Seth Godin published a great list of "Things to ask before you redo your website" in September of 2009.

What I’ve discovered is that companies should be addressing these issues not only when they are redoing their website, but when they are looking to revise their overall online marketing strategy.

People ask me all the time - who are good prospects for your business - if they can answer at least a handfull of these questions (or would like me to work with them to find the answers) they are a great prospect.

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In the spirit of great link building you may of course read the article on Seth's blog - but here are the main points of the list along with some of my comments...

Things to ask before you redo your website
Posted by Seth Godin on September 18, 2009

• What is the goal of the site?
  In other words, when it's working great, what specific outcomes will occur?
  You'd be surprised how many people get stuck here - be targeted and specific.

• Who are we trying to please? If it's the boss, what does she want? 
  If the boss ain't happy ain't nobody happy :)

• Is impressing a certain kind of person important? Which kind?
  Basic principal of marketing - know (I mean really know) your audience.

• How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level?
  The phrase too many cooks in the kitchen couldn't be more appropriate.

• Who are we trying to reach? Is it everyone? Our customers? A certain kind of prospect?
  It's OK if you are just trying to reach your most profitable prospect - because the effort should always be about return on investment.

• What are the sites that this group has demonstrated they enjoy interacting with?
  Usually these websites are clean, simple, and easy to use.

• Are we trying to close sales?
• Do we want people to call us?
• Are we telling a story?
• Are we earning permission to follow up?
• Are we hoping that people will watch or learn?
  We focus on the conversion goals of the site - what do you want to achieve - what does success look like?

• Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
  An option in 2009 - not an option anymore.

• Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
• Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
  Back to Social Media - do you have a plan? Do you understand the difference between pushing information out through Social Media (good) and actually interacting with people (better, but takes more commitment)

• Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to people?
• Is the site part of a larger suite of places online where people can find out about us, or is this our one sign post?
• Is that information high in bandwidth or just little bits of data?
  Often these functions look one way when we first start a web presence project - we learn about how people are interacting with us and modify over time - nothing is ever static.

• How many times a month would we like people to come by? For how long?
• Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms? At what cost? Will we be willing to compromise any of the things above in order to achieve this goal?
  Our detailed reporting tells us how our online marketing efforts are increasing traffic to the site - so we can be proactive and responsive.

• Who needs to update this site? How often?
  Content management systems come in all shapes and sizes - but my general observation is that companies have optimistic goals about how often they will update their web presence - so you might not want to have the calendar of events on the home page :)

• How often can we afford to overhaul this site?
  Good clean design will help avoid having to frequently redo the look and feel of your online presence before it gets stale.

• Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
  Wider adoption of mobile-based sites - is giving this issue new importance.

• How much money do we have to spend? How much time?
  Another vote for keeping it simple and clean - focus on the areas where your money can actually give you a return on investment - like conversion improvements and other online marketing activities.

• And finally - Does the organization understand that 'everything' is not an option? 
  Love it - and it couldn't be any truer - if you are struggling making your vision come to life online - take a long hard look at yourself.