Things To Consider When Creating a New Website

Creating a new website can often feel like a daunting task, so many questions to answer with no absolute answers for any of them. Whether you’re redesigning an existing site to bring it more up to date and address issues, or starting from a blank slate, it can be a real challenge knowing which ideas to keep, where to get inspiration from, and how to strike that perfect middle point between visually appealing neatness and covering all the necessary information. That’s where we can help, here’s a list of top things to keep in mind when you’re putting together everything you need.

What to keep? What to lose?
If you’re replacing an existing site, one important question is how much of the old should be carried across to the new. Content is the obvious first question, you have to keep a balance of ensuring you have up-to-date, accurate information, with the concerns of maintaining the SEO score your old website has built up. When considering this challenge, it’s always best to err on the side of caution; using your old content as a starting point where possible and making edits to fix mistakes, remove out-of-date info and incorporate your new focus can be the best way to ensure a solid continuity. This can also apply to other aspects as well; if previous clients know your brand for its bright blue colour scheme, then carrying this across into a more modern aesthetic can help provide a solid throughline for the updates and help your new site feel like an evolution rather than a replacement.

How much is too much?
It can be tempting to use a new site to put down every idea you have all at once, though sometimes that can lead to a site that’s very confusing to navigate. Generally speaking, people like to get to the information they’re looking for as quickly as possible. This means your key services, your pricing and your contact information should be accessible with just a click or two of the mouse. The navigation menu is a great demonstration of this; putting your phone number and email address at the top will mean anyone looking to take the next step with your business will never have to go looking, and a neatly organised menu ensures people always know where they’re going, with dropdown sub-menus helping to keep things flowing in a sensible way. If you’re an e-commerce business, consider adding a search bar or pop-out menu to the header; alongside well-titled products and categories, you can make sure that people who know what they want from you will always have easy access at their fingertips, while new customers can browse the store’s catalogue in a more traditional, category-based layout.

Bells and whistles
It can be hard to figure out exactly which added functionality you’ll need. Many websites Content Management Systems (CMS) like WordPress and Shopify offer a core functionality that’s augmented with plugins/apps. If you’re making a WordPress site, for example, systems like blog creation and page layouts can be done by default, but other important features will have to be added. Contact forms? Ecommerce functionality? A page builder to create more elaborate layouts? All these things will need a plugin to facilitate, and while many are free, some specific functionality may require a paid plugin. It’s important to consider exactly the functionality you want before you start setting up the website to ensure you don’t get surprised later on.

Setting up a website can get very complicated very quickly, but hopefully these tips help you organise your action plan a little better to ensure a smoother process. Interested in learning more about our website creation services? Read about our lead generation websites, or ecommerce websites and see if we can help you create the perfect website for your business.