Right from the Start: The Secrets to a Successful Website Redesign

Your website should be your number one salesman 24 hours a day, seven days a week. But if your site has lost its luster and isn’t performing as it should, a redesign might be just the right prescription to boost its ability to capture and convert new leads.

Redesign your website is an exciting prospect filled with so many possibilities. It is, quite literally, the dawn of a new day for your company’s web presence, but how and where do you start?

Here’s a website redesign road map that will put you on the track to success right from the start.

Start with your “wish list.”

Naturally, when you’re embarking on a website redesign project, your first inclination is to make an exhaustive list of all the features and functionality you want to incorporate in the new site.

Having a wish list is helpful, but clinging insistently to executing every single one of those items can be a recipe for a budget-busting project.

Go ahead and create your wish list, but once you’re done, the next step in the process is to put on your editor’s hat. Strike through every single feature that is not essential to success. Don’t be afraid to be aggressive in your editing. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Keep only the mission-critical features that will create a better, more value-packed user experience. Shed the “nice-to-have” features that will appeal to only a very small sub‐segment of your audience or that represent a personal “pet project.” These will only clutter your site and make it harder for the majority of your customers to find what they need quickly and easily.

If you can maintain a critical, objective eye through this editing process, your wish list will be substantially reduced, and you will have a much more solid foundation for a successful project.

Fight the “now-or-never” mentality.

One of the obstacles you’ll face when trying to pare down your wish list is the thinking that if you don’t do something now, you won’t get the chance to do it again in the near future. After all, how often do you redesign your website?

Instead, take a phase-based approach to the project. With your long-term goals and objectives in mind, decide what you must have now and what can wait until your company and your customers’ needs have reached the next plateau.

By mapping out anticipated future iterations and additions at the outset, you can make sure that your new site is built with the underpinnings it needs to support later growth and expansion.

Also, by breaking your redesign project into phases, you can launch the first version more quickly and without blowing your entire budget. This will give you time to gather feedback on the site and shape your future development plans accordingly.

The responses you receive from your customers after your new site launches may reinforce your decision to shed certain unnecessary features, or you may discover that they’re asking for another feature you had not previously considered. By breaking your project into smaller phases, you can take action on this valuable feedback quickly, instead of waiting until the next big redesign project. In this way, you can show your customers that you’re listening to them and that you care deeply about what they have to say – a great way to continue to build customer loyalty.

So now that you have your wish list and your phase-based approach nailed down, what’s next? It’s time for the big “d” – design.

Never cut corners on design.

Many redesign projects center around the need for a new look and feel for the website. Maybe your site’s current design isn’t a good reflection of your brand, or perhaps your company has simply outgrown a site that was launched early on in its history. Or you may just feel that your site is tired and outdated and in desperate need of modernization.

Regardless of the reasons driving your redesign, creating a Class-A look and feel with a user experience to match is a critical, yet often undervalued, piece of your website redevelopment project.

Adding new features or functionality will be pointless if the look of the site or the experience it creates is not up to par. Success starts with great design, and quality design should never take a backseat to fancy bells and whistles.

Consider this scenario: Let’s say you have a website with an outdated look that’s lacking the helpful features your customers want. If you were to update it with a strong modernized design but include none of those new features, you would still realize some measure of success. You’d have an attractive new design and a quality user experience, and that alone is an improvement that you can then build upon in later phases. If, however, you go the opposite route by trying to shoehorn new features into a bad existing design, your site will still suffer from that outdated look and poor user experience, and your investment will be for naught.

Great features supported by bad design have a very steep hill to climb. By investing in good design early on, you’ll ensure that all future investment in the website – when you do add those extra features – will have the best chance for success instead of being forced to fight a losing battle against a poorly designed user interface.

Design with the future in mind.

Deploying a website that is streamlined, efficient and customer-focused is a great start. But the feedback you receive after launch and the desire to continually improve the site will ultimately drive what comes next – those subsequent phases that you have already planned for. To this end, you will need to make sure that the new design and platform will support future growth.

