Website Design - Starting All Over

While many of the software companies I speak with are just a few tweaks away from a vastly improved website, there are also plenty of companies in need of wholesale changes. It's very hard to know where to even begin when it appears that their website has been simply pieced together over time. It's even harder to actually tell them this.

So where to begin? As always, ask yourself what the goal of your website is? For almost every software company I speak with the goal is to convert web visitors into leads. Then ask yourself, how can I entice visitors to give us their contact details so we can follow up with them? Free trial? Free consultation?

Then with these questions in mind, consider all of the content pieces that you would like to include in your website and ask yourself how they fit in with your goals. This will help you to understand the emphasis you should place on each as well as navigation paths that you will want to build into your website.

Also, check out this article on web design written by Susannah Ross. It's a decent read.

Remember, if you have decided to start over, you have already made the most important step - realizing that your site is...well, awful.