be specific in your list, and think about growth ideas. For example, is your goal to eventually go green and create online forms to help cut down on paper? Today’s idea may be to have greater control over your content, and next year you may want to add a social application that allows visitors to show the world they are connected to your company. Or maybe building up content on your website will lead to a client-only area with training videos, tips, and advice.

You may never grow in these areas, but if you think about possible growth ideas now, you will ensure that your new website has a strong foundation. This list will help your developer understand your strategy and choose a foundation that is easier to scale, saving you money in development down the line.

STEP 2: BUILD YOUR MAP

The next step in any web project—large or small—is to explore the architecture of the website. After you submit your clearly defined needs, web development firms will create a layout of the website. This is done to help all parties visualize the project, and to clearly outline the sections and the purposes of these sections. I recommend you go through this process with the web development firms you are considering before hiring someone, because this process always opens a can of worms.

Even if you have to go through it a few times, it is worth the time investment. When you see things mapped out, you begin to get more ideas, which can often create additional costs. By doing this step in advance, you are preparing yourself and your team for the commitment you all are about to make. An added benefit of creating your map before hiring a developer is the opportunity to see how the firm thinks. A good web design/development team will often see things you do not and offer some recommendations on more concise ways to organize your website. This is a great way to evaluate the firms you interview.

STEP 3: WIREFRAMES

A wireframe is not the official design stage, but a sketch of how you see your information laid out on the computer screen. This step is not about defining the colors or fonts in the design, but it is the gateway to understanding how things function on your pages. This step can be done by putting shapes together in a PowerPoint document; you don’t need any special software.

The significance of drawing out the page is to start to visualize how things will function and discover items that you didn’t realize you needed, but that make the user experience easier. Again, you don’t have to be a techie; the goal here is to help you to understand navigation, content, and data flow.

When you draw out your page, you start to visualize things like where your product image, the product name, and the price will go, the number of thumbnails you want to show, the options you need customers to choose from before adding your product to their shopping cart, and the like. What this will do is tell your developer what data you need to collect from viewers, and what is important to you. Defining the functions you want your website to have will help the web firms create a more accurate bid.

STEP 4: FUNCTION

Your website’s function is one of the major components of your RFP, or explanation, to a web development firm. If you’re not clear about the basic functions you want to have, your estimate will likely vary tremendously from the final cost. Make a list of each area of the site (services, about us, contact, etc.), and what content you want to appear there. For example, if you want the testimonial page to have video clips, you need to define that in this step. In this step, define the content you want to put in this area—text, images, audio, video, or all of these.

Do you want to designate someone to approve the products before the site is made live? Will you want your website orders to feed into an accounting application? Which one? Do you want your customers to have the ability to review your products, and should those reviews require approval, as well? The answers to these questions help the developer plan for different functions, and the time to do that will be integrated into the cost of your new website.

By asking yourself these questions, you will begin defining the function of the site. You don’t have to speak geek, you just have to be clear on your objectives and how you see the site functioning. Let the web development firm provide you with ideas on how to
make it happen.

STEP 5: SAMPLES

When you’re a non-technical person, sometimes the best way to explain function is through samples. Now is the time to look for sample sites that illustrate the functions that you want. When you put together your RFP, you may want to explain to the firms that you like the way the search box on Yahoo suggests items as you type. This will give both parties a very clear visual of how a function works.

Building a custom website with tools that connect with your audience and your staff means investing some time. You don’t need to learn all the jargon, but you do need to be clear about your vision. Stepping back and asking yourself a few key questions can help you to identify exactly what you want out of your website, and put you that much closer to your goal.