As you edit aggressively early on in this process, you should also continually ask yourself if the plans that you’re making will scale appropriately. How will the site grow with your company over the next 6 months? How about the next 12 or 24 months? How will this mesh with the future phases you have planned as well as the unexpected feedback you may get along the way?

Whether you are hiring a web development firm for your redesign project or are working with an in‐house team, ask them about the technologies that are being used on the new site, from HTML5 to CSS3 to responsive design to the content management system (CMS), and think about how those technologies will work for you today and tomorrow. When it comes to the foundation behind the scenes, never make a choice to save money in the short term that isn’t the best choice for the long term, or else you’ll ultimately end up shelling out a lot more money over time.

A successful website redesign project can start small and focused on critical elements, but to achieve long-term success, that streamlined approach must allow for future scalability so your website will grow with your company, evolve along with emerging technologies and continue to fuel your success.

Take the plunge.

There are many different ways to get from point A to point B when building a website, but regardless of the process you and your team follow, the fundamental principal of starting small and focused on critical elements for success and adding improvements over time is one that will never steer you wrong. Instead of trying to do everything at once, taking this approach will allow you to launch a new website that is a visual and functional improvement without getting bogged down by “nice-to-have” features that will ultimately add very little value but potentially cause very big headaches.

A great design bolstered by key usability features and an eye towards future growth and scalability are the keys to creating a website that will serve as a catalyst for the growth of your business today, tomorrow and beyond.

---

Great Content, No Readers: How to Solve Your Subscriber Problem

Hybrid or Hummer: What kind of mileage is your content getting?

Previously, we established that content is the gasoline in your business growth engine. But your job doesn't end when you hit "publish." Promoting your content is just as important as creating it. If content is the gasoline in your business growth engine, then promotion is the difference between putting that gasoline in a Prius versus a Hummer. Even the most value-packed content can’t help your business grow if no one is reading it. For your content to deliver results, you must actively engage in bringing new people to your site.

Here are 12 tried-and-true tactics to boost your readership and maximize the mileage you’re getting from the resources you’re investing in creating great content.

Be a citizen of the web marketing universe.

No website or blog starts out with its own built-in community. However, established communities do exist everywhere around the Web. Identify the ones where the types of people who would be interested in the topics you write about are already hanging out, reading and making connections. Join in the dialog there by commenting on blog posts or participating in discussion forums. Don’t be a shameless self-promoter. Focus instead on adding value to the conversation. If you do a good job, people will be naturally curious to learn more about you, and they’ll seek out your site to see what else you have to say. Just make sure to include a link in your signature so they’ll know where to find you.

Don't beg for links; present win-win opportunities.

Once you’ve earned your stripes as a trusted and valued member of these communities, you can begin reaching out to the other blog owners that run in these circles for opportunities to gain exposure to their readers. But don’t just ask them to link to your site. After all, what do they stand to gain from giving you a link? Instead, frame your request so that it provides benefit to the person on the receiving end as well. For example, invite them to be featured in an interview on your site. Even the most successful and well-established bloggers are always looking for a little added exposure, and they’ll undoubtedly promote their appearance to their fans, too. Or ask if you can contribute a guest post to their site. Most bloggers will be relieved to have one less post to write, and you’ll get the chance to put your own original content in front of their readers, with the added benefit of a link in your bio.

Give links to get links.

When you’re composing your posts, there’s no need to pretend that you’re the one and only person who’s ever had anything of value to say on your chosen subject matter. Link to other articles and experts who’ve either offered great insights on that topic or taken an opposing point of view, if you want to refute their claims. When you publish your article, shoot the person whose blog you’ve linked to an email or a direct message on Twitter. It will definitely get you noticed and will more than likely get you either a retweet or a link in return.

Leverage the connections you already have.

