Data Driven WordPress Development is a process that Marketing Press has been evolving over the last four years. I guess it helps if we explain: What is Data Driven Development, How we came up with the process, and How this process benefits our clients.
What is Data Driven Development
Data Driven Development is the process where we develop a site to 90 or 95% and launch. When the 90-95% benchmark is reached, we are working with a fully functional site. No one other than the Marketing Press Dev team and the client know that we still have a couple of changes in mind.
These changes come from us proving or disproving our site strategy, content strategy, user experience and SEO. As a strategic WordPress company, we are transparent with our clients that we will never know as much about their business as they do. It’s a fact; it’s honest and if others tell clients differently — there are not being truthful. Marketing Press sets out to learn as much as we can about the industry, the competition and the brand — but again, we rely on the institutional knowledge the client brings to the project.
That’s Nice — Get To The Data Part
First thing we want to look at is the analytics of the existing site. (If Google Analytics isn’t installed — installing GA is the first order of business.) Where are the users coming from? What does the site’s traffic patterns look like? What is the existing conversion rate? What content is most important to you vs. what content are the readers viewing the most? All of these things are important to a healthy WordPress site.
The next thing we deploy is a heat tracking software on the existing site. Over a period, usually 30 days to 10,000 visits whichever comes first, we can see how users are using the existing site and where the user experience is lacking. Marketing Press’ tool of choice is Crazy Egg.
Once we are armed with this information we can then make some data driven development decisions. Mind you, these are assumptions for the new site, but it beats developing blindly.
The Site Is Launched — Now What?
Once we launch at 90-95%, we install all the above tool and monitor the site’s performance. Were we right in our assumptions? Were we terribly wrong? Are certain things underperforming that can be fixed?
There are many times when the data is used to develop the site we are spot on. There are some times we all miss the boat, and we were off base, but now we know how to make things work better.
Making Your Site Better
Based on the data, and how the site is performing, the last stage of any Marketing Press project is a debrief meeting. Usually set for 45-90 days after launch, we sit down with the client and review the site’s analytics and performance. Based on our findings and discussions, we then create a plan of action to take the site to 100%. Many times it’s repositioning content. Some times it’s changing button colors to increase conversion. Only after necessary tweaks are made the project is considered 100%.
Developing WordPress sites is not a set it and forget process. Things change and business happens all the time — at least with this process our clients are equipped to make better decisions using their data. Remember: If you aren’t using data to guide your decisions — you are just guessing.
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