In today’s article, I would like to explain what causes an outdated website, and to make improvement suggestions for both you and your developer.
As a Web Developer, I have learned that every website needs to be built with the future in mind. Your online presence needs to constantly evolve, keeping pace with your growing business.
An all too common scenario between a developer and client is this: a website gets designed and built, and then everyone walks away.
As time moves forward however, new ways to engage your customers are constantly evolving, and your website needs to keep pace.
Maybe your business plan is shifting, and you want to sell more of one thing and less of another. Perhaps you want to capture more of your market by customizing your customer’s experience. Either way, think of your website as a dynamic and flexible tool, ready to grow and change in-line with business needs.
For developers, I suggest you organize your files in a consistent manner so that when you make an update it will take less brain power to remember how you might attempt your integration. In addition, fully document your CSS, PHP and JavaScript for future points of reference.
Moreover, building all your front-end files and planning all your naming conversions in a consistent and easy to follow scheme will make a tremendous difference.
As a business owner, I recommended keeping in constant contact with your marketing company. If doing the marketing on your own, study your website’s traffic (Analytical Data), and understand what areas are performing better than others while working on plans to enhance lagging areas for a better return on investment.
Building a website is not like publishing an expensive advertisement in the Yellow Phone Book. It should be considered an extension of your marketing plan, and if implemented correctly, it will actually help your business grow.
Since joining this agency just over three months ago, I notice I become excited with every update we provide our clients. Watching these new additions perform, and working with a team to discuss how we can better our efforts on a weekly, daily, and sometimes hourly, basis is highly rewarding.
This is an example of the type of relationship your web presence must have if you wish to fully maximize your performance.
This concludes today’s discussion. I recommend reading my previous article, Reasonably Responsive, which introduces two popular Responsive Frameworks for Rockstar Developers.
As always, thanks for reading!
