What to consider when creating a new website

Considerations you should have before starting a new website

So what do you need to do to get the process off to the best possible start? When we meet with new customers, the focus is usually on when the new website can go live – and of course how much it will cost. However, there are several relevant questions you should ask yourself before embarking on a website redesign process to get the most out of your new website. There are many “hidden” opportunities in the process itself that will benefit the solution in the long run. First and foremost, it’s a great opportunity to evaluate your existing website, your KPIs, rethink your target audience and user interface. After all, what is the purpose of the website today? Why do we have it and who should it be relevant to? Many things may have changed since you developed your website.

Below we have compiled a long list of relevant questions that you may want to consider before you contact a potential partner.

Goals with the website:

Why do you want a new website?
What is your company’s unique value proposition – i.e. what is it that you offer that only you can?
What is the purpose of developing a new website? To generate leads, inform, sell products or something else entirely?
Have you developed SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Timely) goals for your website that will help you determine if your website is a good investment?
Who are your main competitors?
What elements do you see as good and bad on competitors’ websites?
Is the website redesign going to involve a major redesign, or is it just a new look for the existing one?
What type of data and reports would you like to be able to use on a monthly/quarterly/annual basis?
What plans do you have for marketing the site once it’s complete?
What is the budget for the project?
What is the annual budget for future website improvements/optimizations?

Requirements for the website:

Are there users on the site who need text read aloud, text larger than normal, or other specific needs?
Are you aware of cookie legislation? And should you have a pop-up with information about cookies?
Where is your website hosted today?
What are the requirements for web hosting? Traffic, space, technology?
Are there periods with a lot of traffic on the site – which requires extra effort from the hosting?
Do you have access to the web hosting? And do you have a username and password, or is it held by a third party?
Do you need extra security in the form of an SSL certificate? And if so, at what level?
What do you see as good and bad things about your existing website?
Which websites do you like in terms of design, functionality and other features?
Do you use marketing automation software?
Do you use email marketing, landing pages or other tools on your website?
Do you use a CRM system for sales and customer information?
Are there other systems connected to the website?
Do you need multiple user levels of access to the site?

Functionalities on the website:

Should there be a section on the website exclusively for members or customers? I.e. an intra- or extranet?
Do you plan to put audio or movie files on the site? For example, from Vimeo or YouTube. Or do you have a hosting service for this?
Should users be able to write product reviews?
Should users be able to comment on blog posts or other content?
Do you need to integrate chat functions for e.g. customer service?
Do you need a search function on the site?
Should the site support multiple languages?
Should visitors be able to share content from your website on e.g. social media?
Do visitors need to enter credit card details or other sensitive personal information somewhere on the site?
Do you plan to sell anything through the website? If so, find a platform that can also be used for e-commerce (product display, shopping cart, customer login, discount codes, payment gateway, etc.)
Do you need to run multiple websites on different domains from one CMS?
Do you want to have an event calendar on the website?
What important information needs to be visible on all subpages on the website?
Do you have Google Analytics or similar linked to your website?
Do you need tracking on the site in connection with online campaigns?
Do you need to allocate resources for specific user tests during design development and implementation?
Have you created a site architecture / sitemap for the new site?

Data comparison:

Which pages on your website get the most traffic?
Which pages rank (Google ranking) highest on your website?
What percentage of your visitors come from organic sources (non-paid sources), referrals (links from other sites), social media, email marketing, direct traffic (have you typed your domain into Google)?
What percentage of your traffic comes from mobile devices and tablets?
What sources – social, referrals, organic, etc. – generate traffic from mobile and tablet users?
What metrics do you use to measure the success of your blog, website and email marketing? Visitors, conversions, leads or other?
Which landing pages perform best on your website?
Which of your blog posts are performing best?
Which of your keywords are performing best?
How many visitors and page views does your website have per month?
How many leads do you generate each month from your website?
How long do people typically spend on your website?
What is the bounce rate for your site?
What is the average number of sales generated from your website each month?
What is the load time of the pages on your website?
Is the current website optimized for mobile users?
How many of your pages are indexed in Google?
How many inbound links (links from other websites) point to your site?

Lead generation:

Do you collect information from visitors in a CRM system and actively use it in your marketing?
Which fields do you have in your forms now – and which do you want to have in the future?
What information is “nice-to-have” versus “must-haves” about potential leads?
Do you use email marketing?
What types of emails do you send to newsletter recipients, prospects, leads and customers?
Do you use relevant call-to-actions in your content?
Have you established a lead scoring system?
Have you run A/B tests on your landing pages and call-to-actions to increase click through rates and see what works best?
Would you like automated emails that are activated by the actions visitors take on your website (trigger mails)?
Will you spend resources on online advertising (Google Adwords, Facebook, Instagram, banner campaigns, etc.) to drive traffic to your website?

Collaboration:

Do you need online meetings with your customers/collaborators?
Do you have a preferred system for virtual meetings? (Skype, Google Hangouts, Adobe connect, Cisco, etc.)
Who is responsible for the website once it has been re-launched?
Who needs training on how to maintain the website?
Who is responsible for reviewing the website and providing feedback?
Who needs to give final approval of the website before launch?
Do your texts need to be reviewed or approved by someone?

Content:

What CMS (Content Management System) are you using today – and do you have any preferences for a system?
Do you have a written content strategy?
What kind of content would you like to publish on the website?
Do you have duplicated content (same content in multiple places) on the site today?
Will you use the existing content and images from the site or do you need to create new content?
Will the content be created internally or with the help of an external partner?
Are you developing e-books, whitepapers or other things that require a form?
Have you developed buyer personas? How many do you have?
Do you have images and graphics for the website or do you need to allocate financial resources for stock images, photographer, graphic designer or other?
Would you like to have personalized content on the website to suit the visitor?
How often do you plan to update the content on the website?

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Do you need help with a new website?

We hope that you have learned more about the process of renewing a website and that it has prompted a nuanced dialog with your online solution provider. Please give us a call if you need help creating your new website.

Thomas Fabricius

Creative Director

info@iternumdigital.com

+4532121100

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