Website Strategy

• What are the unit’s business objectives for this web project? Clearly define what the website aims to achieve, such as increasing brand awareness, generating leads, driving donations or providing support. For example: “The college website redesign will make it easier for prospective students to find information about programs and how to apply.”
• What are specific goals and key performance indicators, or KPIs, related to unit objectives that can be measured? For example, “Our unit plans to track clicks on the ‘Apply Now’ button, clicks on program information pages, etc.” 

• Who needs to be involved in this project and to what degree? Assign RACI or DACI roles, if helpful. The RACI framework notes which individuals are responsible, accountable, consulted or informed for each element of the project. The DACI framework is similar, but identifies who is a driver, approver, contributor or informed participant. Either framework can help a unit determine who can provide input and who needs to approve decisions. 
• Ensure key stakeholders agree on the project’s goals and objectives. It’s important to have different perspectives at the table, but individuals also can’t “boil the ocean.” Prioritize goals and audiences and ensure everyone agrees to the scope of this project. 
• Who are the unit’s priority audiences? It’s common to get a long list of potential audiences when considering who a website serves. However, if it serves everyone, it likely serves no one well. Prioritize the list of audiences and determine where the unit’s website efforts should be focused. As a public website, others may see the content, but it needs to be written and designed with priority audiences in mind to ensure their needs are being served. Identify the primary users of the website, including their demographics, preferences and behaviors. Understanding the audience helps in tailoring the content and design to meet their needs.

• Does the unit have a budget? While Sitecore XM Cloud access is free, there is a cost to design, build and launch a website. Additionally, stock photography or other content elements may not be free. Knowing budget limitations can help inform design choices.
• Does the unit have a firm deadline when the project must be completed? How much time can staff allocate to focusing on the project? Scoping the project to what can realistically be accomplished within the timeframe allotted will be important. 
• What resources are available to the unit for creating and maintaining the website? For example, if the unit does not have resources for creating graphics or high-quality photography, a plan for visuals (or lack thereof) in the design will be needed. If the unit does not have the staff time to support frequent story creation, then the design should avoid adding features like news stories and blogs, which require continuous maintenance. 

• Conduct a content inventory. What content already exists on the unit’s current websites? In documents? What form does it take (e.g., webpage, PDF, flyer, magazine, social media post)?
• Do a content audit. Evaluate all relevant content based on parameters the unit determines ahead of time. We suggest starting with: Is the content accurate and current? Is the content brand-aligned? Does it meet accessibility standards? Is the content necessary? Evaluate the content for quality and value to key audiences. Note what needs to be included in the website project, what should be updated, what can be discarded and what is missing. If the unit is planning to delete webpages, be sure to work with the unit IT team to implement redirect links to avoid creating bad digital experiences for the audience. 
• Plan for content creation. Who will update existing content or create new content? Who will edit? Where will the unit obtain visual assets (e.g., photos, graphics)? What will be the production workflow? What elements are needed? Include details, such as a headline, article/page word length, media/asset needs, search engine optimization tags and alt text. Keep the plan realistic by thinking long-term. Will available resources change once the website has launched? 
• Plan the design and user experience. Outline the visual design, layout and navigation structure of the website to ensure it is aesthetically pleasing, easy to use and accessible on different devices.
• Identify needed functionality and features. Specify the technical aspects and interactive features that the website will include, such as e-commerce capabilities, contact forms, search functions and social media integration.
• Account for best practices. Tailor the content and design plan to fit unit goals and resources. Publishing fresh content at regular intervals can help to boost visitor engagement. For live sites, website search engine optimization can be improved by publishing content over time (versus all at once). Prevent the website from appearing dated by publishing new content at least once a month, if possible. 

• Develop SEO and measurement plans. Develop a plan for search engine optimization, or SEO, to improve the website’s visibility in search results. Additionally, develop a plan for using analytics tools to track and measure the website’s performance and user behavior.
• Plan for promotion and marketing. Identify the channels and tactics that will be used to drive traffic to the website, such as social media marketing, email campaigns, pay-per-click advertising and content marketing. Determine if, and how, you will announce the new or revised website to internal stakeholders.
• Plan to review and update content regularly. Don’t let content get stale, particularly if the pages detail events or policies that might change over time. Establish a schedule for regular updates and maintenance to ensure the website remains current, secure and functional. Content authors might create a calendar reminder for a review cycle on specific pages. 
• Confirm roles and responsibilities for maintaining websites or webpages. If multiple staff members are involved in managing a website, make sure it is clear who “owns” the site and makes final decisions. Clarify and document which individuals are responsible for managing which page(s) and what the expectations for content management include. 

The project brief outlines the business objectives and project objectives. Typically, the person creating the project brief (e.g., the project owner) will meet to discuss a series of questions with stakeholders. The answers to these questions address many of the elements in the project brief and provide a good first draft.

Use the stakeholder meeting as a guide to an early vision for the project. Articulate the scope of effort, budget, timelines, resource constraints, audience goals, business goals and additional items of note in the draft. Circulate the draft for feedback from stakeholders and finalize based on the input received. 

An experience brief is generated following an experience audit by user experience, or UX, experts. They leverage activities that occur in the discovery phase of a project, including UX research, comparative audits, assessments and analysis.

The experience brief will summarize the key outcomes of the discovery phase, articulate the website strategy, communicate immediate concerns to address in a redesign or a new website design, and may include other insights that will help inform the design phase of the project. The experience brief can oftentimes help to shape the project brief because insights from the experience brief can influence project scope. 

User experience process flows are diagrams that map how a user will experience the website and how they will accomplish specific goals. For example, what process will a user follow to subscribe to a newsletter? What steps will a prospective student take to fill out a request for information, or RFI, form?

Start with how the user got to the website and map their journey through to goal completion. This helps determine the most efficient and effective path, what communications are needed on which pages to help this journey and what analytics tagging is required to measure progress on the journey.