La història interminable

Aquest mes, una idea molt bàsica però que, a la pràctica, tots tendim a oblidar...

M'atreveixo a dir que a tots ens encanta la sensació d'assoliment. Després de mesos de feina, és bonic veure un producte resultant.

Després d'haver planificat un web, pensat a fons sobre l'audiència i els objectius, treballat l'estructura, els contiguts, el disseny i la implementació, i després d'haver-lo testejat una i altra vegada, és senzillament fantàstic veure el web en línia. 

Admetem-ho, després de treballar durant mesos en un web, ve molt de gust dedicar-se a una altra cosa! 

O sigui que ja està. Finito. És hora de celebrar-ho. Visca!!

Llàstima que no sigui ben bé així. Jo diria que tot plegat s'assembla més a quan s'acaba un any... ens dóna una falsa sensació de tancament. Però després del 31 de desembre ve l'1 de gener i res ha canviat realment. 

Foto: Ricard Clupés

O sigui que bàsicament, si et gires d'esquena un cop el web està publicat, tot començarà a degenerar a poc a poc. Probablement part de la informació esdevindrà obsoleta, alguns enllaços deixaran de funcionar, informació nova requerirà un espai al web, apareixeran noves idees, nous condicionants i polítiques, grans canvis a l'organització que impactaran l'estratègia comunicativa... aquestes coses passen, encara que pensem que no passaran mai. 

Un cop tingueu el web en marxa, assegureu-vos que hi ha com a mínim una persona que se'n faci responsable. Que sàpiga què s'ha de fer amb el web, quins canvis en l'organització s'hauran de reflectir al web, quines actualitzacions caldrà fer, a qui s'ha de contactar si apareixen problemes, etc. 

No deixeu que l'equip web us abandoni sense haver definit un pla de manteniment. I no abandoneu mai mai el pla de manteniment. Pot ser un bon propòsit per a l'any nou. També per a mi, ho confesso!

The Never Ending Story

Ok, I'll say it up front: what I'm going to talk about is rather basic. But still, I'm going to make it my December post. Because however basic it is, we all tend to ingore it. 

So here we go:

I’d say we all love the sense of achievement.

After months of work, it’s nice to see a resulting product. After having planned a website, throughly thought about its audience and its objectives, worked on its structure, its content, its design and its implementation, and after having tested it again and again, it’s simply great to finally see your website online.

Let’s admit it, after months working on a web project, one feels like doing something else. 

So that’s it. Finito. Time to celebrate. Hurray! 

Indeed.

Only it’s not quite like this. I’d say it’s more like when a year is over… it gives a false sense of closure. But after December 31^st comes January 1^st and nothing has really really changed.

Photo by Ricard Clupés

So basically, if you look away when your website is up and running, everything will slowly start to degenerate. Information will more than likely go obsolete, links will fail, brand new information will need a place in the web, new ideas will come up, new constraints and policies might come into place, big unforeseen changes in the company may impact your communication strategy… these things happen all the time, even if we don’t think they will. 

Once your brand new website is live, make sure there’s at least one person responsible for it. Someone who knows what to do with the website, what changes in the company will need to be reflected on the website, what updates need to be done, who needs to be contacted should problems arise, etc.

Don’t let your web team abandon you without having developed a maintenance plan for your website. And don’t ever ever abandon the maintenance plan. There, make it your New Year's Resolution if you wish. I’ll make it mine! 

A child, an operation and a web page

Here's a real story that I think illustrates well a point I've made in previous posts: creating content without involving all sorts of relevant people in an organization can have serious consequences.

The story

A child needs an operation. A slightly worried mother is ready to do all the paperwork required. 

The child's mother types in a query into Google and quickly gets to the page she's looking for. Her insurance company have it all well set, she thinks, as she starts filling out a form to request an authorization number for the operation. She realises that, unlike with other forms, this one is easy to fill out: she understands what she's being asked for and why, and she knows how to answer all the questions.

The very last step before submitting the form lets her pick which way she wants to be contacted: by phone, fax or e-mail. She likes this. Without hesitating, she picks the e-mail option because she's a big fan of having everthing in writing.

Days fly by, but the e-mail never arrives. In the end she decides to call the insurance company, only to find out that she's supposed to ask the surgeon for more reports, otherwise she won't get the authorization number.

Photo: Ricard Clupés

She feels desperate and outraged. The operation is due in no time. How come they didn't tell her before? She'd specified she wanted to receive the information through e-mail, why on earth hadn't she received anything? The answer knocks her out:

"Oh, we don't communicate with our customers through e-mail."

"This is not what your website says!"

"I don't know about that. All I know is that we don't write e-mails, we only talk by phone to our customers."

