The four steps to (re)building a website

November 07, 2020

Over the years, I have built a fair number of websites. Perhaps the most common question I hear is, “what exactly is the process of (re)building a website?”. This is a tough one to answer because it is different every time and it depends on a ton of variables. I like simple, so I’ve stripped it back. It comes down to 4 steps.

1. Answer the question, “why are we (re)building a website?”
2. Determine the approach you will use to (re)build the website
3. Assemble the team
4. Build the website based on the plans established in steps 1 – 3

Step one –
Answer the question, “why are we (re)building a website?”.

The answer here will vary widely, but we can apply a common standard. Before starting the website build, we want to establish good reasons for doing it. These bedrock reasons will lead to clearly defined goals that will facilitate a successful website build. Here are some examples of good reasons to (re)build a website.

• We do not have a website and our marketing plan includes a digital marketing approach that requires a website.
• Our website is hard to update, and because of that, it does not reflect the accurate and up-to-date information that is crucial to our business.
• Our current website is a basic brochure and does not demonstrate our capabilities, our value proposition, and/or our unique differentiators.
• Customers have specifically complained that our website is slow to load, confusing in nature, and hard to use.
• Our website was not built with universal accessibility. We are concerned about alienating users and violating ADA compliance.

These issues are well-defined. Each can have associated and clearly defined ways to correct them. Most importantly, these are problems a new website can fix. Conversely, I often hear watered-down reasons or ones that are larger business problems. Here are examples of answers that indicate more work needs to be done.

• Sales/business is slow. “Business X” is doing better than we are.
• We want to add a new product-service bundle.
• We don’t like our website.

While these are things to work on, they are too vague, cannot be solved simply with a new website, or both. If you have business problems to solve, a new website might be a part of the solution, but it is not the solution.

• If business is slow, or if you think someone else is doing better than you, look at your overall marketing strategy. A website is not a magic bullet.
• If you want to add a new product-service bundle … do it. It will take a bit of tinkering to get things like value proposition and pricing correct. Rather than spin your wheels developing a product and building a website; develop the product-service bundle first. I can’t tell you the number of times I have watched clients try to figure out a product-service bundle while trying to build a website to sell that item. It is painstaking to watch and a waste of everyone’s time.
• “Not liking” something is broad and very hard to solve without key specifics. Do more work to document what you do not like and, most importantly, why you do not like it.

A final thought on deciding the whys: use the MoSCoW method. This simple process will help you drive at what is truly important and greatly increase the likelihood of a successful website (re)build.

Step two –
Determine the approach you will use to (re)build the website.

This may sound overwhelming and really complicated but it is not. All you need is a basic roadmap that shows where you are and where you want to be. Keep it simple. Create a basic inventory of digital assets, how much you plan to change those assets, and if you are hiring a resource to address/handle those assets.

Sidebar – A common mistake is to throw the baby out with the bathwater and to start from scratch. I warn against this because, at some point, you liked what you had. Rather than starting from scratch, make a list of what you have and how much you want to alter it. This method saves an incredible amount of time. Don’t reinvent the wheel.

For each category (Digital Marketing Strategy, SEO, Copy, Visual Elements, Design, and Programming), make a quick note if you have something, have nothing, and if you plan to purchase anything. *Note, there are various places, like the Envato Market (themeforest, codecanyon, graphicriver, etc), where you can purchase all kinds of marketing assets.

It is OK to double dip here, saying, “we have something, but we also plan on buying something”. The goal is to make a quick inventory of the assets you have (or don’t), and the ones you plan on purchasing. Think outside-of-the box and consider assets beyond your website or even non-digital assets. If you have brochures, coupons, or any marketing items, include them. Gather up any and all assets you have and place them in a repository.

Also, a common knee-jerk reaction is to say, “we don’t have anything”, especially if you do not have a current website. Take some time to consider all of your marketing and sales materials. If you truly have no assets, I would suggest two things. 1. You are not ready for a website because you have more/other work to do first. 2. Buy a bunch of assets on the cheap and understand that you are going to throw them away in 6-12 months.

Secondly, you need to note how much you plan to change these assets. You can think of it as a happiness indicator. 0 means you think the assets are perfect and do not want them changed at all. 5 indicates you hate the assets and want them completely re-done.

If you have double-dipped in the asset column, double-dip here too. Indicate how much you want to change the assets you have as well as the ones you plan on buying. You do not need to know the exact asset you plan to purchase but it is good to plan how much (or little) you will want to change those purchased items. In other words, you need to plan now if you are going to try to buy something near perfect, or simply buy something close.

Lastly, make a note indicating if you plan to address the changes in-house or if you are hiring a resource to address the changes. SEO, for example, is a place many folks avoid an external resource. That is a fine choice, but it does not mean this aspect of the build can be skipped whole-hog.

This may not seem like much, but it is all you need. The simple matrix documents a deceptively complicated approach. This will become clear as you assemble the team.

Step three –
Assemble the team

Once you have your basic approach documented, you need to gather up a team. It is important to share your approach matrix, share your assets, and to have a lot of discussions prior to hiring anyone. What you have, how you plan to change it, and who is going to do the work, all play into a complicated formula. You need to ensure that all the components work together.

