Growth Driven Design (GDD) gets websites online and generating revenue with less upfront cost than the traditional website development methods.

Traditional Website Development Process

Let’s assume we are planning to build a website with 100 pages, the process looks something like this:

Specification » Design » Gather Content » Development » Revisions » Launch

The overall process takes from 3 – 6 months (or sometimes longer!) with the main delays typically being:

  • The generation of several pages of content
  • Endless rounds of revisions to get to the perfect website

This approach is essentially treating the website like a printed brochure, which has to be perfect or expensive reprints are the consequence. But websites are not brochures—they can be changed in minutes, and that opens up the opportunity for GDD.

The Problem With Traditional Website Development

As Agile project management methodologies tell us, we know the least about the project at this moment in time.

This is always true. We will always discover something new and exciting tomorrow, or the day after, and that will shape our view of the perfect website.

In traditional website development, this reality drives the need for endless tweaks and revision rounds, as we strive for the perfect website at launch. The longer the project goes on, the higher the likelihood of change requests, project delays, and client dissatisfaction.

But what if we accept that change is not only inevitable but also desirable? What if we build our entire website program around the concept that we can change the content, the pictures, add pages or modify the website design on an ongoing basis?

This is the fundamental philosophy behind GDD and it opens up the following opportunities. Let’s say we are planning to build a website with 100 pages, here’s how GDD works:

  1. We can launch our 100-page website with the first essential 20 pages (or existing content) and add the rest over time.
  2. The time to launch is dramatically reduced.
  3. The cost to launch is significantly less.
  4. The website is online and making it’s contribution to your business today, not in 3-6 months.
  5. Adding content over time also has significant search engine optimization benefits.

The GDD Website Development Process

The process looks similar, but because we know we plan to add more content over time we can accelerate the time frame for the initial launch, which means increased chance of revenue from your new website now, rather than later.

Specification » Design » Gather Content » Development » Revisions » Launch » Tweak & optimize existing content » add new pages » update design elements » add engaging video » etc.

Downside Risks of GDD

The main risk is that companies sometimes stall when it comes to creating the ongoing new content and so the end result is an incomplete website that never gets updated. This is why a traditional website development company is the wrong choice for GDD—you need a marketing company that will continue to drive the program on your behalf.

Options to keep your marketing program on track are:

1. Purchase a website hosting and management program

Make sure the program includes a few hours of updates each month. This allows you to create the content (new web pages) and not worry about the actual website modifications, technology, responsive design or compatibility with browsers and mobile devices—its done for you.

Professional hosting will also provide optimized speed, backup, security against hackers, SSL security certification, software updates and ongoing compatibility checks with browsers and mobile devices.

2. Purchase a search engine optimization (SEO) program

A good SEO program should include the generation of new web pages: writing, pictures, design formatting and all the things that fall through the cracks with companies that try the do-it-yourself route.

The added benefit of Option 2 is that the new content is also created with the specific intent of driving more traffic to your website. It also includes:

  • Building an SEO strategy for your company
  • Keyword/topic research
  • Onsite optimization of each page
  • Writing new content
  • Optimization of new content
  • Local search optimization
  • Backlink generation
  • And a host of other technical details associated with generating traffic via search engine optimization

For more details on SEO download A Simple Guide to Search Engine Optimization at www.Ocean5Strategies.com

Significant Cost Reduction

Option 1: Website Hosting and Management Program

The cost of adopting Growth Driven Design plus the annual subscription to a website hosting and management program is less than going for the fully-loaded website from day one.

If you have a website already then using existing content make sense—it’s out there already so any fixing it over time seems logical

If you need a completely new website it’s better to have a core website now, rather than a perfect website far in the future

Option 2: Search Engine Optimization

If you intend to invest in SEO to drive traffic to your website then GDD is the obvious answer. You save money up front on the website, you start the program sooner, you will get new leads quicker, and the content is written for you—what a great idea!

It is true (and logical) that the cost of an GDD website plus SEO is going to be more than just a traditional website—but the justification for SEO should be based on a separate return on investment calculation.

The Bottom Line

The bottom line is this: Growth Driven Design makes sense—it costs less and generates revenue for the business quicker. You do have to understand the program from the outset and commit to staying the course.

Get even more information about GDD by reading our guide An Introduction to Growth Driven Design.  If you want to start capturing and converting leads sooner, then this guide is for you.

Ocean 5 Builds Outstanding Websites for Business

Ocean 5 creates websites that are fully custom, technically advanced, responsive (mobile-friendly), professionally designed, and provide an outstanding user experience. We use Growth Driven Design to build a digital platform for accelerated lead generation.

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