All too often we see websites that have been designed, built, and populated with content only to discover that the business wasn’t actually sure what the purpose of their website was, or what they wanted from it, before going through with a build.
When launching a website, it’s important not to just launch one because you think you need one. There are so many elements of a website that you need to consider before going through to the development stage, and most importantly you need to know what you want to get from it and what the purpose of it is so that you can design it and optimise it accordingly.
It is common for businesses to create a website that is overloaded with content and pages, as they commonly think “the more, the better”. However, if you are unnecessarily packing your site with pages you will find yourself falling short in the rankings as it’s unlikely that all of this content is optimised, or even relevant at all.
What should you be asking yourself when you are thinking of getting a new website?
There are a few questions you should ask yourself when you are designing and building a new website.
- Who is your target audience?
Firstly, when building or redesigning a website you need to consider who your target audience or customer is, as ultimately, they are the ones visiting your website and purchasing your products or services.
If you fail to understand their needs and their business challenges, then you could be at risk of losing customers before they’ve even managed to get past the first page.
- What is the purpose of the site?
This is perhaps one of the key questions, as ultimately, you need to know what the purpose of your site is so that you have a clear idea of the content to include and how it should look.
Do you want visitors to fill in a form to enquire or to receive a newsletter? Do you want them to enquire over the phone? Do you want to sell products directly off your site? Whatever steps you want your visitors to take, you need to ensure there is a clear directive on your site for them to follow.
When looking at your website, make sure you ask whether your site is serving its purpose. Are you getting sales, are you getting enquiries, are you getting downloads, are you event getting website visits? As well as tracking products sold, you can also gain insight from Google Analytics to see how your site is performing.
- What keywords do you want to target and rank for?
To get the most out of your website, you should be considering what you actually want to be found for on Google. To do this, you need an understanding of what keywords and phrases you should be targeting to be reaching potential customers.
Doing some keyword research to establish if you are targeting the right keywords, or any at all, is helpful for understanding whether the content on your site is helping to sell your products and services or hindering the process.
- What is your budget?
Budget is another key consideration when looking to redesign, as you need to ensure your budget matches the size of the site and what you wish to achieve with a rebuild or redesign.
You need to consider how many pages you are going to need, and what sort of design you are looking for in terms of layout and visual content.
Often it is common for businesses to create a website that is overloaded with content and pages, as they commonly think “the more, the better”. However, if you are unnecessarily packing your site with pages you will find yourself falling short in the rankings as it’s unlikely that all of this content is optimised, or even relevant at all and Google now crawls all of a site and ranks different pages. So your subpages are just as important as the homepage.
It’s better to have 1 or a few pages which are well built and well optimised, than using your budget on 20 pages which are messy and irrelevant.
Do you really need a new website?
Whilst you may be itching to go for a completely new site if you are lacking in traffic or enquiries, there are some changes that can be made to a site instead of opting straight for a rebuild or redesign.
To establish the current state of your site Varn can complete an SEO audit, which will enable us to analyse your site and find areas for improvement that may be nicer on your wallet!
Get in touch with our friendly team today to find out more.
