At your office, someone may only be available to answer the phones from 8 to 5. An effective website, on the other hand, works for you 24-7. And for potential customers hesitant to pick up the phone, they can check you out with a certain level of anonymity that a phone call can’t deliver.

So, if you think about it this way, your website is one heck of an employee, and what do you do with your high achievers? You invest in developing and giving them the tools they need to achieve their greatest capacity.

But many companies don’t see their websites as living, evolving assets. After having them designed, built, and launched, too many businesses neglect to invest in meaningful updates that drive engagement and more positive outcomes.

There are two main stages in the life of a website, each with three key aspects. Simple enough, right? Let’s break it down.

Pre-launch stage

Design

Attention spans are short these days. That’s why your website must be laid out and designed to catch the eyes of potential customers in a matter of moments—all while making important information easy to locate. If it doesn’t happen, you’ll pay for it in the long run (and maybe even immediately.) Also, consider your branding in the design phase. An elegant design might be perfect for a fashion line, but way off base if you’re selling oil-field equipment.

Functionality

What do you need from your website? Is it just a type of marketing collateral where potential customers can learn about your business? Or is it somewhere your customers can make important interactions, like making a purchase or downloading a white paper? This is something that needs to be communicated with your web developers before the site is built so they can incorporate the critical features you need.

Content

Without content, your website is nothing but a clean slate. Before launching it, you need to create things like blogs, videos, captivating photos, key information about your offerings, your team, your company’s story and more. Much like the design phase, your content should be based on a carefully crafted branding strategy to convey the right message to your potential customers, regardless of where they are in their buying journey.

So, you’ve launched that on paper, is an effective website. And initially, it’s having the desired effect. It’s increasing meaningful leads, helping you spread awareness about your business, and making a difference in your bottom line.

Unfortunately, this won’t last long without phase two—the post-launch.

Post launch stage

Design

Now it’s time to test the effectiveness of your design, and a great way to do that is by using heat-mapping software. Heat mapping will show where you’re getting the most clicks on your website, and equally important, it also shows where people aren’t clicking. A common example is that many people will see the top portion of their website is active, while sometimes virtually nobody clicks below the fold. If your most important information is at the bottom, some design changes are in order.

Functionality

The question here is whether your website has all of the features it needs. Maybe you’re not getting enough phone calls from your initial design, or you’ve started a social media campaign and want to drive visitors from your website to those platforms. If a lack of calls is your problem, there are features you can add allowing people to dial you directly with a click from their computer or mobile device. On the social media side, something as simple as adding icons may increase followers.

Content

This is another instance where data is your friend. If you’re going to create content, you need to know if it’s resonating with your audience, generating clicks and engagement, and even leading to sales. There are several programs out there that can help you measure the effectiveness of your content, and if you find things you’re creating aren’t working, you’ll need to re-consider your strategy. It doesn’t mean your thinking is misguided, it just means you have room—and the tools—for improvement.

Simply building a website is no longer enough. If you want it to work for you long-term, you need to make regular updates to its design, functionality, and content. Give people a reason to continue visiting your website, or pretty soon they may turn to a competitor for what they’re looking for.

Need some help on either the pre- or post-launch phases of your own effective website? Let us know!