3 Tips to Ensure Your Website Continues to Evolve

Getting a website live is a great feeling.

Generally hundreds of client and digital agency hours are invested in a new build so it’s time to take a well-earned rest, right? Wrong.

Web projects don’t finish.

If your new website has just gone live, you’re on the first stepping stone of a much longer journey.

1.    Budget for on-going changes

Failure to budget for on-going enhancements is one of the biggest (and most common) mistakes I see.

When project scope is defined it’s inevitable that some of those ‘nice-to-haves’ won’t make their way into the build. It might have been cost, time or both that stopped these ideas in phase one and it’s all too easy to forget them.

Putting a website live, combined with some of that extra revenue your site is generating (or enquiries if that’s the objective), allows for the planning and development of these ideas.

One certainty is that you will change your mind. Functionality that initially seemed a great idea might not be the ideal solution a few months down the line. That’s never a problem unless your budget has been exhausted on the initial build. If budgets are tight, consider a much smaller initial build which allows for incremental changes to be introduced over time.

2.    Listen to your users

Great UX (user experience) and UI (user interface) takes time to develop. It results from a combination of:

•    Thorough research and understanding of your users. Create user personas to ensure you don’t lose sight of their needs
•    Invite feedback throughout the build and beyond. Remember, what you like might not be what your users like
•    Utilise your digital agency. A wealth of expertise and experience is at your disposal – use it

Ultimately, this is what will bring your site much closer to the wants and needs of your users. To offer a richer and more rewarding experience it’s crucial to listen carefully before, during and after your website launch.

3.    Market, market and market some more

If you are like most, your new website will have moved your business on significantly. Now is the perfect opportunity to build on your previous marketing efforts.

During the scoping phase your digital marketing and SEO Agency will be researching and building your strategy. Once your website goes live you want to reap the rewards of this good work.

Failure to invest in the first six months of a launch (and the months prior) is a big mistake. Here’s why:

•    Great organic search engine results don’t just happen overnight. Building trust and authority organically over time is a long term endeavour
•    A greater understanding of your place online will influence marketing decisions about your website. Failure to appreciate  your users early will hamper online marketing efforts
•    Reworking your website after its initial development is going to prove more costly

Best practice

To conclude, when it comes to website planning and launch it is always advisable to:

•    Budget for on-going changes to your website. If budgets are tight, reduce the scale of the initial build
•    Invite user  feedback and refine your website offering after launch
•    Begin the research and marketing of your website prior to launch

The biggest mistake that can be made is to neglect your site. It’s not a static object, so don’t treat it like one.

You should expect, and want changes to be made to continually improve your online presence. Failure to do so could lead to a rebuild a lot sooner than you’d expect.