10 steps to a successful website redesign - Truly Good Design

10 steps to a successful website redesign 05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung Created by Truly Good Design For more visit:

trulygood.com/more

Truly Good Introduction

� Why are you redesigning your site? “It’s been a while” or “We want to look bigger” aren’t great reasons

The ultimate question you should be asking… HOW WILL THE SITE SUPPORT AND IMPROVE OUR OVERALL MARKETING EFFORTS?

� Got it? Awesome, let’s begin!

05.04.12 NELBF Presents Spring Has Sprung

1. Measure Current Performance

� Traffic

� Bounce rate / Time spent on site

� Number of Form Submissions / New Leads

� Popular Pages & Documents


2. Establish Clear Goals

� How does your site currently WORK?

� Name specific things you want to improve

� Tie goals to measureable results

� Be prepared to analyze the data


3. Keep Current Assets Safe!

�  ID what’s been working on current site �  Most viewed/more shared content �  Best performing keywords

� Now, protect that content! �  Use “301 Redirects” �  Keep it where it is


4. Analyze The Competition

�  Visually review your competitor’s sites �  Aesthetically, how are things looking? �  Functionally, what’s happening out there? �  What do you like/dislike?

�  Use tools like HubSpot’s “Marketing Grader”

�  Goal is not to copy, but to improve

�  Create an Action List: areas you can improve


5. Identity Unique Value Proposition

�  Immediately answer your visitor’s question, “Does this site have what I need?”

� Convey quickly why they should stay

� Be clear and ‘human’ with your language �  Not flowery or technical

� YOU define how the world communicates with your site


6. Design Around Personas

� Your site is NOT about you �  It is about your BEST customer(s)

� Determine who that is, then segment by demographics (age, sex, location, industry, interest)

�  Identify their needs, problems, desires � Develop behavior-based profiles


7. Optimize for Search

�  Do some keyword research to establish target keywords �  For entire site �  For individual pages

�  Include keywords in all the important areas �  “Header” tags (h1, h2, h3) �  “Title” tags (text on top of browser window) �  “Meta Description” tags (invisible to users,

crawled by search engines) �  Throughout content


8. Identify & Include Calls to Action

�  Drive visitors to take an action

�  Offering FREE content or services is a great motivator �  E-books, whitepapers, contests, free shipping,

email newsletters, free trial or consultation

�  The ultimate goal is for your new visitor to

engage with your site and share their information with you


9. Create an Ongoing Content Strategy

�  Include a BLOG on your new site �  A 100 page website will outrank a 10 page

website 95% of the time!

� Utilize Press Releases & In The News pieces

� Consider outsourcing/purchasing content


10. Include the Extras

� Blog

� Promotion-specific Landing Pages

� RSS Feed (subscribe to blog updates)

� Share Buttons!

� Analytics


Truly Good Summary

�  Can’t afford to do all 10 (money/time)? �  No worries! You can still attain website redesign Nirvana.

Just focus on… �  Establishing clear goals �  Identifying and protecting current assets �  Identifying and clearly presenting your UVP � Optimizing for search (site wide) �  Identifying and including CTAs � BLOG, BLOG, BLOG

For more information & resources visit trulygood.com/more


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10 steps to a successful website redesign - Truly Good Design