1. DEFINE YOUR PURPOSE FOR THE SITE AND THE TARGET AUDIENCE.

What are you going to sell online and who is your target audience? Your design, navigation, and content should be driven by a purpose that aligns with your audience and their goals

2. MOBILE FIRST.

Mobile devices continue to climb year-over-year, indicating that more users are searching while on the go. Plus, with Google’s latest algorithm, your site must be mobile-friendly or it will get punished through lower search results.

3. CHECK OUT THE COMPETITION.

The best way to get inspired is to pretend you are shopping online. Gather crucial information on the competitor websites, websites in other industries, or even your favourite brand’s websites. A few minutes of searching can inspire new directions or innovative ways to showcase tired content.

4. INVESTMENT MONEY & TIME.

The number one challenge businesses face in rebuilding a website is not devoting enough time to it to make it successful. Your investment of time should be equal to your monetary investment. Images, Videos and Social Media Accounts all take time. It is never too early to have content and research ready. 

5. STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD.

Don’t be afraid to do something different from your competition. Your website is your face to the world. Why not stand out from the crowd with something totally different than your industry? Something that works in a different industry might work in yours.

6. AGREE A TIMELINE WITH REALISTIC DEADLINES.

Keep in mind that you will be driving the project in terms of making final decisions, delivering content, and providing overall direction to your website development team. Be clear, be fair, be flexible, and be realistic when reporting back to your team. 

7. BE FLEXIBLE.

A good website is always changing. New content is added based on user feedback or fresh articles provided to encourage new conversations. Understand that designing a website isn’t something you do once and forget about, it is a successful ongoing process.

8. CONTENT IS KING.

Good content is key to attracting and keeping visitors on your website. Google ranks every website in the world and your content is one of the main ways google matches search terms with your search results. Your website should always be answering the client’s questions. 

9. SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

Google is the most widely used search engine used in Ireland and therefore very important for sending traffic to your new website. Google Algorithm ranks all websites with many different factors, so it is very important to optimise your website during and after the development. Some key factors are; good content, speed, mobile friendly and good navigation but there are many more.

10. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS.

Place Google Analytics on your website and look at the numbers to measure your success in attracting traffic to the website. You can also see where the traffic is coming from, what are they looking at on the website and most importantly, how many are converting into sale.

• Ie; 1000 visitors per month. Measure if this is up or down on last month numbers.
• Do your visitors stay long on the website finding the right info – what page do they visit?
• The average time spent and ‘Bounce rate’ % . Do your  visitor bounce off the site because they were looking for some different than you offer or they can find what they are looking from? What search terms did they find you with?
• Where they viewing the site on mobile or desktop devices? What location are they come from Ireland – Dublin – USA – China? By mapping all these numbers you can start to see trends to help improve your Digital Strategy and website. Set goals from the start and measure success.

If you would like help with any or all of the above please contact ITM Digital on 045 409984 or info@wordpress-834370-3148838.cloudwaysapps.com. ITM Digital – Helping business achieve their online goals.