A Successful Website Begins and Ends With You!

So you’ve signed on the dotted line and it’s official, Spinutech is designing or redesigning (speaking of which, here are 5 signs it's time for a redesign) your website. Your work here is done, right? Wrong!

...you will still have numerous responsibilities which are critically important to the success of your site.

At Spinutech, we utilize a time-tested design and development process which allows us to bring your new site from idea all the way to launch and beyond as efficiently as possible. While you have hired our experts to do the bulk of the “heavy lifting,” you will still have numerous responsibilities which are critically important to the success of your site.

No One Knows You Like You

Before we put pen to paper or hand to mouse, we must fully understand your business. What exactly do you do and/or sell (products, services, etc.); to whom are you selling (your audience); and what are your goals for the site (inform, sell, etc.). No one knows your business better than you, so we will lean heavily on you to provide this important information. These details are gathered via questionnaires, face-to-face meetings, and numerous phone calls. We do a tremendous amount of research about you, your products, your industry and more, but you are our greatest source of information.

Content is King

Content is one of the most important components of your site. Shortly after the initial kickoff meeting is when you should begin (if you haven’t already started) creating content for your site. Content can include anything from general information about your company and people to product details and photos. We rarely, if ever, recommend that a client keep website content exactly the same. A redesign is your opportunity to evaluate your current content to determine what is working and what isn't. We can help you evaluate and make decisions along the way. The amount of involvement in this process is determined up front - so if you need more assistance in this area we need to identify that early on to keep the schedule intact.

...you can never start developing your content too early!

If you have an existing site and the content is current and well-done, you’re already in a great spot. If not, content creation will likely be THE single most time-consuming and challenging part of the process for you. Being that it is also your most important responsibility, you can never start developing your content too early!

Review and Approve

Throughout the design and development process, we will have numerous touch points with you. Your review and approval will be required after each phase, including:

• Outline
• Design - check out some of the design trends we saw in 2017
• HTML
• Development
• Pre-launch

Your full attention and participation in these reviews and approvals are critical so we are able to keep the project on schedule and, more importantly, ensure it’s satisfying your needs and goals.

Locked and Loaded

If your site is developed with our Spinternet content management system, the final step prior to site launch is loading all of the content you’ve created and/or gathered during the previous steps. This part of the process has proven to be the number one schedule killer as, more often than not, the client has not heeded our warnings to create content early, or they don’t have the people in place to migrate the content. While we do have solutions for both of these challenges, if they’re not addressed earlier in the process, it’s very difficult to remain on schedule by this point.

Need writing assistance? We can help. We have several on-staff writers who can help with your content. Let us know as early as you can if you want writing to be part of your redesign with Spinutech.

The Takeaway

If you remember only one thing from this post, it should be this: YOU are the most important piece in the puzzle that is your new website. At Spinutech, we take great pride in developing long-term relationships with our clients, and there’s no better way to do that than working hand-in-hand every step of the way. While it can be daunting and sometimes overwhelming, investing your time and effort up front will pay dividends in the end.

YOU are the most important piece in the puzzle that is your new website.

Bonus: Have you been considering a redesign? If so, here are 5 ways to make your website redesign successful. For those of you without a website, these tips apply equally to website newbies!