Updating your website can be a daunting task, but following a few best practices can mean the difference between a smooth experience and one filled with headaches and added expenses.
With over 16 years of experience in building websites, we’ve seen common missteps time and time again—whether it’s proceeding without a clear strategy, miscommunication, or choosing an inexperienced vendor. Our goal is always to help make the process as seamless as possible for our clients. Here are six best practices to follow when updating your website, which will save you time and money in the long run.
1. Be Strategic
Before making changes to your website, consider how they will affect other aspects of your site and the overall user experience. Taking the time to strategically evaluate the pros and cons ahead of time will help to ensure any modifications enhance the site rather than inadvertently create new problems. Assess the potential impact on user paths, brand integrity, SEO, site traffic, and functionality.
2. Communication is Key
Establishing trust and consistent, clear communication with a web agency is a two-way street where the ultimate goal should be to make your website the best it can be. Making sure both parties are aligned before changes are made can help save time, avoid misunderstandings, and prevent costly fixes.
3. Invest Appropriately
Sometimes, spending the money to do something correctly the first time is the most cost-effective approach. Cutting corners may save money initially, but the cost of fixing those mistakes can far exceed the initial investment. Convincing stakeholders to allocate appropriate budgets for quality work is essential in avoiding an ever-evolving project with revisions and redos.
4. Choose Wisely
When engaging third-party vendors to work on your website, ensure they truly understand your site’s intricacies, tools used, and the overall tech environment. Inexperienced vendors can cause damage to your brand and or site functionality.
5. Do No Harm
Websites require careful handling. Attempting to add copy/paste code from a Google search or adding an untested plug-in can have disastrous results. Follow the guidelines provided by your web management team for updates, and stay away from unfamiliar areas on the administrative side. Using a staging environment for testing changes is a great way to ensure your updates will not have a negative effect on site integrity or performance.
6. Test. Test. Test.
Quality Assurance (QA) is crucial to maintaining and protecting your brand equity. Encourage your team and any third-party vendors to perform thorough QA checks before each update is published. Having a few key team members review will help catch mistakes before they affect your website’s performance or user experience.
Ready to update your website?
We manage and improve websites for clients everyday. If you have any questions, ask us for help at info@peaktwo.com.