Here’s How to Make The Project Feel Less Daunting

If you’re thinking about developing a website for your new business or redesigning your current website, you might have some worries or concerns. You might already be feeling overwhelmed with potential options or be worrying about how you’ll make time to dedicate to the project.

This is completely normal. A lot goes into designing a new website or redesigning an existing one, but there are a few key ways to make the process much less stressful. Here are some of the most common hesitations I hear when talking to prospective clients about website development and how our team helps calm these concerns.

Hesitation #1: “We Already Have As Much Work As We Can Do”

Your website should generate leads for your business, so it’s typical to de-prioritize improving or redesigning it when business is good.

But, your website isn’t only about lead generation. It’s also your presence in the world. It’s the digital representation of your brand. It’s how people know you. Visiting your website could be the first (and potentially only) experience a person has with you. So having an aesthetically pleasing website that is easy to navigate and works on both desktop and mobile is important at all times.

Plus, business can change at any moment. Since the pandemic, we’re all painfully aware of how drastically things can change nearly overnight. But even outside of the global health crisis, nothing is guaranteed forever. Your biggest customer could change directions or face a challenge and suddenly need to end their relationship with you.

If your website isn’t working for you at that point, you’ll need to take the time to redesign and rebuild it then–all the while losing potential revenue. So, don’t let the concern of “too much work” let you put aside a necessary website rebuild for too long. It’s an investment in your brand presence and an investment in your company’s future growth.

Hesitation #2: “We Don’t Have Time to Spend on Building a New Website”

I completely understand this concern, especially for smaller businesses. Deciding on the design and content for a new website does take time and energy. But, there are a few ways to make it much less daunting and ultimately way more doable, especially for smaller teams.

Pick a Theme

The first suggestion I have for people who are preparing to build a new website or know they need to redesign their current website is to look at using a theme. You come up with your list of requirements and then go through themes that can meet your requirements. Website themes determine all design components: page layouts, backgrounds, colour palettes, headers and footers, positioning, sizing, and typography. The process is much less overwhelming because then you just need to decide if you like the style of a specific theme versus making decisions for every single element on your website.

Go Page By Page

This is a simple suggestion, but often when I make it, I hear an audible sigh of relief from the clients we work with. You don’t need to overhaul your entire website at once. Instead, go page by page. If your website is on WordPress you can change the theme and the look and feel of your website will change across all pages. You can then tackle the content as you have time.

This is actually how we updated our own 14 Oranges website. We started with the homepage and then made our way through the whole site. You’ll still want to make yourself a timeline for the overall project, but breaking the content updates required down by page is much less overwhelming. Plus, you can schedule each page’s update around other time commitments you and your team may have.

Maybe You Only Need a Website Refresh

When we meet with potential clients about a website redesign or rebuild, sometimes we actually find out that the website’s foundation is solid–it has a modern theme and is already mobile responsive.

Instead of a full overhaul and rebuild, we suggest a website refresh for these types of clients. For example, we often see that a website’s homepage isn’t well organized. Too many things have been added in a “Christmas-tree style” which is overwhelming for the user because they don’t know where to find what they need.

During a website refresh, we can work with you to get really clear on what your requirements are and what your goals are for your website. We’ll then reorganize your homepage so the menu is clear and your customers take the journey you intend for them when they land on your website.

Sometimes, simple changes that don’t require a huge time investment from your or your team, can make a big impact.

If you’re about to have a website designed or redesigned, know that having some worries is totally normal. Both activities are investments of your time and money–I would actually worry that you weren’t taking the process seriously enough if you didn’t have at least some concerns.

The team at 14 Oranges is happy to walk you through our processes and answer any questions you have so you feel confident before jumping into a web design or mobile app development project. Reach out to see how we can help.

Sylvain Marcotte is CEO and President of 14 Oranges.