The following is a post from Courtney Duane, TIG Global Project Manager.
In a recent post, TIG Global Project Manager Alison Russell-Quindlen provided some helpful insider tips to ease the process of updating your website. This can be a stressful initiative, but by asking yourself a few key questions about the goals you hope to achieve, and with a little help from the pros, you can make the transition much smoother and more enjoyable. For this second installation of tips, we called upon seasoned TIG Global Project Manager Courtney Duane, to provide her top list of factors to consider before embarking on the redesign process.
- Study the competition. Who is in your competitive set? What are they doing with their websites? It’s important to know what your competitors are doing to attract business and how they are doing it. And most importantly, is their strategy working? There might be some good ideas out there that you can learn from and build on.
- Set a budget. It’s important to set a budget at the beginning of the project so that you can begin to set expectations for the website and estimate what you can get for the money you are willing and able to spend. A $10,000 website is going to be very different than a $50,000 website. Once you’ve established a budget, you can begin to identify the must-haves and then determine creative uses for the remainder of your budget. After you’ve established which items are essential, and which are expendable, you are more likely to stay within your budget.
- Know your audience. What types of customers are you trying to attract? What types of customers do you currently attract? It’s important to know your audience to ensure that your website is appealing to the customers who have an interest in staying at your property. Knowing who your target audience is can also help to make difficult decisions easier in the redesign process. Ask yourself if the design elements you are considering will appeal to your target customer. If so, then you have probably made a good choice. If you have any second thoughts that an element you are considering might alienate your desired customer set, then it is best to avoid that path. For example, if you are a family-friendly resort in Miami, it would be beneficial to show pictures of families enjoying your on-site amenities, as opposed to photos of couples on their honeymoon.
- Manage internal expectations (for initial launch vs phased launches). Everyone wants the best site possible for launch, but it often takes a phased approach to reach your desired end result. Many unexpected factors can play into deliverable limitations, ranging from unexpected budgetary or scheduling issues, to internal conflicts regarding the direction of the design. Things happen and timing isn’t always perfect when coordinating multiple efforts and groups, so keep in mind that a phased approach can work wonders for relieving pressures and giving a little breathing room in the redesign process.
- Keep the lines of communication open. It’s important to keep your vendors up-to-date and aware of any new decisions that are made by your internal team as they are happening. If you are considering major changes, it may even be a good idea to give the full team a heads-up about the decision that you’re planning to make, prior to decision time. The faster your whole team is aware of new and developing information, the faster they can react to it and fit any potential changes into the project plan.
Looking to ramp up your website design and marketing strategy? TIG Global offers award-winning design and a full suite of interactive marketing tools. Click here to learn more, or give us a call at 301-841-4700.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
On point one, Study the Competition, I would go a step further. Look for “best practice” examples regardless of where they are. Merely duplicating what your competition is doing will not provide a competitive advantage as your competition is likely to be constantly improving their site. Best practices can come from anywhere, I have seen them in small town CVB sites as well as country level international sites.
On point two, I would add that choice of your software platform will be a major factor in what you get. Open Source Content Management Systems, such as JOOMLA, should be considered.
Completely agree with Jack on considering open source solutions. I’ve seen so many DMOs (including my own) get stuck with a vendor because the cost to change from their proprietary system was too prohibitive.
Knowing the audience and designing ur site in sync with it makes you noteworthy.