Website planning – ‘getting it right first time’

Careful planning is essential before any website development is undertaken to ensure the end result is appropriate to an organisation’s broader business strategy. Each organisation will inevitably have different requirements and priorities online, but with a clear set of objectives in place the probability of the website’s success will be greatly improved.

 


Benchmark your website

We recommend that an organisation planning to redevelop its website assesses its current site alongside its competitors. Benchmarking your website in this way will provide objective information to evaluate your website against its peers and identify areas of improvement. For further information on benchmarking please read our article “Benchmarking: how does your website compare?”

 


Before you go ahead…

The questions an organisation should ask itself to ensure it has established clear objectives at the outset of any website redevelopment project will inevitably depend on its circumstances and priorities, but the following list will act as a starting point:

 


Establish the high-level objectives

  • What are the high-level website objectives? Purely marketing, client support, recruitment, online sales or panel compliance, to name a few? Generally you are aiming to increase people's awareness of who you are and what you do; to tell them about a particular product or service that you provide.
  • What is the business case behind the website? Is a return on investment sought? If so, direct or indirect?


Defining the scope

Will the website be principally a Brochure, Marketing or Personalised website? To explain these terms:

 

Brochure website: This is the simplest form of website and still serves a purpose, but many organisations have long since moved beyond this early evolutionary stage. The website usually provides basic information about the organisation, its products and services, personnel and contact details, and effectively acts as an electronic brochure.

 

Marketing website: Organisations can use the Internet to build and develop relationships with existing and potential clients, potential recruits, the media and other audiences. By publishing content of direct interest to the target audience, organisations can maintain loyalty and create significant levels of awareness. Ideally the audience will make return visits to keep abreast of industry developments. The media may use the site as a reference site and drive visitors to it, if the areas covered interest their readers.

 

Personalised website: Each registered visitor is treated as an individual, with password-protected access to information of specific interest. An extranet or portal feature can substantially reduce the cost and increase efficiency of information management and facilitate quality relationships between an organisation and its community of clients, colleagues and investors - ultimately delivering a tangible benefit to all involved. Good content management systems allow personalised content to be rolled out quickly and cost effectively and the emergence of alternative content delivery channels, such as RSS and Podcasting, provide efficient means of delivering highly targeted and engaging information to users.

 


Project Management

Ask yourself: what is the intended budget and timescale? Who owns the project? Do you have the commitment from all stakeholders? Who is going to maintain the website after launch? Consider…

 

…technical and editorial aspects

  • Who is/are the intended audience(s)? Have its/their needs been researched?
  • What level of functionality and interactivity is required? Do you need a simple HTML website or a database-driven website? Do you require intranet or extranet functionality? Will the website act as a portal?
  • Is the compatibility of in-house IT systems and associated web interfaces likely to be an issue?
  • Consider website ownership, extent of editorial control and frequency of updates. Which content management system (CMS) is required for the website?

 

…design issues

  • Is branding established and how should this be reflected in the website design to ensure effective differentiation?
  • Consider how to give the best first impressions, how to substantiate credibility statements to ensure visitors ‘buy in’ to what you are saying, and consider how to retain visitors for future website visits. Consider the AIDA principals:

  • A = Attention – gain the attention of your audience(s)
  • I = Interest – create interest in your products and services
  • D = Desire – generate a desire for your products and services
  • A = Action – provide prompts to buy your products and services

 

Regulatory and compliance

  • What level of accessibility - and other - compliance needs to be achieved?

The list can be a long one, but with the right planning the chances of a website project being successful first time are greatly improved. Time spent planning any website development project will always pay dividends.

 

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Intendance Consulting can assist you in the successful delivery of your online projects. For further information about any of the matters covered in the above article please contact us on telephone number +44 20 7242 7160 or email charleslouis.moreau@intendance.com  

 

 

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