Top Reasons New Website Projects Go Bad

Here at RED66 Marketing, we have the opportunity to work on many website projects throughout the year. There are few things we love more than taking a client’s story, products and information and turning it all into a (website) hub for their business.

Top Website Design Mistakes

That said, we’ve definitely heard some horror stories from clients about past projects gone bad, and we've learned some of these lessons along the way too. If you’ve ever been a part of a website design and development project, you’re familiar with the challenges you may encounter.

Let’s take a look at what commonly goes wrong during website projects to make sure we avoid these pains in the future!

 1. Only The Design is Updated

When your website has been out there for a couple of years, you may think it’s time for a refresh. It’s not often about just the look of a website – but the content in it as well.

While the design is certainly an important part of every website development project, when you get hung up only on how it looks, you find yourself not paying attention to important details like content, URL structure and SEO elements that may also be due for a refresh.

 2. Your New Marketing Hire Thinks It Should Be Updated, But They Didn’t Play a Role in Development

If marketing managers or leaders change often within your organization, and they demanded a website update, you wouldn’t have much time to optimize and measure the performance of a website that changes as frequently as the seasons.

In fact, 38% of marketing managers said they planned to leave their jobs last year! Marketing is a fast-paced environment, but that doesn’t mean your website needs to change with each addition of a marketing employee.

Tip: make sure your website development company provides instructions or an editing guide, so that as people transition through your organization you will still have everything you need to pass that knowledge along.

 3. There is No One Specifically Assigned to Write the Content

We see this one all the time. If you’re not making your website project a priority, the content will either take too long or simply never be finished, and your great ideas will never be realized.

Make sure you’re both proactive and responsible when it comes to tackling a new website and creating new, fresh content.

 4. No Clear Timeline or Deadline(s) is Established

Raise your hand if you’ve had a website project last 6 months or longer… We’ve all had the one-month requests (eeek!), but the opposite isn’t any better. Leaving things wholly open-ended merely ensures that the project drags on. Remember that what gets measured, what has a deadline, gets done.

Depending on the size and scope of your website, a good estimate is about 12 to 18 weeks (3 to 4 months). Now, custom development and other things could impact this significantly.

 5. You’re Unsure Where Your Current Website is Hosted, and you Don’t Know Who Has Control of the Domain

Who IS in charge of this thing anyway?! Someone is. And someone definitely should be. A marketing tool this integral to your business’s success should be handled with care. If you don’t treat it as an asset, it can’t be one. Not knowing can create some vulnerabilities or slow down the launch of your new site.

Make sure you have a list of where your domain is registered, when it renews, where your site is hosted and your MX records for email as well.

Looking for Help with Your New Website Design & Development?

If you need some more inspiration or other things to consider when looking at a new website project, check out our blog Three Things to Do Before You Design a New Website.

And as always, feel free to reach out with any questions you might have. We’re just a click away!

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