Define and prioritize your site’s needs for smooth website migration 

Replatforming your website is less of an option these days and is quickly becoming more of a requirement. It’s time to reevaluate your website, especially if your company is looking to target a new generation of shoppers or has begun to feel growing pains from an increase in sales.  Use these tips to define and prioritize your website’s needs to better manage your business’s expectations and budget.

Top 6 Items to Consider For Re-platforming Your Site

What do you like about your current website?

It might be the theme, your company brand, or areas of the functionality that work for you. For instance, your company’s brand image may be well-established and your site is easy to find by new consumers. List everything you can think of. The more specific the better.

Current limitations and negative feedback

Are you having an issue with keeping consumers on your site? Is your current e-commerce solution too small to handle your growing product line? Constructive criticism is a key element in developing a new, more efficient platform. If we can’t define what doesn’t work, we cannot fix it.

Projected business growth

Where do you expect your company to be in the next 5 to 10 years? A new site might address your needs of today, but a well designed site anticipates your business’s needs for the future and works to make sure you’re accommodated. Often, clients outgrow their current web hosting environment and need a new, more robust and often customized server solution.

Who’s the boss? It’s not Tony

It’s important to consider the internal channels of operation for your site once it’s up and running. Will your company have one main administrator or will there be a team? What is the experience level of this person(s)? You don’t want to have to call your developer for every price or personnel adjustment to the site. It clogs up response time and causes you and your boss frustration and potential loss in revenue. A well designed website empowers your company to be able to handle day-to-day changes without needing your web developer on speed dial.

How does your site measure up?

There is an enormous amount of information that a developer can provide you. Metrics can be provided for how long customers stay on your site, what pages they click, how long they linger, new user sign-up percentages, etc. However, this information doesn’t do any good unless you can interpret it into functional data. You’re busy enough and need metrics that tell you what you need to know in an easy to read and digestible format. Customized metric reports can be incorporated into your new platform once your goals have been defined.

Site security requirements

Identity theft is a huge issue. Your business and its clients need to know their online presence is protected. Many clients we serve are in healthcare  and store their clients’ personal information online. Also, many clients store user profiles on their site for network affiliates. You’ll need to discuss with your developer what security concerns you may have and make sure your new site is able to protect both your business and your clients’ information.

Wrap Up

It’s time to talk to a developer now that you have a head start!

Want to know more? Leave your comments and questions below.