You’ve finally got the budget to redesign your association’s website. Now what? You know that redesigning a website takes money and time and you need to do it right.
Avoid these 3 common pitfalls
No plan or goals
You’d be surprised how many associations come to us for redesign help without a clear plan or goals. They know they need an updated look and modern functionality, but beyond that, they have no plan. Determining a clear plan that outlines required functionality and features that you need will help reduce the chance of a surprise that comes late in the process. These surprises often result in going over budget and not meeting deadlines.
Takeaway: Think about what a successful site looks like. Identify three key performance indicators (KPIs) that allow you to measure your success.
No one is in charge
Most associations are run by a committee or a board of directors. This is common practice in the association world. Now, while this management technique may work in other aspects of your association, it won’t work in a website redesign. With over 20 years experience redesigning websites, we don’t recommend it.
Think about it like this – you send out an important email regarding the redesign. You have a few questions, need to assign to-dos to a group and discuss timeline. Yet, because your message went to a group rather than individual, no one takes responsibility. Everyone is waiting for the next person to respond. There is no team leader. We see this kind of problem a lot. There are too many “cooks in the kitchen” as we’d call it. For a successful redesign, your team needs to be prompt in their responses. Failing to quickly respond can quickly derail a project’s timeline and budget.
Takeaway – Appoint one person to lead your website redesign project. They will be the key contact and call the shots.
Design-only approach
We all want your new website to look fresh, modern and appealing to users. However, when you focus too much on the look of your site rather than the functionality and content, you risk confusing members and deterring them from your site. It’s easy to get caught up in how beautiful your site is and feel the need to make small, frequent changes during the process. Do your best to resist this urge. When we start making changes without following a set plan, you may end up with a site that really doesn’t serve your goals.
If you’re working with a professional designer, trust them. They’re educated in user-friendly design techniques and know what they’re doing. Lean on their expertise.
Takeaway – Trust your designer.
We know a website redesign can be a huge undertaking. It’s can be stressful, overwhelming and expensive. Here at AMO, we do our best to create a plan that works within your timeline and budget. Our team will be there for you along the way. If you need a completely custom design, check out our parent company, ArcStone, who specializes in custom build websites.
