Developing a good website – to bring in customers!
Take this one question quiz:
What should be the first step in developing a website?
1. Creating a design to use as a basis,
2. Deciding how the content needs to be integrated and managed,
3. Gathering content from corporate collateral,
4. Developing a strategic plan for your specific needs, or
5. Choose the most cost-effective hosting plan.
In just about any profession, your answer would be choice 4. After all, you couldn’t build a house without considering the layout, number of bathrooms, and features of the home. You wouldn’t create a design for a major advertisement and then plan the content and message of the ad. Yet, when it comes to website design, often the design comes first and the strategic plan for the site comes last.
Most design companies usually:
1. Create a design.
2. Add content. (most plans end here because there usually are no marketing goals for a site.)
3. Contact SEO firm who performs keyword research based on content of site.
4. SEO firm proposes keywords.
5. Site is optimized by SEO firm by editing original site to make it more SEO friendly.
6. Results vary.
7. Usually followed by redevelopment IF business doesn’t lose faith in the internet.
All the details are usually never dealt with because the average designer doesn’t know they exist.
I think the reason the internet world can get away with a backwards strategy is because the design portion is fun, is more tangible, and looks impressive. It gives a client the opportunity to suggest colors, logo position, interactive media, position of the navigation system and other elements. The process usually goes smooth because the developer gets the excitement from the client and the client is impressed by the nice design work. BUT… that’s also why over 99% of all internet businesses FAIL.
Because there is no quality infrastructure and strategic plan in place. Either the site is poorly marketed, keywords are unfocused, or it doesn’t fit into the overall business marketing plan. In most cases, this is where the business owner begins to think the internet is all hype and will not work for their particular business. They disregard stunning statistics, such at 65% of all Americans begin their search for local services on the internet FIRST. This is followed by a competitor leveraging the internet as a strategic advantage and ultimately leads to a loss of revenue by the disillusioned company. So What’s the CURE?
Your website needs to be planned. A thorough understanding of your expectations, target demographic, and geographic influences have to be considered. The proper research needs to be done to assure your internet marketing plan has the right infrastructure and architecture and then you can eat the “cake” (design).
This is why Jungle Design Studios always starts with a consultation where we fill in and go over our comprehensive website planner. We do this prior to any design work so that we can strategically plan what your site needs to do and how to structure it.
BUT…
This is easier said than done for the following reasons:
* It’s more expensive to create the right plan.
* It’s not as fun to start off with planning, expectations, and realistic goals.
* A good team to create your plan has to understand design, marketing, social media, SEO/SEM, custom development, and customer service to get the job done.
* Most website developers mask their weaknesses. Some are good at design, others technical work, others SEO, but few are good at it all…
* College students and novices practically give away website design which is hard for the business to turn down.
* Consultants usually do not have a complete understanding of the entire process.
AND THE WORSE PART…
Is now the internet developing world has realized that cheaper, do-it-yourself systems sell better than a comprehensive plan. (See our article on “canned solutions.”) So companies like Intuit offer “simple solutions” (because it is high profit, low overhead), and the only one who ends up suffering is your business. Be Smart and Eat Your Vegetables First… Then have Dessert.
Proper planning is the only cure. Hiring an experienced company to help you is the only way you will truly have an opportunity to dominate your market online. It will cost a little more, it won’t be as fun up front, but it will be worth it in the end.
………..
thanks to John Carroll founder of www.MaxWebGear.com for his article.
Steph Zahalka is the founder and CEO of Jungle Branding Co., a premier award-winning brand agency based on the Gold Coast Australia, serving clients across the globe.
Recent winner of the prestigious Female Entrepreneur of the Year Stevie Award 2020, Steph is a brand strategist and designer who has been featured on the cover of a nationally recognised ‘women in business’ magazine (GCGIB) and regularly appears on podcasts and events around the Gold Coast as a speaker, panel expert and interviewee where she reveals her unique process for building a wildly in-demand brand for ambitious entrepreneurs, modern CEOs, influencers, thought leaders, and service-based business owners.
Steph believes that, when done right, branding is the door to connecting with your people, your audience on a deeper level. Human to human connection that makes your audience ridiculously obsessed with not just your brand, but YOU and your vision that ultimately makes a positive impact on the world.
