If you or your business are considering redesigning your website, or are in the process of developing a new site, please stop now and ask yourself “why?”.

In the world of web development, it’s truly astonishing how many companies openly ignore the question of what their website is actually doing for them. Millions of dollars are spent each year on website redesigns and redevelopments without any thought of what value it’s providing to the company and its end users (customers, clients, investors, etc.). If your website isn’t doing anything for you, it’s time to step back and really take a look at the reasons why.

When the internet initially became a new public domain to populate, it was sufficient to simply display a little bit of information about your company and products and/or services – nothing more than a directory listing when you really think about it.

Unfortunately, in terms of the history of the web, that was ages ago. Presently, there are billions upon billions of sites online – a massive directory of visual noise that is nearly impossible to distinguish yourself within. So unlike years ago and like everything else that’s a part of your business, it’s time to start thinking about why you have a website and what value it’s actually providing for your business.

Your website, if developed properly considering the right answers as it pertains to value, will become more than a ‘directory listing’. Your website will become:

• A central tool for showcasing your company’s brand and deliver its core message.
• An effective sales tool for your company’s products and services.
• An easily accessible location for your customers, clients and investors to easily learn more about your company’s offering as it pertains to them.
• A critical component that is extremely cost-effective, constantly evolving as your industry evolves, and is at the forefront of all your marketing and communications initiatives.

Creating True Value on the Web

At the end of the day, when it comes to developing your website, no matter how simple or complex, the level of value and quality it retains is solely determined by whether one simple yet profound question is truly answered:

“Why Do I Need a Website?”

We all have things that we don’t want or need, we all have seen things created or produced and have asked ourselves “what for?”, and most importantly, we all have been frustrated with things in our lives that seemingly work more to inconvenience us rather than help us.

Anything of true value has a purpose, but like a lot of things in life, things are created, constructed and purchased without keeping that purpose at the forefront of the process resulting in wasted time, wasted effort and wasted cost with end results that don’t adequately fulfill a need.

When it comes to the development of a website, keeping this question at the front of the project at all times is critical, and ultimately determines whether a site provides value to your company, customers, clients and investors – regardless of it being perceived as low or high value.

A perceived high value site can:

•    Look good.
•    Be loaded with interactive features.
•    Deliver content.
•    Be mistakenly perceived as a true high value website.

However, a perceived high value site doesn’t even consider the question of “why do I need a website?” let alone answer it, and therefore usually ends up being a convoluted structure of fragmented content that’s neither easy to navigate through or comprehend, in the end providing little or no true value to the end user and their experience with it.

A true high value site can do everything a perceived high value site can, but what it also does is answer the all important question of “why do I need a website?” by taking into account the critical information discovered from exploring of all possible considerations relating to that very question, such as:

The main objectives of the website as they relate to the company/organization, and how do these are conveyed to the target audience viewing the site:

• What is the message you want to convey to your users?
• What do you want the user to achieve by visiting your site?
• What do you want the user to take away from the experience on your site?

The users viewing the website (personas):

• Are they consumers? investors? clients?
• What type of people are they? CEOs? Field personnel? Customer service?
• What kinds of content are they looking for?
• How do they need this content to be presented to them?
• What specific factors about this audience may change the way content is presented?

The type of content being presented and how it should be best structured:

• Is the site’s content relevant to your audience? Does it have value?
• Is the site’s content presented in a way that it’s concise and easy for the user to comprehend?

The entire process of developing a website that has true value rather than perceived value comes down to taking the time up-front to map out all there is to know about your company as it relates to the website and its various end users, then integrating that knowledge through the proper execution of the development process.

What Does This Mean in Terms of Cost?

Executing the proper development process, which can be perceived as the high end, costly option, will in most cases actually be equal or less than the cost of developing a low end option, when you evaluate it over the total lifespan of the project, as seen by the example below:

OPTION 1: Not addressing the “Why do I need a website?” question.

Base Site – $6,000

• Basic, good-looking website.
• Integration of content management system.
• Content supplied solely by client.

Possible Additions – $30,000 or more

• Revisions to site navigation and feature / section additions attempting to give the site purpose.
• Overhaul of the content management system to incorporate new content.
• Overhaul of the site’s design/programming because the scale of the site has changed.

Final True Value = Low

An endless series of patches, fixes and upgrades, addressing issues that weren’t evaluated in the beginning of the process ends up costing much more to build later on, and still does little to achieve the anticipated value because of the reactive nature of the additions being made.

OPTION 2: Addressing the “Why do I need a website?” question.

Base Site – $25,000

• Well-designed website, both visually and in functionality.
• Scalable and extensible to easily incorporate future additions.
• Easy to use content management system for continual updates.
• Smooth user experience as site is designed with all necessary user considerations in mind.

Possible Additions – up to $5,000

• Minor section/navigation updates.
• Content management system maintenance/modifications.

Final True Value = High

The site never waivers from its original objectives as all elements of the site and its users were proactively considered and addressed from the onset of the site’s development and little is needed in terms of maintenance and upgrades, resulting in a much longer life-span for the website.

Conclusion

As with most projects of any kind, it’s really not difficult to create value on the web, it simply requires the proper planning and approach from the project’s inception, adequately addressing the question of “why do I need a website?“. In the end, the value retained from the complete execution of this approach far outweighs the initial cost to develop the site.

So if you’re considering redesigning or reworking your website, or are in the process of developing a new site, please stop now and ask yourself ‘why?‘.

• If you can answer that question immediately – carry on and contact us should you require assistance with it’s design and  development.
• If you cannot answer that question immediately – contact us now, we can help you find the answer.
• If you cannot answer that question immediately when it comes to all of your communications and design needs – contact us immediately! We’ll send in our very qualified rescue team.

• If you don’t care about that question - please contact someone else.