That’s right.

Why do you want a website?

For most people, this question is surprisingly hard to answer. Worst, it’s often never even asked.

Identifying the specific purpose for building your website and the reason it should exist is critical to success. Hint: “Because my competitor has one” is a bad answer.

Without doing that first, it’s impossible to create realistic, measurable goals for your project. Without goals, you can’t make informed and objective design decisions.

Following this process won’t guarantee a great website, but not doing it is just setting yourself up for failure.

Well, here it is folks: My brand-spankin’ new website.

“Umm.. it’s kind of plain.”

Yup. I agree. But before you get all “debbie downer” on me, let me tell you a story.

I’ve been working on this redesign for the last 8 months, ever since I joined the team at 20Mile Technologies as a full-time web designer. I wanted my site to be more of a blog where I could post thoughts, photos and whatever else I found interesting.

So, I took down my current site and put up a one-page “coming soon” type thing. And it sat untouched. For way too long. It’s not that I wasn’t working on it. I was actually working really hard at building a new site, but I kept hitting roadblocks.

First, I couldn’t decide which Content Management System to use. I considered a bunch: CodeIgnitor, EE, Wordpress and Anchor CMS to name a few. Each had its pros and cons. I couldn’t make up my mind, so I decided to figure it out later and start on the design instead.

I started by sketching a ton of ideas. I mocked up the best couple in Fireworks. Then I decided I didn’t like them and went back to sketching. I did this whole cycle more than a few times. Designing for yourself is always tough, but this was getting a little crazy.

Every time I tried working on my site I got more frustrated and further from actually launching something, but I couldn’t figure out why. So I decided to step back. Way back. I needed to take a look at my project from the 10,000 ft. view. And there it was: The problem and solution were right there in front of me the whole time, except I was too close to see them.

I didn’t have any goals.

I don’t mean “I want to visit France” type goals. (I do, by the way.) I mean project goals. You know, the basic info and requirements that you gather from a client before starting a project. I never did that because I AM the client, so why bother right? Bad idea. I couldn’t come up with a solution because I didn’t know what problem I was trying to solve.

Back to the drawing board.

At this point I had been thinking a lot about the project. So, I wrote a list of the most important things I wanted to accomplish with my new site. I wanted to be able to:

• Easily add blog posts as well as photos, video and maybe even audio.
• Add posts from my computer, iPhone and iPad.
• Customize the look and feel.
• Have a responsive site. (Automatically fit mobile devices).
• Easily add extras, such as a Twitter feed, if I wanted.

And that was it. Sure, other stuff would be nice but this was the must-have list. So, I took another attempt at building my new site. This time, however, I approached with these goals in mind. Every decision was measured again my list: Did it help meet these goals? Was there a simpler option that also meet my goals? I was pretty ruthless: Anything that did not directly contribute to meeting these goals was axed.

In 3 short days I had build my entire new website. 3 days. Yes, it’s a very simple site, but still. Before setting these goals I had been working on the redesign for 8 months. That’s a lot of time wasted that I could have been doing much more productive things.

My realizations

Looking back at this project, and the last 8 months of my life, I’ve realized some important things.

• Goals are really, really important. Make some and then write them down.

This applies to everything, not just website projects. Goals force you to think realistically and objectively. For example, “I want to clean the basement by Memorial Day.” Goals give you a reference point to check back on. “Have I cleaned the basement yet? Why not?” You can use goals to measure choices you make which will hopefully help you make better decisions. “If I decide to watch YouTube all day, will that help meet my goal of cleaning the basement?

• “Someday” never comes. Don’t put things off.

I was going to finish my redesign someday. Someday I’m going to clean the basement. Someday, I’m going to print those photos from my wedding. Or my sons’ first birthday. Or second birthday. The problem is, “someday” never comes. (Incidentally, setting goals helps avoid the “someday” dilemma.) And I’m not going to let my son’s third birthday come and go before I print some photos.

• There is no “perfect.” Put things out there and learn from them.

Again, this applies to everything, not just websites. I could have waited another 8 months until my site was “perfect.” But how many opportunities would I have missed to write posts like this or share photos I’ve taken? This site is not perfect, and I expect it to change. A little. A lot. Who knows. Life is all about evolution. The sooner I put this site out there, the sooner it will start to evolve. And I’m excited to see where it goes.

Thanks for reading. Hope you come back often.