fbpx Skip to main content

Creating a website for your business or brand can be an intimidating process

There is so much information out there it can be very difficult to sort through and determine the best way forward. Engaging in a strong, collaborative, website discovery process can help you get organized and create a website that meets your goals and objectives. In this article, we’ll explore our website discovery process here at MassMonopoly, including the different stages and how we make the most out of them. We’ll also discuss the importance of setting clear objectives and how to get the most out of research and goal setting.

The Discovery Phase and Why It Matters

In this phase, we aim to understand. What are you trying to achieve? What impact is the website intended to have on your business? Why is it important? Who is (or is not) visiting the website and who is your brand is interacting with? These questions and more are answered comprehensively during our Discovery Process – A quantitative analysis of your current website, marketing strategy, analytics data (as relevant) coupled with competitor web properties, and performance data to determine challenges and opportunities.

The Discovery Phase is an essential part of creating a successful website. This phase of the website development process is used to determine your team’s needs and expectations in addition to those of the brand so that we can develop a plan for how those needs will be met. It is important to involve all stakeholders in the Discovery Phase in order to ensure that we get a 360-degree view and that everyone’s needs and expectations are taken into account.

Discovery also aims to understand your target audience(s) and their needs, as well as the current website’s performance and any existing content. This step helps to inform the website development process and ensure that the website is designed to meet the user’s needs. By taking the time to understand the user’s needs, the website will be better designed to meet those needs, resulting in a better user experience and a more powerful and effective tool for your brand/business.

From these efforts, certain baseline assumptions can be made, these fundamental assumptions become the foundation for global and page-by-page-based strategies.

The Discovery Phase is a crucial part of the website development process, and – though tempting – it should not be overlooked. Taking the time to understand your customer’s needs and expectations as well as those of your internal team will help to ensure that the final product meets and exceeds their expectations.

“In the beginning, our goals were primarily to alleviate a long list of basic, common pain points from a very outdated website. However, by engaging in the full discovery process and hearing MM’s report of staff surveys, stakeholder interviews, and competitor research, we could see opportunities for significantly improved user experience that far surpassed our initial ‘just make a site that works’ threshold. We were also in the middle of a rebranding process, and MM’s Discovery Findings report gathered the interviewees’ desires for our core principals and desired perception as an organization. These have been useful to several departments to support and inform branding decisions across platforms and media for our 3 key audiences: patients, prospective staff, and donors.”

Kristen GandekMarketing and Communications Manager

Elements of our Discovery Phase In Web Design

Creating your website is a complex process that requires a thorough discovery process in order to ensure that the end result meets the needs of your internal team and those of your users. Our discovery process typically includes the following steps:

1

Stakeholder interviews & Needs Assessment

We begin the process with a survey & interviews with company stakeholders to help develop a perspective on what sort of website features and content will be most effective in meeting organizational goals.
2

Identify Business Objectives and Performance Metrics

Before beginning the design process, it’s essential we (and you) understand the goals of the website and what success looks like. This helps to ensure that the design process is focused on meeting your specific needs as well as those of your customers.
3

Competition Analysis & Review

Research is key to understanding the needs of your target users and creating a website that meets those needs. Market analysis, competitor analysis, and even customer feedback will all be taken into account to determine the best approach. Additionally, our professional-level tools yield an analytic, data-based, analysis of your market as well as your place within it.
4

Research Target Audience

Investigating the users of the website and their needs is vital for making sure the design caters to the people who will be using it. Having a website that resonates with your target audience is essential to building your digital presence. To effectively design a website that caters to the needs of its visitors, we must understand the goals, objectives, and needs of your target audience. This includes understanding their demographics, interests, and psychographics, as well as their digital behavior and preferences.
5

Content Planning

Collecting and creating the content for the website is important for making sure the design incorporates the necessary information and visuals and that the new site will set to thrive w/ SEO. It’s important to make sure that all of the content is available and organized in a way that is easy for the user – and search engines – to access. During this process, a content plan will be developed and a sitemap created and reviewed together. This provides an overall view of the website's structure and can help to identify any areas that need more attention. our proposed architecture will have taken into account a review of top-performing websites in your industry. This helps ensure we identify new features or content that can be added to the website in order to stand out from the competition.
6

Existing Website & Marketing Review & Analysis

Another key part of this process is an internal site review and comprehensive analysis of your website. The review includes a look at the website structure, navigation, content, design, usability, performance, and other aspects of your user experience. Having a thorough review of the website helps us understand your efforts to date and to identify potential opportunities for improvement and areas for optimization.

The review may involve both qualitative and quantitative methods to gain a better understanding of how the website is performing and how it could be improved. The review will take into account the goals and objectives communicated by your leadership during their interviews, as well as the target audience and their needs.

7

Review Existing Technologies

Examining the existing technologies and platforms is key for understanding the technical constraints of the project. It’s important to understand the limitations of any existing technology in order to create a website that works within those constraints.
8

Develop an Information Architecture

It’s critical we structure your site in an intuitive and easy-to-navigate way in order to capture and keep your audience’s attention. If we don’t, they’re gone. And if people leave your website because your user experience is messy, search engines won’t think highly of you, either. Conversely, when your user experience is strong, your search engine rankings will be as well. Users will spend more time on your website and link to your web pages, which are both heavy indicators that your brand creates quality content.

Is It Time To Start Your Discovery Project?

Drop Us a Line, and Get Us Involved from the Start!

Starting off a website discovery process can be daunting, but with the right partner, it can be empowering. We are dedicated to helping guide you through the key components of your website project, helping you make well-informed decisions, and applying a proper strategy for your business. Our team of experts is here to provide advice and guidance to help you identify the right solutions to meet your goals.

On top of that, we provide access to our latest research and development to ensure you get the most out of the website discovery process. We understand that the website discovery process can be time-consuming and costly, so we strive to provide you with the tools and resources that will save time and money in the long term. We have found time and again that not performing a comprehensive Discovery Process is far costlier in the long run.

At the end of the website discovery process, you will have a better understanding of exactly what your website needs to do in order to meet your goals and objectives and a strategic plan on how to build it – with or without us. Our goal through Discovery is to empower you with the knowledge, data, and insight to develop exactly what needs to take shape in order to meet the needs and goals of your organization. Reach out to us today to get an early start on this process and let us help you find success.