4 Lessons from the “Will We Ever Get This Website Live” Project
Late last week we debuted a significant update to our website, riggspartners.com. We did so without much fanfare; there were no email announcements, no Facebook status updates, no tweets.
Do you find this odd? I mean, we are in the business, after all. But I think we were just so worn out from process of getting the site rebuilt and live that we were ready to move on to the real reason we come to work every day: building powerful brands for our clients.
Nevertheless, I think it is worth a few minutes to make note of the Lessons Learned from the “Will We Ever Get This Thing Live?” RP web update project. So here goes.
1. Working on your business is just as important as working in it.
The most difficult part of this project was the discipline required to make decisions about how we want our company to evolve. Continual re-invention is a part of our DNA, so there was no shortage of ideas. But working out the details, and articulating them, took careful consideration and a great deal of time. We now have regularly scheduled partner meetings during which our agenda is focused solely on Riggs Partners.
2. Technology is changing so fast you will never be able to keep pace. And yet you must.
Halfway into the redesign we made the decision to expand the page width of our site. This became a consideration because we were seeing an undeniable trend toward larger monitors among our RP site visitors (numbers shifted dramatically in a six month period). We also knew we had to optimize for our mobile visitors.
3. Design is King. True, if by “design” you mean “usability.”
Thanks to our friends at truematter for our shift in perspective. They quietly insisted that nothing matters more than knowing who visits your site and organizing your content around their needs. Let me just say: We believe.
4. Do it well and your blog will become the center of the universe.
Keely Saye of KeelySaye.com is our Inbound Yogini. She’s made us realize the potential of creating a digital destination that when well honed, functions with its own magnetic force. “Create meaningful content,” she says, “and they will come.” She also got us serious about focusing, filtering, converting and monitoring. The new R | blog is proof.
5. Perfection can’t be the goal.
Late last year, the partners read Seth Godin’s book, Linchpin. We were all inspired by his insistence that the measure of success in this new world is the ability to SHIP. (Take too long and your work will become irrelevant before it sees the light of day.) I think it could well be THE lesson for those of us who are determined to explore every possibility before committing.
Three days live and we already have a list of “things I’d like to change” on our newly launched site. Ah, good reason to come back to work tomorrow.
