Building websites are fun. It’s kinda like a puzzle. The client gives you a bunch of random pieces and you have to figure out what’s the best way to reorganize them. In this post, I want to share with you a little bit of the process of redesigning a website, and why it is so important to any growing business.

Background

Several years ago I was asked to be on the Kathy Whitworth Invitational committee. I’m  currently on both the Membership and Golf & Greens Committees at Mira Vista Country Club and having the opportunity to be a part of one of the top junior girls tournaments in the country seemed like a no brainer. And selfishly, I really wanted to be around Kathy Whitworth. For those of you that don’t know, Kathy is the most winning professional golfer of all time… male or female. Needless to say, she’s a big deal.

Initial Analysis

The KWI ‘s inaugural year was in 1999, so needless to say, the committee knows what they are doing and has been successful for 20+ years. I was brought to the table to help modernize the overall branding and get a fresh set of eyes on the event.

The website wasn’t mobile-friendly and 51% of the entire global population visits websites from their phone. The logo seemed very busy, especially when it’s scaled down. Again, think about how you’d see it on a mobile device, a business card or even embroidered. I also felt that there was a substantial about of content missing. These are all things in my wheelhouse and I communicated with the whole team why each of these things needed attention.

Planning for a New Website

Now let’s take a look at the website. The original site was created and maintained by the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tarrant County (the charitable organization that the KWI supports). The website was functional and definitely served its purpose. There were six pages, which included Home, About, Tournament, Hall of Fame and Contact. This was a good foundation but it lacked a lot of content, it wasn’t mobile friendly and visually, was a bit all over the place.

The first step was to decide a general site map – what content do we want to keep and what content do we want to add?

From here, there’s the approval process of just making sure that everyone involved is on the same page. The last thing you want to do with a client is think you know what they want, start building and then after hours of work, realize that you guys were not on the same page. So once this general list of pages was approved, I then sketched out the wireframe for the new homepage.

Creating a Wireframe

We start at the top with the logo and the main navigation menu, followed by the hero image. I wanted to make sure from the homepage, it was very easy to find out more information about the event, about Kathy Whitworth’s history and career, highlight the fact that the alumni pool is filled with LPGA players and that the tournament benefits the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tarrant County.

I recommend that once you’ve created the wireframe, that you don’t just send it to your client and wait for their feedback. It’s really important to walk them through your design and give them the “WHY”. Why did you do this on the layout… why did you put that there… Often times people aren’t sure of what they like or don’t like, so it’s helpful if you can walk through and talk with them about your vision. You have to remember that not everyone can instantly visualize a final product if they only see a wireframe.

Building the New Website

This is now the fun part, taking the approved designs and actually building it out. Things might shift and change a little, but the general layouts stay the same when you go from a wireframe to the new pages. It’s important to always remind the client that a website is a living, breathing thing – it’s always going to be changing and will constantly be updated.

What makes this website so much fun is the content. There are quite a few LPGA players who have either played in or won the Kathy Whitworth Invitational. Through the new Instagram account, I messaged all of the former champions who are currently on the LPGA and asked if they would like to send us a quote for the website. We heard back from quite a few, which was really exciting, so those quotes are now scattered through out the different pages.

I also recommend as you are uploading photos and building pages, that you add key words and alt tags as you go. It’s a pain but it’s much better than having to back track and add those things after you’ve built all the pages. It’s also extremely important to make sure that you site looks good and functions at it’s best on desktop, tablet and mobile.

Over the past two years, we’ve continually added content about Kathy Whitworth, so when you google her, this website comes up. We’ve also added more about Mira Vista Country Club so that helps as well with searches. Links in and out of the website help with SEO as well, so on the Hall of Fame and Alumni page, we linked everyone’s photo to either their LPGA profile page or their World Amateur Golf Ranking page.

This is a website that a lot of energy has been put into it, and I’m so proud, not only of how this site turned out, but how successful the Kathy Whitworth Invitational has been for junior golf and for raising money for the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Tarrant County.