Website RedesignThe 7 Secrets to a better site

Antoine Dupont is an inbound marketing expert and Owner of Admin eSolutions. He focus on marketing strategies that generate leads for his clients.

Antoine has been in the web solutions world for over 12 years. Prior to that, he worked in the hospitality industry.

Follow him on Twitter @adupont65

Curated by Antoine Dupont

Website Redesign: The 7 Secrets to a better site

Web Solutions | Internet Marketing www.adminesolutions.com

Opening Remarks

Chapter 1: Bells & Whistles

Chapter 2: Metrics

Chapter 3: Shop Around

Chapter 4: Disaster Avoidance

Chapter 5: Get Found

Chapter 6: Conversion

Chapter 7: Nurture

Closing Comments

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

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Redesigning your website is what countless businesses and individuals have decided to do. If you're going to be in business doing anything these days you need to have a website. Maybe your website is an upgrade from your simple online blog journal or maybe you are launching the newest product which will revolutionize an industry.

Even if you and your buddies just play off part time in a garage cover band, it seems even you need to have a website. The bottom line is if you want people to know what's going on with you, then you need to let them know what's going on.

One of the best ways to do this is by having a powerful & relevant web presence.

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However one of the real challenges of this is getting your website design just right. What does that mean? Well your website design has got to have some kind of direction or all is lost.

Your website should be designed & built based on specific & measurable goals:What are you trying to accomplish? Who are you trying to reach? What are you trying to say? What defines success or failure? Your website could just be another listless URL, bouncing around the netherworld of the World Wide Web without specific and measurable goals.

Your website should be able to identify who’s visiting:If you don’t know who’s coming to your site, you have no actionable way to further engage and court interested parties. Identifying who's coming to your website and what they are looking for should be the foundation of your website redesign project

There are other things you need to think about as your website is launched and is introduced to the world. But to start with you need to remember your goals, you need to remember your business, and you need to remember your customer and your potential customer. With these metrics in mind here are 7 steps to getting the most from your website design.

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Your website redesign project needs to be in step with your business and your businesses public image. You don’t see any law firms or accountants with flashing neon lights and scrolling inane facts below their office’s nameplates, right? So why would their website reach to the same end? Unless you are a neon lights supply store or have some other flashy MO you

CHAPTER 1:Bells & Whistles

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should probably leave the colorful graphics and flashy design schemes to another web address.

If it doesn’t fit your business it shouldn’t fit your website but even from the far more practical point of view it’s true.

Big graphics and flashy designs take time to load up and can often be more headache than they’re worth.

Your goal with your new website design should be to make your business more easily accessible and draw in new customers; not drive away existing web traffic.

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Once you have decided how your website will look and what clever devices will be left to the side, then you need to decide what it is you’re trying to accomplish.

Which metrics matter the most? Is your new website going to be about introducing your customers to your business?

CHAPTER 2:Metrics

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Will your new website design be catered to informing your customers? Are you interested in sealing the deal and converting sales?

Or is it something else entirely? Before you engage in creating a new website you need to decide what it is that website is seeking to accomplish.

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“Companies that blog 15 or more times per month get 5x more traffic than companies that don’t blog”

Source: Hubspot – Marketing Benchmarks from 7000 businesses.

Once you know what are the overall schematics of your website going to be then you need to get specific. What are the things about your website that are going to work? What are the platforms? What are the layouts? How will the navigation be achieved? Where will the toolbar be located?

CHAPTER 3:Shop Around

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Even though you may have decided you don’t want anything too flashy you may still want there to be some kind of an opening graphic sequence so that first time visitors can know who you are. These are all things for you to be mindful of when you are creating your website design.

Even if the first template that you see seems perfect you probably should see more than one so you have something to compare the first one against. There may be things available for your website design that you didn’t even know existed; the only way you’ll learn though is if you shop around.

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How old is your average customer? What is their computer literacy? What is the most concise way to describe your business? Does your website design team know the answers to these questions? Do you? when you are making up your new website you need to have these answers locked down.

