Blog | 12 May 2022
A successful web project – starts with a goal
Finding the purpose of your website can be tricky. Often there are thousands of wishes, thoughts and ideas when you start the project. That's why we've put together three tips on what you can think about to find the purpose of your website and which can help you carry out a successful web project.
You are about to start a web project. Is it fun, exciting, difficult or necessary? Often, there are a thousand thoughts and concerns that come up before the project start. One of the most important is why you and your organisation are starting this change. Is it because you and your colleagues are tired of hearing how bad the current web is? This is a common argument that also causes a lot of problems.
The idea is reactive and it will reflect on the whole work. A reactive approach often means that the goal of the new website will be to solve all the problems you have today and that all visitors must love the new website from the first visit or the project has failed. It sets sky-high ambitions that can create stress in any project.
Tip 1: The business goal is the website goal
If you instead see the website as a business system that should support a business that looks different today than it did a few years ago. It is often easier to define the purpose of the website. It also makes it easier to set reasonable expectations for both the project and the new website.
Most of us find change difficult. It is common for people to question something new. So don't promise that the new website will solve all your problems. Also recognise that the change will require an effort. Focus on explaining what the change will be in the everyday life of the individual employee. Tell them that in six months after the launch, employees will not have to do that annoying administrative task or have fewer questions about things the web can solve. Because that's where we find the goal. What in your business do you want to change or improve? How can the website support you in that effort? That is the goal of the website.
Examples
Customer services are overloaded with questions about opening hours and contact details. The aim of the website will be to reduce the number of emails and phone calls to customer services on these issues.
Tip 2: Make the strategy clear to everyone
Once there is a goal for the website, it is important to make it clear to the whole organisation what the strategy to achieve that goal is. The strategy should state who your website's target audiences are and what choices you have made. This means that the strategy also needs to include who the website is not for and what needs the website will not solve.
In most cases, the website should only contain what the target audience wants. This means answering the most common questions and avoiding putting information out there because it might be useful to have or for information purposes. Of course, there may be other questions you need to answer and other information your organisation needs to share, but we need to recognise that the website is not always the channel.
Example
To build on the customer service example, this could mean spicing up the website and making it easy for many people to resolve their queries. This means presenting current phone numbers and opening hours. It means not writing why customer service has those opening hours. By limiting what is on the website, you create better conditions for the majority of your visitors to be able to find answers to their questions and solve their cases. This in turn frees up your customer service team to spend more time on the minority of cases where the website is not sufficient. Instead of answering questions that the customer should and often would like to solve on their own.
Tip 3: Let those in the know lead the way
At the end of the day, the most important part of changing a business is the people. Let the people who actually know and work with the website today be involved and lead the work. A project to change the business cannot happen on the side. Employees need to understand early on what the new website is about, how their work will change and what is expected of them. This way you will create engaged employees who want to be part of the change.
One way to do this is to prioritise your staff's time to work on the new website. Start the content work early in the project. Because that's usually what actually affects employees. Working on the new website is often a journey of change, more than writing text in a new way, and it takes time. Developing the website technically and content-wise in parallel gives you the opportunity to test the website and capture what works and what doesn't. In this way, you create the best possible conditions for the launch.
Good luck to you!
