10 steps to a successful website redesign - truly good design

10 steps to a successful website redesign 05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung Created by Truly Good Design For more visit:

trulygood.com/more

Truly Good Introduction

� Why are you redesigning your site? “It’s been a while” or “We want to look bigger” aren’t great reasons

The ultimate question you should be asking… HOW WILL THE SITE SUPPORT AND IMPROVE OUR OVERALL MARKETING EFFORTS?

� Got it? Awesome, let’s begin!

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

1. Measure Current Performance

� Traffic

� Bounce rate / Time spent on site

� Number of Form Submissions / New Leads

� Popular Pages & Documents

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

2. Establish Clear Goals

� How does your site currently WORK?

� Name specific things you want to improve

� Tie goals to measureable results

� Be prepared to analyze the data

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

3. Keep Current Assets Safe!

�  ID what’s been working on current site �  Most viewed/more shared content �  Best performing keywords

� Now, protect that content! �  Use “301 Redirects” �  Keep it where it is

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

4. Analyze The Competition

�  Visually review your competitor’s sites �  Aesthetically, how are things looking? �  Functionally, what’s happening out there? �  What do you like/dislike?

�  Use tools like HubSpot’s “Marketing Grader”

�  Goal is not to copy, but to improve

�  Create an Action List: areas you can improve

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

5. Identity Unique Value Proposition

�  Immediately answer your visitor’s question, “Does this site have what I need?”

� Convey quickly why they should stay

� Be clear and ‘human’ with your language �  Not flowery or technical

� YOU define how the world communicates with your site

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

6. Design Around Personas

� Your site is NOT about you �  It is about your BEST customer(s)

� Determine who that is, then segment by demographics (age, sex, location, industry, interest)

�  Identify their needs, problems, desires � Develop behavior-based profiles

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

7. Optimize for Search

�  Do some keyword research to establish target keywords �  For entire site �  For individual pages

�  Include keywords in all the important areas �  “Header” tags (h1, h2, h3) �  “Title” tags (text on top of browser window) �  “Meta Description” tags (invisible to users,

crawled by search engines) �  Throughout content

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

8. Identify & Include Calls to Action

�  Drive visitors to take an action

�  Offering FREE content or services is a great motivator �  E-books, whitepapers, contests, free shipping,

email newsletters, free trial or consultation

�  The ultimate goal is for your new visitor to

engage with your site and share their information with you

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

9. Create an Ongoing Content Strategy

�  Include a BLOG on your new site �  A 100 page website will outrank a 10 page

website 95% of the time!

� Utilize Press Releases & In The News pieces

� Consider outsourcing/purchasing content

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

10. Include the Extras

� Blog

� Promotion-specific Landing Pages

� RSS Feed (subscribe to blog updates)

� Share Buttons!

� Analytics

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

Truly Good Summary

�  Can’t afford to do all 10 (money/time)? �  No worries! You can still attain website redesign Nirvana.

Just focus on… �  Establishing clear goals �  Identifying and protecting current assets �  Identifying and clearly presenting your UVP � Optimizing for search (site wide) �  Identifying and including CTAs � BLOG, BLOG, BLOG

For more information & resources visit trulygood.com/more

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung