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We’re pretty pleased with our new website. It launched when we rebranded as Neo a few months back. Since then it’s won five awards and several new clients.

Every business is judged by its web presence, which means that your company website needs to be flawless. The beginning of a new year is the ideal time to assess your current site. Is it as good as it could be? Does it accurately reflect the standard of service that your agency offers? Online trends evolve rapidly, so even a site that’s only a few years old can start to feel stale.

Redesigning a website is a big financial investment, but one that will definitely pay off. Anybody who deals with your company is going to run a quick credibility check by Googling your business, and a clunky site will lose potential customers fast. Trust us; when we were on the hunt for web designers to redo our old site, we culled a lot of businesses simply because we didn’t like their websites (imagine being a web designer whose own website didn’t win you business…)

So if redesigning your company website is on your 2017 to-do list, here’s where to start the process.

Every business is judged by its web presence, which means that your company website needs to be flawless.

Get help from the professionals

We can’t stress this enough – don’t hire your neighbour’s son’s best mate/ self-taught coder to have a crack at your professional website. Likewise, don’t jump on oDesk and hire a $5-an-hour freelancer to handle the job. These are choices you will regret. When it comes to designing a website, you really do get what you pay for. It’s worth meeting with a few firms to discuss your requirements, view portfolios and get a sense of what services each can offer. Trying to save money could cost you a lot in the long run.

Assess your current site

What works and what doesn’t? It’s also important to have a clear idea of how customers are using your site currently. When our new site launched, the CampaignTrack login moved from the top of the home page to the bottom. We thought our clients were logging in directly through the CampaignTrack site. Turns out we were wrong, and the design change caused a lot of confusion. You want your site to wow people, not cause them to have a mini-meltdown because they need to order an emergency brochure and can’t figure out how to do it.  

The user experience is crucial. A customer should never have to scramble to find what they need. A great design and development team can provide advice on best practice.

Check out the competition

To build the best site possible, you need to understand what other companies are doing. It’s worth taking a close look at competitor websites and thinking honestly about how yours compares.

But don’t limit your research to only direct competitors – look at amazing, cutting-edge sites from other industries too and think about the trends, functionality, and design elements that might work for your business. It’s worth going through this list with your design and development team to demonstrate where your thinking is.

Develop a clear brief

Once you’ve assessed your current website and looked at other great sites, you can sit down and develop a solid brief outlining the direction your new site needs to take. Be sure to make a list of the things it must have, in terms of information, contact details, login screens, search functions, and more.

Allow enough time

As much as you might want a flashy new site as soon as possible, accept that getting it right will take a certain amount of time. Rushing to launch something too quickly can backfire. Unless your current site is so terrible it’s actually losing you business, dedicate a decent block of time – we’re talking months, not weeks – to getting the new site 100% right.

Test early, test often

The developer should be able to provide you with a test site prior to launch. Test it thoroughly by checking all the links and playing around with it on as many browsers and devices as you possibly can to ensure it works seamlessly on each and every platform.

Ask for opinions

It’s worth asking a few trusted end users to test the site before the official launch and give their feedback, too. Since it’s your site, it’s easy to get caught up in small details that may not  matter so much to those who come to your site purely to research property listings. Likewise, a regular user may have requirements or ideas that haven’t occurred to you. It’s worth taking these on board where possible.

Have you had experience designing a new professional website recently?