Delving into a Website the Wrong Way

— “Put the cart before the horse.”

Why do website owner’s do this? All the time? They come up with a great website element or feature. Then, they build the site around it. But they forget the primary reason for the site. The goal. Increase sales. Sell books. Increase downloads of brochures. They’ll all agree that these are the reasons they wanted a website in the first place.

Then why is the goofy menu, or the tacky videos the focus?

I recently dealt with a client who has a WordPress site. They found and purchased a theme they really liked and implemented it. And that’s when everything went south. They wanted to fit their content, the bells and whistles into the theme. But did the theme support their end goal. Based on my experience, 9 out of 10 times, it doesn’t. Not because the themes are bad. In fact, many theme I come across are top notch and loaded with features and flexibility. But a photographer’s photo theme is not going to sell baby clothing well. The theme has to fit the goal.

Before you build your next website, use this brief checklist to determine how to create a successful website:

1. Who is going to maintain the website after it’s built? If a web novice is going to edit web pages and create new ones, it’s likely best to use a simple content management system like WordPress. This way, managing content is similar to using familiar tools like MS Word.
2. What is the purpose of the website? You must know what the site is supposed to do to success before you plan it out, let alone design it or purchase a theme. Make sure everything you put into it supports the overall goal for the site. Anything extra will distract.
3. Who is the audience for the site? Make sure your website is geared toward the appropriate age, gender and class of your audience. Creating a trendy site with small type is going to turn away older people whose eyesight has begun to deteriorate (boy, that sounds bad).
4. What type of content will the site offer? Lots of textual content? Or pictures? Or video? Maybe a mix? You need to think this through; how it will be presented. And potentially distributed in various forms, such as RSS.
5. Thoroughly plan your website. We all want to get to the glam of the website, the colors, texture, imagery and features of the website. Slow down, partner. It’s best to take a step back and plan it through. You’ll save time later and have a better website for it. Organize your content into a diagram (Information Architecture). Layout out the website content, elements and features into a grid, making sure the most important/valuable items are given the highest prominence and greatest amount of real estate. Then, begin to design the website. You’ll have a head start into how the site should be designed for the greatest amount of effectiveness.
6. Design towards your goal. Use contrast, color and space to make the most valuable items stand out. Everything should have a purpose. If not, throw it out.
7. Find a Theme that does what you need it to do. If using WordPress for your site, keep the eye candy in check. Place your focus on themes that provide features and flexibility in customizing your website.
8. Stop! One-third to half-way through the project, stop. Yes stop. Take a step back. Analyze; is this the right thing? Test your concept, design, experience with people in your audience group. Do they get it? Can they use it? Will they want to use it? With those answers in hand, fix (if necessary), then move forward.
9. Get it out to the public before the next season. Meaning, get something out onto the web more sooner than later. A website is an ongoing, evolving thing. Get something out there today, then enhance, embellish and adapt.