In the digital age, having a functional and effective website or intranet is a valuable asset for a company, regardless of its size. Here are 10 tips for a successful website and the steps to build a site.

The gains in productivity, attractiveness, image or information flow are real and fully justify the investment in time and resources. An attractive website will allow you to:

• to improve your reputation on the internet with better visibility and controlled content
• to have a window for your digital marketing

There are currently many tools available to create your own website. You can also entrust the creation of your website to a webmaster or a digital strategy agency. But in both cases, you cannot launch yourself in a vacuum without preparing your site like preparing a marketing or communication plan. Whether your business is b2b or b2c, the marketing tips are different. Whether it is a site redesign, the creation of a showcase site or an intranet site, you must identify:

• the target audience of your site
• The message to be transmitted
• the design and production of a dynamic site, with good ergonomics and good content

Establishing specifications for your website or IntranetThis question is the most important of all. For what? For whom? Is it a site redesign, a modernization or a creation? What needs will the new site meet? Define the goals of the site? There are a wide variety of reasons to build a website or an intranet. For example:

• Facilitate the sharing of information
• Boosting sales
• Control communication
• Start e-marketing
• Or simply exist on the web in the face of competition, etc.

Finding the textual content of your future siteThe textual content of your site is at least as important as its graphic charter. It is thanks to text and keywords that Google Analytics engines will reference and classify your pages.

It is useless to produce slices of text to get a good SEO (Search Engine Optimization), just to choose your words well and understand how to properly reference your site.

Choose your internet tools or functionalities

There are a plethora of them. Faced with this abundance, it is very tempting to select as many tools as possible. Abundance does not create wealth, so choose the functionalities carefully (video, agenda, e-shop, survey...)

Define public or private accesses

Which employees are affected by the Intranet? What will the access levels be?

Remember that nothing on the web is truly private and that it is not the place for confidential information. Do not hesitate to organize an initial preliminary exchange with your company's IT department or to consult a SaaS (Security as a Service) provider.

Know your audience

Who are your future users: their needs, their problems, the reasons for their visit, their Internet habits, their connection to social media, etc.

For example, should the content be available in several languages or be worked to offer a particular level of accessibility?

Define content administrators and webmasters

You can use either internal resources or independent service providers, whether for content management, technical updates, graphics, referencing...

Define the tree structure of your site

Following a reflection on your specifications, you must be able to schematize the tree structure of your site. Typically, home page, presentation, offers, contact, etc.

Consider drawing inspiration from other sites to acquire expertise in ergonomics and UX (User eXperience) and do not hesitate to consult the website templates and website templates of your most efficient competitors.

Base each of your decisions on data

One of the biggest risks in creating an intranet is relying on intuition rather than big data. Conduct surveys and polls, feel free to launch a beta test version with a few selected users to test your ideas.

You may very well like a site, but be completely ineffective. So it's useless.

Identify obstacles

What are the main risks of the project? During which phases of the project will you be most vulnerable?

Typically: “Too many captains on the boat”: you will be forced to design the new site in committees, with many decision-makers. You risk designing a gas plant.

Do you have an intranet or website project and do you have problems or concerns about some of these questions? Request a free consultation of 15 minutes with a member of our team.