When you have made the decision to have a website designed for your firm—or even if you have an existing site—having a solid strategy for your website design can help you stay on track, ensuring your site tells the story you envision. If you have actually worked with all those involved and have determined a web design strategy that you can easily articulate and write down on paper, then you will have no doubts that everyone is on the same page once you begin implementing that plan. Of course as your site evolves, this web design strategy may change, however you will always need to be able to put that strategy down on paper and have all key players agree to its implementation. Don’t have a clue how to best articulate your design strategy? Below you will find some tips for doing just that. Your design strategy doesn’t have to be a fifty-page dissertation, rather just a couple of well-defined pages.
- First and foremost, what is the purpose of your site, or why does it exist. You should be able to write the purpose of your site, or its goal, in three to four succinct sentences. You want every person in your firm to be able not only to remember the goal but to repeat it if necessary, therefore it should be highly strategic, short, and to the point.
- Second, put down on your paper a side-by-side analysis of all your problems and their potential solutions. In other words, perhaps your website has had its struggles with redundant content. That’s your problem, so you must now define a workable solution, which could be something as simple as choosing a highly experienced legal web writer who can provide authoritative content, or blocking out the time to write your own content.
- Work hard at developing your brand, and consider using your tagline to further that goal. Your tagline is your firm’s opportunity to tie everything together with a phrase your potential clients will find highly memorable. Brainstorming with others in your firm can lead to an exceptional tagline that will help your brand come together and solidify for your readers.
- Do you have a clear view of who your firm’s audience is? Consider writing up a “profile” of your average visitor as well as another of the visitors you would like to attract in the future. Use your analytics program to determine where visitors go on your site as well as what they are searching for, and bend your web design to fit these needs and preferences.
- Define your tasks then prioritize them. Once you’ve clearly defined your target audience, consider what content and services your site offers them and ask yourself if that content and those services are fully meeting your user’s needs. Whether you are talking about editorial content or instructional content see what the majority of your readers are looking at then add new, fresh content in that area and retire the content that doesn’t appear to be working.
Further Benefits of a Web Design Strategy
A clearly defined web design strategy can provide an historical reference point for your entire site, and supports accountability since all the elements of your design become traceable. A web design strategy ensures everyone involved is on the same page and that your business tactics are a result of strategy rather than a gut reaction. Once you’ve stated your web design strategy, you can essentially quit talking about it, allowing you to get down to the job at hand and prioritize the workload. Your web design strategy can actually tell a compelling story of what your site will accomplish and why it matters, leading you straight into success.
