Websites: It’s All About Process and Planning (Part 2)

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In the last post I talked about website first impressions. And then I talked about strategy and planning. As I’ve said before I’ve been through several redesigns.

So, here is my draft list of very basic steps to take when you want to start a redesign. Also, it’s circular, so you can start in the middle, or toward the end, and then move back to the beginning.

I’m trying to design a cool chart that shows this off, but for now, I’ve just got some text.

But now is the time to let me know what I’ve missed, or if you have any ideas for me when I develop this chart, or infographic. I would very much appreciate some feedback here.

I’m thinking of trying to segment different pieces of the process. So for example, a question that looks at a technical aspect would appear in a square, or a task that looks at a design piece would appear in a triangle.

I look forward to your thoughts below or via email.

  1. First, ask. Who needs to be part of this?
  2. What are your goals? How do they align with the organization? Secure internal buy-in. Also, start setting date deadlines.
  3. Do you need to hire outside specialists? Depending on who you are in the organization, interview web staff.
  4. Begin to rework content strategy if needed. Do you know your audience? Develop personas. Also, content strategy, at this stage, needs to look at a content overhaul — what pages need to be rewritten, deleted, etc.
  5. Interview stakeholders. Also, start content audit.
  6. Research your competition.
  7. Information architecture / user experience / site map / wire frames. Also, start design. Also, define content strategy or develop new one.
  8. Create mockups. Also, define content management system (CMS) requirements and decide on CMS. Also, set up dev platform. Also, start migration.
  9. Finish content overhaul and other parts of content strategy.
  10. Start building requirements into CMS. Also, finish any pieces of design left. Also, figure out who needs to be trained on new CMS and train them (if applicable).
  11. Finish migration.
  12. Test, retest CMS. Also, implement content strategy. Also, have all stakeholders review their web sections.
  13. Launch Alpha.
  14. Launch Beta. Also, continue to work on and implement bug fixes and content strategy.
  15. Promote.
  16. Evaluate process and website.
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First Impressions Count; Yes, I’m Talking About Websites (Part 1)

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When you look at a new website, it’s similar to meeting someone for the first time. First impressions count, right, even if you can overcome them with a lot of work later? But with so many websites competing for readers’ attention, it’s a lot harder to get that chance for a second impression.

What reaction do you want your readers to have: a smirk, eyes rolling, or yes, it could be eyes widening in delight? A website is the public face of your organization, and while you’ll never see visitors making those faces, you and your organization will feel the effects of them.

A website shows an organization’s brand, its personality, who it is to their customers or supporters. Some websites shout loudly but don’t have much to say, but I tend to think far too many websites whisper quietly, and get lost in the conversation online.

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Tyler Riewer’s Adventures With charity: water

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Tyler Riewer collects water with a 14-year-old girl. (Photo credit: charity: water) http://www.charitywater.org/journey

Tyler Riewer collects water with a 14-year-old girl in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. (Photo credit: charity: water)

I’m in the process of writing a series of blogs about nonprofits doing storytelling well. In my last blog post in December (if you read my newsletter, you’ll know that I took a couple of months off to focus on my fiction writing) I wrote about charity: water.

In that post, I included two awesome stories that just happened to be by Tyler Riewer. So, of course, I looked him up, along with his background. I wanted to find out more about this guy who did such a great job with storytelling. Well, turns out, there’s a great deal to tell. So that’s what I’m going to do.

The story begins like this: once upon a time there was…no, scratch that. Let’s just start with, there is “the charming and wonderful world of tyler riewer.” And the highlights include a link to a series of videos where host Tyler takes you on a trip to Ethiopia to showcase some of charity: water’s work, information about his year-long hobby adventure (p.s. you can join), a video inspiring people to get to know their neighbors, plus creepy mustache photos, photos of recent acting gigs, and links to a couple of secret clubs.

But let’s start off by talking about “The Journey.”

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