How to refresh your website within budget and on schedule? Four practical tips.

Inbound marketing ensures that you attract new customers by offering relevant content at every stage of their purchasing process. A website that meets the visitor's expectations is a must in this regard. As online marketing becomes more of a focus, we often see that redesigning the existing website is a logical consequence. This doesn't have to be a daunting task if you use the following four tips.

1. Put the customer first

To develop a new style website, it is important to build it around the needs of your target audience.

The customer should be at the centre - not your product or service. If you want to generate leads through your website, it needs to address pains and questions, provide answers, and offer solutions. Think of engaging content, effective follow-ups, and logical call-to-actions.

Our advice is - as with any marketing activity - to start from a buyer persona. This way, you know exactly who your (potential) customer is and what they are craving.

2. Go live within two months

The average marketer gets excited at the idea of refreshing the existing website, but the path to doing so often causes stress. Revamping a website is known to be a budget and time consumer. Websites are generally never delivered on time and always cost more than budgeted. And let’s not even mention all the colleagues who get involved...

This is unnecessary if you work using the go & row method. You can be live with a site that is better than your previous one within two months and stays well within budget, leaving you with funds for further development of your site based on practical insights.

3. Think big - start small

Our belief - based on experience - is to start small and clearly and work in sub-projects. Your new website should fundamentally be at least better than the existing one. Therefore, always start with the basic question of what is minimally needed for that. List these functionalities and note the rest on your wishlist - which you can park for later. Develop this basis together with your web developer and marketing team in a project plan and timeline. Given the clear structure, the path to going live is well paved.

4. Develop based on data

Once the basics are launched, you can start measuring and analysing this and engage in conversations with customers and prospects about it. This provides a wealth of new practical insights. Conclusions that you might not have considered when you started the redesign. From now on, you'll work on small, manageable projects that visitors are really eager for. Consider a blog section, pillar page, or next-level content, such as an online calculator tool.

You quickly liaise with your web team, who is capable of delivering and launching quickly. You make adjustments and work on the next project. This is a fantastic way of working, as your site remains dynamic. The organisation sees that something is happening and changing, especially as you present your findings with great enthusiasm along the way!

A practical example

I see too many lengthy web projects in practice, due to setting almost unattainable goals. For instance, a client recently wanted to go live only after twenty customer cases were published on the new site. A monumental task and an extremely delaying factor - while the rest was already solidly in place. Our advice was to go live without the cases and to tackle the development and publication of the cases as a sub-project. These reference reports have now become part of the online marketing strategy. Every reference case delivered is published and communicated online. The site was delivered according to budget and schedule, and it remains in the spotlight online by regularly posting new content.

I advocate for shorter web projects rather than long ones. This keeps all stakeholders enthusiastic and allows you to develop based on what you learn in practice. You also keep budget left over for further developing your website based on your online marketing strategy.

My advice: go live quickly with a 'small' website and work step by step towards a larger platform that puts the customer at its centre. This way, you always work within the timeline and budget. Without headaches and frustration. Need help with this? Request a free consultation.