Been thinking about a website redesign for your business? If so, great—because your website is the absolute first and best step you can take for your marketing strategy.
You may be aware there are a dizzying array of companies and online resources who are screaming to help you to get going on that website re-do. This vast selection however, tends to make a savvy business person even more cautious. If you’re that business person? If so, your caution is warranted. Here are four key questions that you should ask any website designer when you sit down for that consultation.
1) Will my website generate leads for my business?
First it depends on what you hired them to do. If you hired them to re-do your website design and later on they say “yes” to your question, then they are stretching the truth. If all you do is build a website, launch it, but let it sit there for the next 3-4 years, then the correct answer is, “no.” A website without marketing may generate a lead here and there, but only by happenstance.
The fix? You first need to look at the bigger picture. Your website is just a tool in your sales toolbox. You need a marketing plan to go with sales tools. When you sit down to design the website, you should be looking at thing like:
- What is my website design strategy?
- What type of customer is this (B2B, B2C?)
- What am I saying on the website?
- How will I attract the right people and convert them into leads?
2) Will my new website get more visitors?
When you first launch your website it may seem like you are getting more traffic, but the numbers don’t lie. Most websites don’t have any growth with a new website launch. Yes, you have a pretty new website, but you still have not attracted your customers to you with great content. You need a blog, without a blog, your website will wither and die. Eventually, your website will end up not even being ranked by Google, because they can see that your website is stagnant. Your website is a living breathing thing, it needs fresh content to attract customers.
3) Why do I need to re-do all of the content in my website?
If you are using the same content in your website as before, how can you expect a different result? The reason that you are probably re-designing your website is you want a fresh look to attract new customers. Well, if you want more visitors, then you need to generate more content, fresh new content. So dump the old and in with the new! Yes all of the old content, don’t leave anything old in there.
4) Should I have a marketing plan with my new website?
Yes, Yes, Yes, You should always start with a marketing plan. The marketing plan will help the website design agency know what type of strategy you are looking to implement into your fresh new website. If you’re design firm isn’t asking for one, which should raise a red flag immediately.
Successful businesses always have a marketing strategy that begins with your goals and ends with some plan to deliver the leads and revenue to achieve your goals. With these things in place, it’s easy to justify the money you’re spending—because then you won’t view the cost as an expense, but as a good investment.
Key Take-a-ways:
- Make sure your web design agency asks these types of questions
- Ask them if they are willing to work with other agencies (web, marketing, etc..)
- Put everything in writing. Make sure you have details of what is included in the project.
- Ask for references of current customers and/or projects that they are working on.