In his opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio (1964), Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, said [I can't define what is pornography.]
But I know it when I see it."
Unfortunately for most small, medium, and even large businesses that's the answer they get from their web designer when they ask them how they'll know they've created a good website.
Like, ahhh....wow man...it's...ahhhh...you know...like...you can just so totally see it. WTH? DUDE! Bruno Mars just liked my like of his Tweet! OMG! Am I stoned? Why am I not stoned? I gotta go celebrate! I can't believe this! I'll call you later...or I'll swing by to pick up my retainer...we'll get started on your website...like... ahhh...soon...cool? Okay? Okay. Peace out."
It doesn't have to be that way. It shouldn't be that way. That's why we follow the Growth Driven Design model of web design.
Traditional Web Design Is Broken
As you can see in the gray section above, traditional web design is
- 10 parts tolerance,
- one part hope,
- one part mad-dash,
- one part crap shoot,
- 70 parts web designer preference (that they learned on a webinar last week), and
- 17 parts frustration resulting in
I’m sick of the delays and excuses and 'planning meetings.' Just publish the darn site already!"
I can't tell you the last time I spoke with a prospect and they said "Oh, I love my site. It's perfect. I wouldn't change a thing." Most business owners I speak to about their websites describe them in the same hushed tones normally reserved for that crazy uncle we all have who embarrasses us when he comes out in his boxers and tank top smoking a Marlboro® and sipping on a PBR to meet our prom date and photobomb us.
Please don't look at my site."
"I'm so embarrassed with my site."
"We're changing the website."
"Our website is so hard to update."
"Our web guy is so hard to reach."
"Our web guy wants $400 just to reply to an email and he takes a month to correct a simple typo on the site."
Your Website Is & Is Not Your Fault
Since your website is on your domain and you're paying for it, how it looks is officially your fault.
However, that's like saying the leak under your sink is your fault after you hired a plumber that didn't repair the leak properly.
The plumber holds a lot of the blame and if he's licensed and bonded and reputable he'll come back and do the job right then pay for any damages that resulted from the leak he didn't fix the first time.
Good luck getting a contracted web designer to stand behind their work.
Once the typical web designer is paid—and usually before they finish what they were hired to do—they enter the witness protection program and are never heard from again.
You Need The HubSpot Growth Driven Design To Make Your Website Work For You
Like all worthwhile endeavors, you begin your growth driven web design with the end in mind. Literally ask yourself,
- "Why am I building a website?"
- "Who am I wanting to attract to my website?"
- "What do I want my ideal customer to FEEL when they visit my website?"
- "What do I want my ideal customer to DO when they visit my website?"
- Get your newsletter?
- Get your free report?
- Request a free consultation?
- Download a coupon?
- Come in for a free appetizer?
- Follow you on Twitter?
- Enter your monthly contest?
- Just buy what you're selling and go
You wouldn't drive up to the Home Depot and say
I'd like to rent a truck and load it full of 2x4s and sheetrock and plumbing stuff. I'm going to build a restaurant today."
But when it comes to building your website, that's what you do.
Hey Joe, my neighbor's son's girlfriend just got her associate's degree in graphic design from the local junior college. She did a great job on my daughter's 5th grade soccer team's website (it was her first one) and is willing to build you a site for next to nothing to get some experience working on business sites. Want me to introduce you?"
That's a recipe for heartache and disaster. Proper growth driven web design follows four continuous steps:
- Plan
- Develop
- Learn
- Transfer
Planning Your Growth Driven Website
While at USAFA we studied the German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke who said
No battle plan survives contact with the enemy.”
When your website plan meets the real world, the real world always wins. It's rare that your website launch goes as planned. Typos, broken links, and other errors are quickly discovered.
Your faulty assumptions punch you right in the nose. Your most brilliant plan will inevitably lose touch with reality. Yet you plan nonetheless. That is why the second step of the growth driven design step is...
Develop (a Launch Pad Website)
Because we live in a fluid, fast-changing world it's important to execute a version of your planned website quickly.
In growth driven design this is called a Launch Pad website.
Contrary to what the old school web designers would have you believe, this is not a "half-built" website. It is a full website that both looks and performs better than your website today.
However, it will not be perfect, because there’s no such thing as perfect. The only way to get close to perfect is to start collecting real user data to make more informed decisions.
The only way to do that is to get something into the hands of your visitors. That is how we...
Learn From Growth Driven Design Launch Pad
Whatever can be measured can be improved.
Traditional web designers treat you like a mushroom: they keep their (your) new website in the dark and feed you manure until "the great unveiling."
Well what if it flops?
"Not my problem" they're quick to tell you.
"We spent months developing, designing, and launching your website and it' done. Pay me!"
"But it doesn't convert," you reply.
"You retained us to develop, design, and launch your website and we did. Pay me!"
With a fully-functioning—but smaller—launch pad website you can test and validate your planning.
As you learn what does and does not work you can adjust accordingly and quickly.
With this learning you then move into the next stage of the growth driven design process, which is...
Make Changes Easily to Your HubSpot CMS
See just how easy it is to make global or local changes inside the HubSpot Design Manager.
Transfer What You Learn In Growth Driven Design
You're not a silo.
Your web design team should not develop and launch in a silo.
As you learn what works, transfer that knowledge to the entire team so you can make new plans.
With the new plans based on feedback and experience you can launch new pages and offers faster, which produces better results, which produces better sales.
And that's why you really wanted a new website in the first place, isn't it?
When you follow the growth driven design process for launching your new website, when people ask you what a good website looks like you can reply "I know what a good website looks like...because I own it and developed it by design."
If you are ready to launch your own growth driven design...Let's talk.
P.S. I know we're getting into 2021 and the badge below says valid through 2017 but I put that there because back in late 2016 I was one of the first HubSpot agency partners to go through and pass the new Growth-Driven Design Agency Certification, which like most HubSpot certifications, are good for around 13-14 months.
In 2015 I moved all of my key websites, including this one, from Wordpress to HubSpot, and it was the smartest decision I ever made for my business.
If you'd like help either making switch from Wordpress to HubSpot or just getting more out of your HubSpot website, let's talk.
