Website Design: How to plan for your new website

What platform is the “right platform”

When it comes to building a website, whether you DIY or outsource that sucker, you need to think beyond just building it to actually maintaining it, updating it and keeping it fresh.

We big stumbling block around this, other than time, is tech skills. We see tonnes of people that have either had a website built that they can’t maintain, or they’ve taken advice from experts and built on the “best” website platform only to find they can’t use and they get so frustrated with it that they never want to deal with it again.

News flash – there is no such thing as the “best” platform. Every business and business owner is different (I know we’re stating the obvious) which means the “best” platform for them and their needs and budget is totally different to another.

So, if you’re not taking the word of Experts as gospel and you can’t trust Google to tell you how do you find out?

🔹 If you’re DIY or getting the platform built for you see if you can test it out first. There could be a free trial version or a dummy website you might be able to play around in

🔹 Always, always, always ask your website designer what platform they build with and then do your own research.

🔹 By all means ask around and find out what people love but also ask them why – you might find that they love a platform or a feature that isn’t relevant to you

Write a wishlist

Sometimes when we’re building stuff we put form over function –

🔹 Like that beautiful teapot that isn’t great at pouring tea, dripping and dribbling it everywhere

🔹 Or that beautiful scandi couch that looks so pretty but makes you feel like you’re sitting on a pew with a sore bum

🔹 Or that website that screams beautiful design and countless hours agonising over the perfect font but where you can’t find anything and it loads like a motherfu… you get the idea

The navigation, content, loading speed, layout and interconnectivity are all just as important as the font, colours and branding elements. No one really wants to spend time with the beautiful person with zero going on upstairs, nothing interesting to say and no sense of humour.

So here are some tips –

🔹 Have a critical look at direct competitor websites and those who are in other industries who are targeting a similar audience. Compare and contrast, find the similarities, consider the stuff you’ve responded to positively and the stuff you didn’t like.

Be super observant of if and when you got bored and why that happened. How do the design choices compliment the navigation or make your whole experience better.

🔹 Think about your business goals and requirements for your website but also what requirements and needs your clients will have. What do you need to implement or consider to make sure your website is nailing both of those options – as it really can’t neglect one to serve the other.

🔹 Consider all the things that you want on your website – about, home and contact pages, online shops or services information, online calendars or booking agents, galleries or music libraries, blogs or news articles.

And then, using a pen and a piece of paper, map it out a little like a family tree. Well a really incestuous family tree as we won’t be drawing vertical lines but diagonal and horizontal lines between related pages or content.

By having a little stalk around and a pre-plan you’ll be forcing yourself to slow down and really think about the structure and purpose before you spend more time thinking about that perfect shade of teal green then what’s in your menu.

Nothing stands still – plan for growth

Your business is growing and depending on how long you’ve already been in business you’ll either by growing as fast as a puppy or as slow as Grandad’s earlobes (because ears and noses never ever stop growing)

Your website or your website design needs to allow for your foreseeable growth. This means thinking ahead to where you want your business to be in 12 months, two years or even five years to make sure that the platform and design you’ve selected will stretch and grow with you.

If you’re thinking you’re just going to pay that guy from that Facebook Group $300 to build your whole website on that platform he recommended and in six months once you’ve got a bit more cash you’ll “do it properly” then I’d challenge you if you can’t either prioritise the website build or wait six months.

Rebuilding a website or paying someone to come in to fix mistakes or get something “up to scratch” can sometimes (almost always) be just as costly as getting your website built properly the first time.

Sometimes paying less is not always cheaper.

Teamwork makes the dream….website

Like anything else the best project outcomes come from the people that “get” you, that you vibe and communicate with well, that you truly love working with.

Website building is a bit of back and forth, getting the right information, understanding your needs and sometimes picking up the wrong end of the stick.

You need to have a good working relationship with any third-party person or business you choose to work with. Realistically you need to be able to tell them that they’ve not got it quite right and not be worried about their reaction. #youknowit

Pick someone to work with that fits with your budget, has the skills and experience to bring your vision to life, can share with you testimonials and examples of past work and lastly, and this is our preference, is fun and honest. You don’t want to be working with someone who fibs, embellishes their skills and learns with your 💲 or who never delivers quite what they said.

Honesty is a big part of what we do, and we will absolutely recommend another agency or freelancer if we’re not the right agency for the job. Because it’s important to us that you feel positive when you #getsquawked – even if it’s for a super brief time*

*I realise this sentence sounds….off. But I (Millie) think that’s part of the charm and hilarity of it.

Be prepared

Most website designers will require some documents and content off you before they start building your website, and we’re no different.

As a general rule we need –

🔹 All the words for your website. We will give you an outline of what written content we will need so you can tick it off as you go or if you’re not a wordsmith we can get you in contact with some stellar copywriters*
*Whilst we think we’re OK at writing we’re marketers not copywriters. Copywriters are badass word cowboys who can round up a sentence that convinces and engages even the most reticent prospects

🔹 All the beautiful images, videos and product photography you want displayed on your website. Clean, clear imagery attracts attention and gets people to stop, read the words and absorb the page. If you need a photographer we can match you with ones that will blow the socks off your feet.

🔹 Your branding of course! This is best delivered as a style guide from your designer as it gives us all the guidelines and we will also need all your logos, marks etc.

🔹 All the integrations and extra systems that need to be connected to your website so it’s truly a useful and integral member of your team.

There may be some extra stuff like downloadable content but we’d cover that in our planning session and add it to the list to send to us before we start. It’s always good to be prepared and have some or all of this list either planned or in your hot little hands prior to wanting to start the project.

In case it didn’t come through we’re pretty passionate about building websites that are both functional AND beautiful.

We’ve built websites for small to medium businesses all over Tasmania and Australia. If you’re keen to have a chat about if we’re the right website design team for your business we’d love to hear from you. Head over to our booking page to book a time to chat with Millie about your website needs, your business goals and how we can marry the two.