My Checklist To Help You Redesign (or Build) Your Website

A compilation of ideas and thinking I have formulated regarding design, content development, and structure from primarily reading and studying:

• Marcus Sheridan’s They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer,
• Donald Miller’s Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen,
• Spencer Powell’s The Remodeler Marketing Blueprint: How to Attract Quality Leads, Increase Sales, and Dominate Your Competition
• and other materials and sources found on the web.

Number 1: Is Your Current Website Responsive?

“Responsive Web design is the approach that suggests that design and development should respond to the user’s behavior and environment based on screen size, platform and orientation.” — Smashing Magazine-Guidelines for Responsive Web Design 

Nearly 60 percent of all Online Searches are now carried out on a mobile device, a phone,  with some business sectors like Food, Beverage and Restuarant reaching an even higher percentage. Before you make a beautiful looking website for desktop and laptop computer viewers you have to make your site work for users on a phone.

To see if your current website is responsive take the Google Mobile Friendly Test now!

Number 2: “Define What Your Why Is.”

Simon Sinek’s “Start with Why” concept is centered around the idea that successful individuals and organizations should begin by clearly articulating their underlying purpose or “why” before focusing on the “what” and “how” of their actions. In his TED Talk and subsequent work, Sinek emphasizes that people are more motivated and engaged when they understand the deeper reason behind what they’re doing. He uses examples like Apple to illustrate how leading with the “why” can inspire loyalty and drive action. The core message is that by identifying and communicating the fundamental reason for one’s actions, they can more effectively inspire others and achieve their goals. — Simon Sinek | Start with WHY to inspire action — Simon Sinek | Start with WHY

Number 3: Define 3 Goals For What You Want Your Business To Achieve With Your New Website

Number 4: Research Other Websites For Inspiration

Number 5: Plan and Map Out Your Audience and User Experience:

• Identify target audience personas and their needs.
• Map out user journeys and flow for key tasks on the website.
• Create a sitemap to organize the website structure logically.

Number 6: Plan Out Your Content Strategy:

• Audit and analyze existing content for relevance and quality. Looks for areas where you existing content can be built on and improved
• Develop a plan for new or updated content, including text, images, videos, etc. and begin collecting the reference materials.

The way SEO works with Google (and Google is over 90% of the search engine market) is you should be providing information on your website that you want to be found for and then those Google Search Engine crawlers are going to crawl your site and then serve them up in thier search engine results page so think about what you want to be found for and write about it,…passionately.

As Spencer Powell writes in his book The Remodeler Marketing Blueprint Chapter 3: “Create Content That Matters to Your Customer”

Number 7: Develop a Design and Branding Strategy:

Define a cohesive visual identity (colors, typography, imagery) that aligns with your brand. Think about what you put on every page that people will then identify that page as representing your company both experientlally and visually. 

Number 8: Write For The People You Plan To Have Reading Your Content

This seems simple but many SEO thinking writers write like they are talking to a Google Search algorithym. Write for people not for search engines. You are writing to answer the questions that people ask Google so answer them in real people-speak not language like your are talking to a search engine algorithm. (Marcus Sheridan — They Ask, You Answer: A Revolutionary Approach to Inbound Sales, Content Marketing, and Today’s Digital Consumer)

Number 9: Develop Your Interface Design (Your UI)

• Develop a clean and intuitive interface that facilitates user interactions.
• Pay attention to navigation menus, buttons, forms, and calls to action.

Number 10: Test For Useability & Accessibility:

• Ensure the website follows accessibility guidelines (WCAG) for users with disabilities.
• Test the website using accessibility tools and consider screen readers, keyboard navigation, etc.

Number 11: Work On SEO and Content Optimization:

• Optimize on-page SEO elements, including meta tags, headers, and URLs.
• Plan 301 redirects for old URLs to maintain SEO rankings.

Numbeer 12: Optimize For Performance and Speed

• Optimize images and other media for faster loading times.
• Minimize server response times and use caching techniques.

Number 13: Cross Device and Cross Browser Testing

• Develop the website using best coding practices and frameworks.
• Regularly test the website across different browsers and devices for compatibility.
• I typically begin development on my local computer (an big screen iMac where I have all my tools by setting a version of your project using Local the best local WordPress development tool.
• Once the website is roughed out to an acceptalbe point I publish a “Preview” edition of the site as a subdomain using an obscure coded name so it satys out of public view but so all of your business’s contributors can look at it and comment on it.
• Once the “Preview” version of you project is posted in private subdomanin we conduct usability testing with real users to identify potential issues.
• Gather feedback and make necessary adjustments based on user input.

Number 14: Conduct Migration and Launch:

• Transfer content from the old website to the new one.
• Set up redirects from old URLs to new URLs to prevent broken links.
• Perform final quality checks before launching the new website.

Number 15: Conduct Post-Launch Activities:

• Monitor website analytics to track performance and user behavior.
• Address any issues that arise after the launch.
• Plan for ongoing maintenance and updates.

Number 16: Provide Training and Documentation:

• Provide training to relevant team members on managing and updating the new website.
• Create documentation for future reference, including style guides and design principles.

Some Sample Web Design Projects