There are many reasons why websites homepages change. Homepages are the virtual glass window of your business and reflect the nature and the goals of the business. In other words, if a business is focused and has a clear vision, that is usually conveyed on the homepage. While if a business is not so sure what it wants to be doing today or tomorrow, it can be apparent from one glance at the homepage – it’s just hard to tell precisely what the company does. So many sites make the mistake of trying to be everything to everyone – but then end up seeing most visitors bounce.
Homepage changes can be triggered by many business needs. It can reflect an attempt to tackle shifts in business positioning. In many cases today, it is even triggered by the sales department’s desire for a more product oriented and “transactional” site. In addition, many changes are optimization (SEO) driven to address needs to rank for certain terms and market sectors. And more and more, we find Pay-Per-Click (PPC) experts pushing A/B testing and constant changes to the site to tweak for better conversions. And then there is the case of the manager who wants to emphasize one angle of the business in conflict with the business unit manager that might feel his product or service is left out.


Since all the above reasons are legitimate reasons for making changes to the website, it is not uncommon for the online marketing manager to receive a variety of conflicting input that pull him in different directions.
The typical online manager will feel that he needs to synthesize everyone’s wishes and make everyone in the organization happy. That is no small challenge. The manager starts by creating the wireframe – trying to makes sense of how to integrate everyone’s wishes. He is faced with the challenge of integrating the right copy, the design, media and interactive elements. And oh yeah – almost forgot! In addition to making all the manager in his organization happy, he is supposed to make the site visitors happy to – or at least make it clear to them what his company needs them to know.
So what is the secret to successful website management? How can the site manager walk through this landmine of desires, criticisms, conflicting interests and come out on the other side a hero – or at least unmamed.. Here are few key factors that you must address to assure successful change management:

1. Is your website effective? – Check your stats!

This point is so trivial that it’s surprising that site managers I meet don’t routinely and methodically check their metrics. Check your stats! If your site has a clear bottom line then measuring the effectiveness of the site is easy. Just look at the bottom line and compare the change results. But even if your site has softer goals on your Google analytics, there are always parameters to measure, anything from time spent on site, stickiness or contact submission.
If you have not already done so, set the goals up and start monitoring.

2. Integrity

If you were pulled to too many directions and did not find focus, your site will end up looking as busy as a smorgasbord. Your visitor won’t know what you want from them. And that means you probably lost him. Trust your senses. Take a fresh look at the artistic aspect of the site changes. Ask yourself and relevant focus groups if the site changes make sense and how they affect the overall integrity of your website.

3. The 7 second test

Give seven people seven seconds to look at the site and then tell you what it’s about. If they fail – you are out of focus.


4. Evolution vs. revolution

In most cases, after your online brand is established, business focus, design or copy changes should have an evolutionary nature. Embrace the change, don’t fear it. Make the change part of your ongoing routine. Ultimately, the site will evolve more accurately then in the extreme makeover alternative, in the right direction. Small changes can have tremendous impact.


5. Focus

Know why you are changing and stick to that goal. Avoid unnecessary changes for the sake of changes without having a distinct goal.


6. Don’t fall in love

Don’t fall in love with your work or with the concept or design. Avoid contractors who hold a “take it or leave it” attitude. Your test is not how much change you managed to make to the site’s appearance or behavior– it’s how much change you managed to make to the site’s performance. Keep your mind open to a roll back option and make sure it’s technically easy to implement a roll back.


7. Too many cooks spoil the stew

Do you feel like there are too many cooks in your website change process? Get rid of them! Be open to team work and suggestions but explain to your managers that there has to be a clear project management hierarchy with a single point of decision making. Otherwise, nothing gets done and the change reflects a compromise more than wise decision-making.