"Why Redo a WebSite" has been reprinted by permission of the author, Carole Guevin

Here are some random thoughts - not to be read in top most items being top priority but as pointers to take in consideration before redoing a website.

A few definitions:

A website is first and foremost a *communication tool* which is supported by technologies and interlaced with action programming.

A website is the general term used to define mixing communication content in an interactive and immersive experience.

A media is a broadcasting platform like traditional media are TV, Radio, and Print.

New media is the juncture of content communication (which includes text and sound), communication design (imaging, animation and graphical rendering) and interface (context design) and interactive (user actions) programming.

New media context:

*New media*: it’s a new broadcasting information platform still in emergent stage.

Website: a communication tool subjected to new rules and publishing constraints.

Real time: time zones are irrelevant - websites are available 24/7.

Worldwide: The world is in your backyard - geographical delimitations are invisible. Even though your client based may be local – your audience is global. Anyone, anywhere, connected CAN access it - keep that in mind.

Hypertargeted: Mass media is passé think niche media. You can't be all to all.

One-to-one: Talk don't shout! A user experiences a site in a private way - it's intimate – although many individuals will be accessing the site at the same moment. It’s still experienced individually.

Audience market: The new industry and economy generated by interconnecting the world is empowered by the people. Economic activities are no longer vendor based but audience based. Audience rules, judges, perceives and ultimately endorses or rejects, the value or non-value of a website.

Listen don't push: Know your audience which means, build a profile of what defines their tastes, their needs, their thoughts and decision-making patterns and build the website around that knowledge. If you've done your homework well the audience will tell you by their feedback and recurring visits; no traffic says you've flunked.

*Stupid consumer* marketing era is defunct: An audience can find information on almost any subjects and this is the boomerang effect. Online consumers can now track the best offers, dealers, suppliers and providers - and if still in doubts - they won't ask you - they will consult and share with like-minded communities.

Why Redo a WebSite/The 6 Second Pitch/Eye Candy Mythology/Defining Your Objectives/The WWW Syndrome