Digital White Papers

33 WWW.ILTANET.ORG | ILTA WHITE PAPER MARKETING TECHNOLOGY Roadmap for Your Next Website Redesign with your project, be sure to build in extra time for this effort, as your site design will be on hold until the new branding is completed » Create the RFP for the design and build of the new site Phase Two: Design & Build Questions that need to be answered: which vendor(s) will we work with on this project? What technology will we build on? What will the site look like and how will it function? Do the features and functionality meet the needs of our audiences? Did we achieve our objectives? PRO TIP: Be overly inclusive in gathering stakeholder feedback. Even people who say they don't care about the website will have an opinion after it is launched, and you want them to have an opportunity to weigh in before you start. You can't interview everyone personally, obviously, but you CAN email a survey to everyone. This has the added benefit of giving you quantifiable data that you can use in your cost justification – e.g., 75% of our attorneys said they disliked their current bio photos, so I recommend including new photography in the redesign budget. OUTCOMES OF PHASE ONE A detailed expert review of the current site, goals of the redesign (that you can use as success criteria after the design is completed), and the Phase Two RFP. CHECKLIST: » Identify the vendor list to be included in the RFP issue » Issue the RFP » Create an evaluation matrix for determining how each vendor proposal stacks up » Hold meetings with each vendor to meet the team, get a feel for how it would be to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them on such a large project, and fully understand their processes. Some vendors only do the build side and will propose a designer to add to the project. This can complicate the process because you'll have two vendors to manage over the course of the project, but I've seen this work out well in some instances; I recommend making sure the build vendor has worked with the designer on past projects » Build your business case for the preferred vendor and get signoff from your decision makers » Hold launch meetings with the vendor » (If not done in Phase One) Hold stakeholder meetings, build personas and journey maps » Work with vendor to refine mood boards and wireframes Be overly inclusive in gathering stakeholder feedback. Even people who say they don't care about the website will have an opinion after it is launched, and you want them to have an opportunity to weigh in before you start.

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