Don’t assume that everyone who follows you on Facebook or Twitter also reads everything you post on your site. Every time you publish a new article, make sure you extend that content to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media platforms where you are active. Instead of simply posting a link to your article, a great trick is to turn your headline into a question. Open-ended questions leave people craving an answer, which will prompt them to click through to satisfy their curiosity. If you’re using this tactic on Twitter, remember to keep your post to 120 characters or less (link included) in order to allow for retweets.

Extra! Extra! Let them read all about it.

Create a weekly or monthly email newsletter that’s a digest of your most recent posts. Enhance the value of this newsletter by incorporating a few bite-sized tips or links to other interesting articles from around the Web. You might be surprised at the number of new readers the “forward to a friend” button might bring you.

Don’t be shy.

Opportunities to subscribe to and share your content should be omnipresent. Put your email subscription offer either in the header or the sidebar of your site so that no one who visits can miss it. Add extra incentive to join your list by offering a freebie at sign-up, such as an e-book, checklist or audio download. Be sure to present the chance to subscribe to email updates at the end of every article as well. If the reader liked what they read, that’s the best time to get them to sign on.

Give them options – lots of options.

Email addresses are pure marketing gold, but don't be so laser-focused on building your list that you only offer email updates. Let your readers consume your content in the way they most prefer, whether that’s by subscribing in an RSS reader, via StumbleUpon or through the social media channels where you post links to your latest articles.

Be attentive to your readers.

When someone reaches out to you – whether by leaving a comment on an article, sending you a direct message on Twitter or dropping you an email – respond. Making them feel like a part of a community whose members are truly valued will motivate them to spread the word about you and encourage others to join the party.

Create content that sparks conversation.

The real holy grail of promotion is not generating two-way conversation between you and your readers. It's the multidimensional communication that occurs when your readers start interacting with each other as well. That's when suddenly you make the leap from publishing content to building community. The key lies in how you craft your content. While it's important to write with authority and demonstrate your expertise, don't make the presumption that you have the final say. One of your most important jobs as a creator and promoter of content is getting the ball rolling on conversation and debate. Ask for input and advice. Solicit dissenting opinions. Encourage your readers to share their own personal experiences that relate your topic. Great conversation is magnetic. It will keep your current readers coming back again and again, and draw new visitors in when they see the lively interactions that exists around your content.

Find the right balance.

Remember that you don't have to post every day or even every week if that's not realistic for you. It's better to find a comfortable rhythm that will allow you to maintain a steady pace of both creation and promotion. It’s better for someone to come to your site and see that you post one must-read article every month than to see unpredictable fits and starts of activity.

When you find something that works, stick with it.

In the game of promotion, there’s no magic formula for success. It may require a lot of trial and error before you find the right combination of tactics that work for your audience and your schedule. When you do uncover a particularly effective strategy, mine it for all it’s worth. If you write a guest post that gets a lot of attention, find out if there might be an opportunity for you to become a regular contributor on that site. If you get a significant proportion of traffic from one of the sites or forums where you’re a regular participant, by all means, keep it up. If you write a post that gets more traffic, more retweets or more comments than average, continue to develop other articles around that topic. When people tell you what they want, give it to them.

Slow and steady wins the race.

If this sounds like a lot of work, it is. Community building requires time, patience and persistence. There are plenty of articles out there with enticing headlines like “How I got 10,000 subscribers with one post!” This probably won’t happen for you. That doesn’t mean your efforts aren’t worthwhile. Don’t risk becoming a pariah by being overtly pushy and self-serving in your methods. Instead, tread carefully and treat everyone you encounter in the blogosphere – readers, commenters and fellow content creators alike – with respect. As always, follow the rules of trustcasting and allow your community to grow organically in breadth and depth as you cultivate your reputation as a credible and authoritative source of information. Over time, you’ll build a robust, thriving community of people who will not only consume your content voraciously but will ultimately become customers and evangelists for your brand.

---