This complication is essentially the reason firms and agencies exist. They already have a team in place that they know will work well together. Well, they do in theory. Spoiler alert! Firms and agencies often assemble a team from contractors like me. If you engage with an agency it is important to ask if the team is made up of W2 employees, 1099 contractors, or a mix of both. Also, ask how many projects this specific team has done together.

I can’t overstate how common it is that agencies leverage 1099 contractors that have never worked together before. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but you need to understand what you are bargaining for. I suggest you really press the exact employment status of the team members prior to hiring an agency. You would be amazed at how deceptive agencies are in regard to “their staff” or “their team”. Agencies like the idea of having employees but it is incredibly common to only use 1099 contractors. The difference is immense and for many, many reasons.

Assuming you are going to assemble a team yourself, you need to have various conversations and set good expectations. The approach matrix will do a lot of that work for you. As you speak to potential contractors, they will give you details about what you have, and you should include these notes on your approach matrix. They will also give you feedback on how you can move from what you have to what you want. Include these notes in the matrix as well. As you build a team and trade ideas, the approach matrix will flesh out based on the team’s experience and expertise. Eventually, you will have a solid team and a solid plan.

Keep in mind, the overall approach will determine the team, the team will determine the approach specifics. It is a flywheel effect that gains tremendous momentum but starts with even the most basic approach matrix. Here are 3 examples.

1. You have no website but have good marketing materials. This means that you probably want to buy a design, via an off-the-shelf theme. Then you’ll write copy based on your current marketing messaging but fit the word count to the design. You just need to find someone who can take the selected theme, your website copy, and assemble them into a website. Easy peasy.

2. You have a website that you want to refine, with a 2/5 change-level across the board. You ask developers to look at the site, and one of them mentions, the site is built with the Divi theme (or Avada, Enfold, or another common off-the-shelf theme). Because you only want to make small adjustments, your best bet is to find a resource that designs and builds websites via that specific (and common) solution. You can probably offer the changes to copy yourself. The design and programming processes will be intertwined and done by one person. Conversely, hiring a developer like me (who writes code from scratch), a designer (to create a whole new design), and a copywriter (to craft new messaging) would not be a good fit. This second team is expensive/overkill/poorly suited to the task. Knowing who not to hire is key.

3. You have a website you want to change 4/5 on design, copy, and functionality. You need to find a team capable of pulling off such a major overhaul. As a team, you all would decide the order for copy generation, design creation, and website programming. Programming is typically last, and often copy (messaging) would come first. Sometimes the design comes first, and the copywriter would “write to fit the design”. The specifics, however, come down to the exact team and how they prefer to work. The key is, make sure everyone is aware of the plan and that it works for them.

In a lot of ways, there is no right or wrong approach. The specifics of your assets, your needs, and the resources you find will come together in a plan. I can’t stress enough though, have a complete plan before you hire anyone or start “doing” anything.

Step Four –
Build the website based on the plans established in steps 1 – 3.

This may sound obvious but following the plan you created is really important. I can’t tell you the number of times I have been brought in for A, B and C, only to do X, Y and Z. All that planning is for naught if you do not follow the plan.

My one caveat is that I am an agile developer. I leverage the Agile Manifesto with a very heavy hand. I value responding to change over following a plan. Customer collaboration is far more powerful than contract negotiation. The plan is not set in stone. We probably will come up with new and better ideas as things progress. These kinds of changes are perfectly fine.

The question becomes, “how do we know when we are straying too far from the plan?”. My answer lies in the Unified Process. I use the Unified Process to create estimates and as a general guide for projects. Under this method, you spend 10% of your time/effort on Inception and an additional 22% on Elaboration. This means that nearly one-third of a project is planning, and comes prior to “doing” anything. If you have not spent this amount of time/effort planning, you probably do not have a solid plan, and you probably will stray from what you have.

This begs the question, “How do we know if we have spent 32% of our time and effort planning?”. You can “back-of-a-napkin math” this one and reverse engineer it.

Let’s suppose you spent two days planning your new website. That is roughly 16 hours and leaves 32 hours to complete the project. That is more than possible for a simple site with an off-the-shelf design/theme. That is, however, far too little for a fully custom website with new messaging and a new design. This second project would probably have something like 2 weeks of planning (80 hours) and an additional 4 weeks (160 hours) of work to complete it.

This is all ballpark math, and that is fine. The idea is to get an idea of if you have done enough planning or not. Take the time you have already spent, and extrapolate the time allotted to build the new site. The allotted time usually makes it pretty clear if you have under-planned. The allotted time just won’t seem reasonable.

Last thought here, if it feels like you are straying from the plan, stop and re-evaluate. Go back to your approach matrix and think about what is happening. Sometimes deviation from the plan is good and other times it is wasteful.

Conclusion

While I understand this “simple” 4-step process is not at all what it claims to be, I hope it brings clarity. A website (re)build is complicated, but it is not a big bad monster to be feared. Taken one step at a time, with the proper structure, and the proper planning, it is really not complicated at all. Each piece is basic and manageable. Each step brings us closer to our destination.

If you are considering a website (re)build and are not sure how to move forward, give me a shout. I am always happy to help, even if it is just a nickel’s worth of free advice.