Your website is NEVER finished!

Your website is NEVER finished!

Just a line I have been using with business owners recently and that will certainly be featuring in *The #BIG100 Experience this October. Over the last 15 years (I am sure you can imagine) the building of a new or the replacement of an old website has often featured in my coaching work with clients.

Almost without exception, each and every website I have seen committed to has been delivered LATE – Sometimes by as much as 18 months late!!! Even companies with “in-house” developers are delivering months and months late. The primary reason sighted for these late launches. “It’s not ready yet”. 

Well here’s the news – Your website will NEVER be truly ready, and it will certainly NEVER be finished. The day your website is launched is the day your work truly STARTS. I am sure all you web-devs are licking your lips right now at the prospect of a run of new work. 😊

I like to think of websites as High Street retail outlets. When you open a new store, you must add new stock, replace old stock regularly, generate great offers, change the window display and dust down those shelves every week in order to attract your prospects and customers in. The same really does apply to your website. Albeit in a virtual sense.

So, I recommend a completely different approach and mindset to getting a website launched. Recognise the clock is ticking as you really must act and deliver quickly in the modern business world we live in today. So, speed of delivery must take a priority when considering a website build project, something is better than nothing right? A few tips.

  • What is the minimum I need in order to get this live without a negative compromise? Functionality over content.
  •  Is the template or design I am using scalable and expandable?
  • Is my web developer capable of delivering within the time scales I have set?
  • Will I be able to create the ongoing content myself (or in house) once it is live?
  • If not, is my web developer committed to the ongoing program of development, content updates and additions?
  • Have I budgeted for the ongoing development of my website.
  • Do I have a clear road map of updates, additions and new content laid out for the next twelve months?

So often I see business owners who commit to building their websites, get it live to then simply walk away. They wait five years and then refresh the site with the latest technology or trending platforms whilst retaining their old images and copy. Go back to my retail outlet analogy and imagine opening a shop and leaving it without changes for five years, then moving to new premises with your old stock…

So, in summary – Your website is never finished! Project plan, budget and build your website based on getting it live asap and then have a schedule of ongoing updates planned for at least the next twelve months. Think of it as a retail shop and work towards STARTING the process of building it once you are open and it goes live.

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