Even in the most urgent cases, building a new website should never occur in isolation. While making all key decisions on your own will undoubtedly speed up the time to your new internet presence, it can also lead to trouble down the road. In addition, involving other individuals or departments within your organization will mean multiple viewpoints, which in turn generally leads to a better finished product. So without further ado, here are 4 stakeholders that should be in your decision making group when you build a new website.
Above all, your website is a marketing and sales tool. Design it right, and it will help to convince potential customers about the benefits of your products or services, while simultaneously generating a plethora of leads for your sales team. As a result, individuals from both departments should be intimately involved in the website build.
Depending on the size of your company, you may not have a separate marketing and sales team. Either way, finding and including the person in charge of both departments enables you to build a website that actively functions to help grow your business through a steady stream of new customers.
While a fruitful partnership with your web development company should be a given, your IT department will at some part take ownership of your website. If something goes wrong, they'll be in charge of finding out what happened and how to fix it.
Involving at least one member of your IT team in the development process achieves two goals. First, you can be sure that you don't take on a project that your IT department can't handle on an ongoing basis. In addition, your IT department will feel involved in the process, which makes them more likely to take ownership and work on the fix if server, code, or UX issues appear.
Make no mistake: your new website will not only help you further your online pieces, but also act as a prestige piece for your company. It will be the first place that both potential customers and potential investors visit, which means that it should be consistent with the larger vision for your company.
No one knows that larger vision better than the president of your company. They will be able to help you take creative and functional directions that add to, not detract from your organization's mission and vision. In addition, not including them can be dangerous down the road, especially if they don't like the final product.
Similar to your company's president, the board of directors or at least one of its members should also be involved in the website's decision making group. For both of these last two groups, however, be careful not to involve them in granular or low-level discussions. They will care more about the larger design and planning milestone, on your way to creating a website that resonates with everyone.
Finding the right balance within your website redesign decision making group is crucial. You don't want to make choices in isolation, but you also cannot form a group that is too large to easily find consensus. At least one representative from each of the above your departments helps you design a website that will function well, both as a marketing/sales tool and from a larger company vision perspective.
Once you've narrowed down your core group, it's time to find a partner that can help you reach your digital goals with a new website. When you're at that point, contact us! We'd love to have a conversation with you about your needs and goals, and how we can help you solve and achieve them.