Digitalword believes all great websites start with a solid architectural blueprint before even moving onto the design and development phase of the project …no matter if you’re creating a site for the first time or initiating a redesign for the third. Websites typically have a shelf-life of three to five years, so if you’re going to have one, you might as well plan for a site that has the capacity to evolve over time in support of the content publishing requirements of your organization.

Is there a project or initiative that may be in the planning stages but not ready to post on the website? Are you hoping to be able to incorporate how-to videos or podcasts on the site in the near future?

Many people get caught up in the design of the website without really thinking about the overall website strategy. At Digitalword, we encourage all clients to do their due diligence prior to even starting the web design phase. A pre-design approach can be as intensive as interviewing key company stakeholders and end-clients to find out what content, tasks, and engagement strategies should be accounted for when creating the website structure; or, for simpler websites, researching competitors’ websites for an idea of positioning and messaging.

This exploratory phase can reveal a lot about how a company sees itself vs. how others perceive it, and can help uncover inconsistencies in actual business operations vs. those which might be communicated online.

During a recent exploratory phase, one of our clients revealed that they no longer considered two of their service offerings as separate and distinct and were, over the next year, moving to consolidate both under one umbrella.

However, meetings with key stakeholders who weren’t “in the know” about this new structure revealed that they still regarded each as being a separate brand. This potential issue needed to be resolved offline before determining how to communicate and structure the website online. There’s a big difference – both in design and content requirements – between only one parent level navigation item …and two!

Had we not asked questions about the future direction of the company and its initiatives, the website would have launched based on “today’s” requirements outlined by those who were in charge of the website, but not in charge of the strategic direction for the organization. This very common scenario would have set them up for the very real potential of an annual redesign. Ironically, a reactionary web strategy that the client had already been using (rather unsuccessfully) for the past five years!

So while it may seem obvious that a website should start with an overall strategy to define its purpose and content requirements, most companies still start with the design and work backwards. Creating a website strategy blueprint using information architecture best practices in site mapping and wireframing can save you time and money in the long run. After all, it’s a lot easier to discuss a website “on paper” with the key members of your organization than it is to wait until it has been designed and coded only to discover missing or erroneous information.

A website strategy blueprint is not only critical to the design and content direction of the website …but serves as an essential springboard for discussion with the key stakeholders and decisions makers of your organization.