Your Next Web Project
1. Define and prioritize your goals.
Although most organizations clearly understand the value of creating a website, many are not as clear about what they specifically want their website to accomplish.
Taking the time to define and prioritize your website’s goals can save you an immense amount of time, money and effort. Your website is a living thing. It can (and should) evolve over time. It doesn’t need to be all things to all people. You may find that holding off on certain ‘wants’ that are not crucial early on allows you to keep your eye on the prize—not to mention your budget and timeline. Uncovering your website priorities, we believe, is your first priority to embarking on a successful web project.
2. Create an excellent user experience.
As you begin to define what your website will need in order to achieve your goals, your list will probably be broken down into two categories: content and features. Or, more simply, what it has and what it does. However, a more important item—arguably the most important item—is how it does it, specifically from the users’ perspective. This is called usability, and it should be a top priority on your list. The experience that your customers have on your site shapes their opinion of your brand—for better or worse. Be sure to view yourself from your customer’s perspective.
At Rumbletree, we work with our clients to translate an outline into site maps and wireframes early on—allowing us to expose potential usability issues and ways to streamline and simplify the user’s experience.
3. Ask the question—Is Flash going to help or hurt your customer experience?
One of the most common requests we get from clients is to create some sort of Flash animated website 'intro', or even to create their entire website in Flash (you might recognize these sites as the ones with 'loading' screens and lots of animated elements). While Flash remains a powerful tool on the web, the use of Flash intros is an aging trend that most users dread. The phrase 'skip intro' has become synonymous with bad usability. If most people 'skip intro', you have to ask yourself—are you hurting or enhancing the users' perception of your brand?
And while Flash certainly is 'flashy', it's often not the right tool for the job. Flash websites often trade usability for gimmicky animations and complicated user interfaces. Worse, they are much more difficult to update. They can also have negative affects on SEO and diminish the capabilities of analytics software.
4. Manage updates cost-effectively.
Another common client feature request is the ability to edit their website on their own—without the need for an outside web professioinal. In some of these cases, Rumbletree will implement a custom CMS (Content Management System), providing an interface for clients to log in and easily edit content when needed. For clients that update their content often, this feature is a smart investment. For some, however, CMS can be underutilized. In these cases, it is far more cost-effective to have the agency make infrequent (or scheduled) updates at an affordable rate rather than paying the upfront cost of integrating a CMS system. We can help you determine which path makes the most sense for your unique situation.
5. Get valuable customer feedback inexpensively.
Integrating software that analyzes your users’ browsing habits gives you valuable insight into who your customers are and what they like (or dislike) about your website. Analytics software is affordable, easy to implement and generates a wealth of information. And, we think that it is an essential element to your web strategy from day one. Get detailed reports about site traffic, content popularity, your user’s traits and tendencies. Access to this data will both improve your user’s experience and help you to give them more of what they want.
Well-defined priorities will help drive the decision to utilize tools like Flash and content management from the start. They will keep you from going down paths that increase costs unnecessarily. Building your website does not have to be a painful process. With thoughtful, upfront planning and a strong understanding of your customer, Rumbletree can help you prioritize your goals and make the most of your website budget.