It really is time to get a new website isn't it? Your old one has not been updated in three years and it's starting to look kind of stale.
So you make the decision to move forward with a new website.
Let's imagine for a minute that you've learned some lessons with your first website.
You learned that you should not attempt to create it yourself.
After all, you've got more important business activities than this.
You also learned you shouldn't trust the future of your business in the hands of your neighbor's kid or your niece, as techno-geek as they might be.
You've decided to hire a reputable website design firm.
You've met with your design team.
They understand your needs.
You understand their work flow, the costs that are ahead, and the expected timeline.
Congratulations.
Your project is under way.
Now, the big question...
When will your new site be finished? Go ahead, jot down an answer, I'll wait...
OK, do you have your answer? You don't have to share it with anyone, not even me.
But take a look at it now.
Do you have the right answer? There is only one right answer.
That is, "never.
" If you said your site will never be finished give yourself a pat on the back! What you most need to understand is that websites are dynamic, living, changing things.
Some people grasp that parts of a website should change over time, things like news should be updated regularly.
But I'm going beyond that.
I'm talking about other parts of your site that most people consider static.
So how is it that I would suggest that the static parts of your site are never finished? Maybe you're thinking that I might have gone off the deep end.
Maybe I should take a vacation, get some well-needed rest.
OK.
Perhaps it is time to start making sense instead of just asking more crazy questions.
Most likely you fit into one of two different website development mentalities...
The first group holds the opinion that the website will be at its best, closest to perfect, at the time it is first published.
This is the widest held opinion and it makes a lot of sense.
After all, you've paid a lot of good money to get the website developed.
The design is beautiful, all the links work, and it's filled with great information.
You've even got a content management system so that some things can be changed over time.
With all the work that went into it, the site is awesome.
And except for a few minor issues that can be fixed later, it's perfect! Now it's time to start cashing in.
Or so you think...
The second group is closely related to the first, but they're actually perfectionists, so they believe that those few minor issues have to be fixed before the website is published.
They don't want anyone to see anything less than absolute perfection in their website.
The trouble with this group is that they continue to find and fix imperfections or they stall out not knowing what to do.
Ultimately their website sits, invisible to the public, for months or years.
Both of these groups actually have it wrong though.
The attitude should be to get the site published sooner rather than later.
There is a point where it is good enough, better than nothing, but it will never, ever, ever be perfect.
But only when it's out in the public eye can it start on its journey toward perfection.
Once the site is published then the real work begins.
Coming up with the design and how it is supposed to function is good stuff, but it's not the heavy lifting.
The real work involves measuring and improving upon the website's conversion.
In other words, how well does the site convert visitors to customers? Unless it converts 100%, it is not a perfect site.
There is always room for improvement.
When your site is published, the test phase begins.
Until that point the site is "living" in an ideal state of someone's creative mind.
After being published, its impact can be measured.
The day the site is published should be the day it performs worst, the day that is most distant from perfection.
There is no end to testing.
That's why I say that your site is never finished.
You should always be testing and measuring, measuring and testing.
Comparing this headline to that headline, this photo against that photo, this call-to-action against that call-to-action.
Ultimately, you are trying to discover which elements produce higher conversion rates.
Every time you find an improvement your site performs better, and the next test begins.
Your website is never finished.
If you're doing it right, it's always being tested for improvements.
Next week it performs better than this week.
Next month, it's better than this month.
Next year...
you'll be blowing away the competition because they thought their site was perfect when it was launched.