A new website is shiny and fun to think about, but a great website is built through a discovery process and defined goals. DKY can help.
How to Plan a New Website As Your Digital Marketing Hub
Before acting on any big decisions, it’s important to have a plan—to set goals and desirable outcomes—and then roll up your sleeves and do some necessary research to make sure it’s a worthy endeavor.
The same is true when making an investment in a new website, business application, Customer Relationship Manager (CRM), or digital marketing strategy. Setting clear goals and expectations for your project is crucial to its success.
When building a new website, for example, the temptation is to start with the fun stuff. Everyone loves beautiful page mockups that visually represent the new site. But great user experience (UX/UI) and page design are built from a disciplined discovery process. Without it, you’ll likely end up with a nice looking website that doesn’t do what you built it to do.
What to Bring to the Planning Conversation
To start your digital project, it’s important to answer some key questions to lay the groundwork. Every website is unique to its brand and audience. Be prepared to do some self-reflection.
Why do you want a new website?
This may seem elementary, but it is fundamental to determine your goals, risk tolerance, and the true nature of the project.
Who is the website for?
- Determine your primary and secondary audiences
- Have a plan of action for new visitors to your site
A website is a lot more than the eye candy of engaging visuals and animations. The content and user experience need to be focused on the services you offer, and provide solutions to the customers you’re hoping to attract and retain. Identifying your audience(s) is key to personalizing this experience and ensuring their needs are met.
What do you want your site to do?
- Does it exist to sell a product or service you offer?
- Will it be a lead-capture tool?
- Do you want to provide information and resources?
- Should it entertain and/or educate your customers?
To determine the purpose of your website, first define your product/service offering and how to present its value. Then define clear and easy ways for potential customers to respond. This way, your website can become a core lead-generation engine for your sales funnel.
How will you measure success?
Next, you need to define your ROI. Get specific by asking questions like:
- What are your customer acquisition goals?
- How will you define leads and conversions?
- Is there a dollar amount or value you can assign to each lead or conversion the website generates?
- What processes and people are in place to nurture and close sales leads?
There should be a solid business case for investing in a new website. If you don’t currently have a website, or if your site is underperforming, first determine the value of each lead. That information can play a crucial role in helping you build your budget.
Then once your new site is up and running, and the sales funnel is fully operational, additional outreach channels—such as digital marketing and social media marketing—can be engaged to provide you access to an even larger audience.
How much are you willing to spend?
There’s an old adage, “you get what you pay for.” When you consider which bells and whistles to include in your site, keep in mind that every new feature will require some investment in design and back-end development costs.
Invest wisely in what can efficiently get your message and services in front of your target audience. The great thing about websites is you can enhance them and broaden their capabilities over time as your budget allows. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Be smart in your investment and it will pay you back with dividends.
When are you hoping to launch your new site?
When determining the desired launch date, be sure to keep an open mind. Websites are usually more complex to develop than they look. Your assumptions of what is possible may or may not be realistic. The larger and more technically complex a site is, the longer it will take.
If your desired launch date is set in stone, be prepared to make concessions as to what can be completed in your timeframe. It’s good to push for a best-case scenario, but keep an open mind and flex where appropriate.
Let Your Plan Be Your Guide
Armed with answers and a clearly defined set of goals, you now possess the critical, measurable information that will form the foundation of your new website’s digital strategy.
With the right strategic partner, you can ensure your site represents your full brand potential, tells your unique story, properly showcases your service offering, drives engagement, and reaches out to current and new potential customers through a wide gamut of targeted channels.
We’d Love to Help
As a digital-first agency, DKY has built an in-depth, step-by-step website discovery process to determine a project’s scope, budget, and timeline. Our multi-disciplined team of specialists will work side-by-side with you to answer these and other questions through a helpful process.
It consists of brand awareness analysis, market research/competitive analysis, customer interviews and user testing, performance analytics, persona creation and customer journey maps, technical assessment, and content audits.
This data-driven approach allows us to build a robust, fully-integrated digital strategy that is personalized to you and your specific goals, customer base, service offerings, KPIs, outreach channels, and go-to-market strategy.
Take the Next Steps
Ready to get started? Take the next step by contacting DKY today to start the conversation. Our digital team can help you create a digital strategy that is customized for your company’s goals.