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A successful web project — starts with one goal

Finding the purpose of your website can be tricky. There are often thousands of wishes, thoughts and ideas when you start a project. That’s why we’ve put together three tips on what you can think about to achieve your website's goals and make your project a success.

12 May 2022

Elin Lindkvist

Customer Success at Sitevision

You are about to start a web project. Does it feel fun, exciting, difficult or necessary? There are often thousands of thoughts and concerns that arise before a project starts. One of the most important is why you and your organisation are starting this change. Is it because you and your colleagues are tired of hearing how bad the current web is? This is a common argument that also makes things a bit more difficult.

The idea is reactive and it will reflect the whole work. A reactive approach often contributes to the goal of the new website being to solve all the problems you have today, and that all visitors must love the new website from the first visit, otherwise the project has failed. This sets sky-high ambitions that can create stress in any project.

Tip #1: Business objectives are website objectives

Instead, look at the website as a business system to support a business that looks different today than it did a few years ago. It often becomes easier to define the purpose of the website. It also makes it easier to set reasonable expectations for both the project and the new website.

Most of us find change difficult. It is common for many to question anything new. Therefore, do not promise that the new website will solve all your problems. Also acknowledge that the change will require an effort. Focus on explaining what the change will be in everyday life for the individual employee. Tell them that six months after the launch, employees won't have to do that tedious administrative task or receive fewer questions about things the web can solve. Because that’s where we find the goal. What in your business do you want to change or improve? How can the website support this work? That’s the goal of the site.

For instance:

Customer service is overloaded with questions about the company’s opening hours and contact details. The goal of the website is to reduce the number of emails and phone calls to customer service on these issues.

Tip #2: Make the strategy clear to everyone

When there is a goal for the website, it is important to make the strategy for achieving the goal clear to the entire organisation. The strategy should identify your website’s target audience and the choices you have made. This means that the strategy also needs to include who the website is not for and what needs the website should not solve.

The website should generally contain only what the target audience wants. This means that we answer the most common questions and avoid posting information because it might be useful to have or know. Of course, there may be other questions you need to answer and other information that your organisation needs to share, but we need to recognise that the website is not always the channel.

For instance:

Building on the customer service example, this can mean sharpening the website and making it easy for many to solve their own requests. This means providing current phone numbers and opening hours. This means not writing why customer service has these opening hours. By defining what is available on the website, you create better conditions for the majority of your visitors to find answers to their questions and solve their problems. This in turn creates space for customer service to devote more time to the minority of cases where the website is not sufficient. Instead of answering questions that the customer should and often would like to be able to solve on their own.

Tip #3: Let the people in charge lead the work

The most important thing about changing a business is, after all, the people. Let those who are actually familiar with and currently working on the website take the lead. A project to change the business cannot happen on the sidelines. Employees must understand at an early stage what the idea of the new website is, how their work will change and what is expected of them. In this way, you create engaged employees who want to be part of the change.

One way to do this is to prioritise staff time to work on the new website. Get started with content work early in the project. Because this is usually what actually affects employees. Working with the new website is often a journey of change, more than writing text in a new way, and it takes time. Developing the website technically and in terms of content in parallel gives you the opportunity to test the website and discover what works and what doesn't. This will create the best possible conditions for the launch.

Good luck!