CHAPTER 4:Disaster Avoidance

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This may be the reason your current website failed so desperately to make a splash. What are you doing with your new website but creating another venue to “sell” your business? If your website design isn’t solely focused on these things then your new design is as much a

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crapshoot as putting up a billboard with its back to passing one-way traffic. Sure someone might turn around and see it the same as someone may stumble on your website. But is that the reason you’re making this new website? Another tip for disaster avoidance is consider all the websites which have been successful. What websites do you like? When you are able to look at your own website from the point-of-view of your customer then you're able to make more of a shrewd observation.

The next bit of business you should have in mind for your website redesign is getting your business found. A website with no viewers is like the tree falling in the forest when there is no one around; does this website even really exist?

CHAPTER 5:Get Found

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Your website doesn’t need to make any sounds but it certainly should make a splash. So when you’re trying to get found when redesigning your website you should bear this in mind. How are you going to get found? Who

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do you need to be found by? What is going to set your website apart? You should work with a website design firm who are able to help your website get discovered. One of the more popular ways of getting websites discovered online is through SEO keyword tools about your website and on your site itself.

Getting websites found has turned into its own subdivision of the business and when you do finally settle on a business for your website redesign, their track record for getting websites discovered or rediscovered should be one of your main points of acceptance or rejection of them.

Once your new website is up, you may think that the work is done. You may think that you can just sit back and let your website create money and opportunity for you and that all you have to do is just wait for this to happen.

CHAPTER 6:Conversion

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Unfortunately that’s not really the case. How good your website redesign is will highly dictate how likely or not this is but one thing is clear; redesigning your website is not the end; it’s just the means to that end.

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You need to work closely with your website redesign group to ensure that your vision is borne out and that the business really does begin rolling in. If the people working with you haven’t discussed how you’re going to monetize your website, that’s a problem. You need to know who the people are who are coming to your site, you need to be able to rein them in and you need to know the tricks which can convert your website visitors into new, actionable leads. You need to be thinking about your website from a client’s perspective; if you were to stumble upon your website what would convince you to go from happenstance visitor into purchasing customer? What would make you bridge that connection?

You also need to know how to make sales or sales leads

simple. Where can people enter their contact information? Is it

better to get a deeper amount of information upfront so that

you’re not bombarded with mismatched queries? Or should

you just go for the name and email and keep testing the

waters?

Of course the size, scope, and needs of your business

will dictate which road you should take. Generally the more

contacts you have the better off you’ll be but in some cases

more isn’t always better. You should craft your businesses

experience around your own needs and ability.

CHAPTER 6 - continuedConversion

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“B2B Companies with 101-200 pages generate 2.5 x more leads than those with 50 or fewer Pages”

Source: Hubspot – Marketing Benchmarks from 7000 businesses.

Once your new website is up and running and bringing you leads, you can’t forget your business basics. Whether it’s on the telephone, online, or shaking a hand in person you need to nurture all the leads you have.

CHAPTER 7:Nurture

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You need to keep accurate records of where you stand with individual leads and you can’t let that lax. Your new website redesign can actually make that whole process a lot easier. There could be applications, note keeping software or other methods that you and your website redesign firm can discuss.

If there are ways your job can be made easier and you can realize this simplicity through the upgrade or redesign of your website, then you should certainly find out this information before you take the plunge to actually redesigning your website.

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Your website is the most important marketing tool you have. You should invest the time and effort in making sure that your website is operating as efficiently and powerfully as you would with any employee. Your website can be the best, 24 hour a day employee you could ever have.

Your website is like an all-knowing billboard that goes straight to your customer’s laptop, tablet or phone and can send you back interested customer’s information with just a few simple clicks. Your website should be a lead generating machine that is able to generate actual sales. Your businesses website can no longer just sit idly by as a relic trophy.

Even if you had a flashy website with great pictures and high resolution images, even that’s done; the era of pretty websites is over. It's time for you, your business, and your businesses website to step up and take your presentation to the next level if you truly want your business to grow.

Get a head start and request pricing & information from Admin eSolutions.

READY TO HAVE YOURWebsite Redesigned?

Phone: (561) 272-8567Email: adupont@adminesolutions.comWeb: www.adminesolutions.com