• by Elizabeth Torrie Zwaryczuk , March 10, 2006

Whether changing the design, updating a global brand, or reinvigorating a marketing program, a site relaunch is often a recurring major project on a marketer's to-do list.

In fact, many marketers look at the task of reinventing a Web site with tremendous hesitation. Much like tearing down a house to replace it with another, the thought of working with designers, developers and architects can seem overwhelming. Luckily, some basic planning and consideration can alleviate much of this anxiety. Here are some pitfalls you should avoid.

No goal. Understanding why you want and need to redesign your site will help guide many of the decisions you'll make during the process. By carefully defining the goals of the new site, such as whether it should generate XX percent more leads or XX percent revenue, you'll gain a better understanding of how to measure the success of the project and how it can be improved through traditional benchmark analysis.

It's also vital to consider what your customers are trying to achieve on your site, and to optimize your site "real estate" to help customers get where they need to go in just a few clicks. Consider establishing a panel of consumers willing to test the site and provide feedback while it's under development.

Combining content with design. To ensure that the look and feel of your site will meet or exceed expectations, it's important to separate presentation layer code from content. This will enable you to quickly adjust the site layout without disturbing the copy.

A Web Content Management solution provides the ideal platform for change. Use it to establish a consistent navigation and design that can be easily adjusted. If you use Flash, make sure it can be easily updated. Establish a plan for a feedback loop with a cross departmental team and a Web analytics program. Your site should allow for the current or future use of blogs, RSS, and wikis to capture and publish content.

Content updates take too long. Marketing staffers are looking for ways to engage and dialogue with customers on the Web. That's a challenge if it takes weeks to publish content updates such as an article or white paper. Don't route all content updates through IT; it's likely IT folks have more productive ways to spend their time. Marketers want to, and should be able to, easily update site content, especially if you are looking to integrate a blog into the site.

The content dump. Don't deposit all the content from your old site into the new one. Instead, use Web analytics to determine the most-read content and, based on feedback from customers, add more of what they've requested. Once you have this data, you can develop more targeted, contextually relevant content.Add the most relevant content into the new site first. Before it's published, all new content should be checked for compliancywith Section 508 accessibility standards, and for spelling mistakes, broken links and missing graphics. Lastly, make sure all this content fits within your own branding, style and PR standards.

Search engine optimization. Thinking about how you market your site before and during the re-launch process will save you time and energy. Consistently check all new content for your SEO key phrases and, if possible, add SEO as a step into your content creation process. Search engines are a different audience than your customers, so you'll want to follow all your SEO best practices, and new content should be examined to see that it fits within your SEO strategy. If you are making heavy structural changes to your site, consider the use of redirects to help search engines understand where pages have been moved.