It’s clear from our last blog post that the (badly drawn) Stan’s current website is not working properly for him. So what should he do?

I once stopped my car in Dublin to ask for directions to Dun Laoghaire Port and received the straight-faced reply, ‘Well now, you don’t want to be starting from here!’ This wasn’t terribly helpful to me at the time, and although the same might be said of Stan and his website it’s not going to be terribly helpful to him either.

So the first thing I tell my clients, whether they’re starting a website from scratch or, like Stan, starting from somewhere they really don’t want to be is, ‘Draw up a plan.’

This is generally where I see the first glimpse of panic in their eyes but it’s really not that difficult, you just have to know what to put in it and this is where my patented website planner comes into its own. (Actually it’s not patented at all, that was artistic licence). It is however very useful.

First it gives Stan (or anyone else) a framework on which to hang all his (or her) ideas.

Second, it lets me see those ideas so I can best advise how to implement them.

Third, if he or she already has a site (which Stan and many of my clients do) I can advise which bits are working well, which aren’t and whether tweaks or more major change is required to improve things.

Finally, it gives us both a point of reference which we can return to from time to time to see if the site is still working in the desired way.

As Stan sits down, pen in hand, ready to create his plan he’s already beginning the transformation from fly to spider.