Over-simplified ads for creating a new website make the process seem like a weekend project. I’m sure the CTV team wishes it was just a weekend–we’ve been at this for four months. CTV North Suburbs’s previous website was over 3,000 links and pages and was running on Joomla. Yeah, I didn’t know what that was either. Now we have a streamlined site that is on the WordPress platform. Here are some thing I learned on the way:

1. Keep the User Experience Top of Mind

Our website bounce rate was really high, which means people were coming to our site, freaking out because they didn’t know what to do, and “bouncing”. Through the whole process, we kept our key audiences in mind and navigated the site to make it as easy as possible for them. Our nine cities now have custom landing pages with curated content. There are buttons to quickly submit cable complaints as well as one click to watch live meetings. Our focus was to make it EASY, to drop that bounce rate down and get people to stay a while.

2. Timelines are Great Suggestions

I wanted the website done in a week, insert laughter here. This was a complex, multi-phased project that took about 4 months with 7 to 9 people working on it at any given time. From re-directing links, to developing content, to professional photo shoots, we were developing this website at break-neck speed but it still took months. The launch date moved back a couple of times. First it was end of January, then it was February 1^st, now the official launch date was February 14^th, Valentine’s Day. Our Valentine’s gift to you!

3. Slick Original Photos Are Necessary

The team had our very own professional photo shoot. We dusted off our best outfits and hammed it up for the camera. For a team of professionals that enjoys being behind the camera, it was a great change of pace, fun, and added excitement for the upcoming launch. Original photos on our site made our brand more evident and added to our authenticity. We also double downed on the use by creating social media content out of it. Squeeze as much value as possible out of each piece of content you create.

4. Content Takes Time

Our designer warned us that websites slow down during the content creation period. Knowing that, the team prepared blogs, videos, and copy ahead of time, inputting it into WordPress within a couple of days. It was a flood for content, like a content tidal wave. If we developed the content as we needed to input it, it would’ve taken ten times as long. Get your content queued up so you don’t lose traction.

5. People Like Us

We had to reach out to our clients for quotes about our core services and past projects. Getting happy client testimonials was a great experience! It pumped up our ego a bit reading all the positive feedback from our awesome clients. Thank you!