Now, the consequences in this particular case weren't devastating. Everyone reacted well after that, the reports arrived in time, and the operation took place when it was due (and it went well, just in case you were wondering). But it's easy to imagine how things could have gone very wrong. And it's also easy to imagine all sorts of problems caused by this communication flaw.

In any case, let's not forget that the woman did feel outraged because of the lack of coherence between what she'd read and what she was told. She now knows she cannot trust that company's website.

Why would any company have a website their customers cannot trust?

The source of the problem
It's obvious that the company in question have spent a lot of money on their website. It's also quite clear to me that they did make an effort to make it as usable as possible. After all, the woman in our story had no problem whatsoever in finding and filling out the right form.

The problem is probably as simple, and as complex, as this: there's a lack of communication and coordination between the website team and the rest of the company. Those who define the content are not working together with those who define the processes and the policies within the company.

Planning and creating efficient content is a complex issue. It's a business issue. The sooner everybody understands this, the better.

You might want to read two previous posts that relate to this story:
Is your table big enough?
That's none of my business... or is it?

By the way, if you've had any experience that can help illustrate this point further, I'd love to hear about it!

Un nen, una operació i una pàgina web

Avui, una història real que il·lustra un tema que he plantejat en posts anteriors: crear els continguts d'un web sense involucrar persones rellevants de diferents àrees de l'organització pot tenir conseqüències greus.

La història

Un nen a qui han d'operar. Una senyora una mica preocupada que es disposa a fer els tràmits previs a l'operació del seu fill.

La senyora en qüestió fa una cerca a Google i troba molt fàcilment la pàgina que busca: el formulari de la companyia d'assegurances per demanar l’autorització per a l’operació. S'adona que, a diferència d'altres formularis, aquest li és fàcil d'omplir. Té clar què li demanen a cada moment, i per què.

L'últim pas abans d'enviar el formulari és escollir com vol rebre la resposta: per telèfon, per correu electrònic o per fax. Li agrada trobar això. Sense pensar-s'ho dues vegades, escull l'opció de correu electrònic, perquè prefereix tenir-ho tot per escrit. 

Passen els dies i no rep cap correu, o sigui que decideix trucar a la companyia d'assegurances. Li diuen que haurà de demanar més informes del cirurgià, que fins que no els porti no decidiran si li donen l'autorització.

Foto: Ricard Clupés

La senyora es desespera i s'indigna. Falten molt pocs dies per l'operació. Com és que no li havien dit res abans? Ella havia especificat que li enviessin la informació per correu electrònic i no ha rebut res! La resposta la deixa atònita:

"Ah no, és que no fem comunicacions per escrit."

"Això no és el que diu la pàgina web!"

"Jo no sé què diu la pàgina web, només sé que no ens comuniquem amb els clients per correu electrònic. Només per telèfon."

Sortosament, les conseqüències en aquest cas concret no van ser greus. Tothom va córrer, els informes van arribar a temps i l'operació es va fer el dia previst (i va anar bé!). Però és fàcil imaginar un desenllaç més problemàtic. I és fàcil imaginar també la infinitat de conflictes i corregudes que aquest problema de comunicació pot generar.

En qualsevol cas, no oblidem que la senyora en qüestió es va indignar davant de la incoherència absoluta amb què es va trobar. I ara sap que no pot confiar en el web d'aquesta organització.

Quin sentit té tenir un web si els teus clients no hi poden confiar?

L'origen del problema

És força clar que la companyia d'assegurances va dedicar molts diners en fer el web, i sembla també que es va fer tenint molt en compte criteris d'usabilitat. Al cap i a la fi, la senyora no va tenir cap problema en trobar i omplir el formulari.

El problema és segurament tan senzill i tan complexe com això: hi ha una falta de comunicació i coordinació entre l'equip que s'encarrega del web i la resta de l'empresa. Entre les persones que defineixen el contingut i les persones que defineixen els processos i les polítiques de l'organització.

Planificar i crear contingut eficient és complexe. És un tema empresarial. Com més gent ho tingui clar, millor.

Potser t'interessarà llegir aquests dos posts sobre la relació entre empresa i continguts:

Is your table big enough?
That's none of my business... or is it?

Per cert, si has tingut alguna experiència que ajudi a il·lustrar aquest tema, m'encantaria sentir-la!

És prou gran, la vostra taula?

Potser no ets ni redactor, ni periodista, ni estratega de continguts. Tot i així, probablement ets una persona clau a l'hora de crear els continguts del web de la teva empresa.

Perquè el contingut d'un web sigui eficaç, ha de satisfer tant les necessitats dels usuaris com els objectius de l'organització. Això, que aviat és dit, requereix que gent de tot tipus treballi conjuntament.

En el millor dels casos les empreses busquen bons redactors, dissenyadors professionals i programadors amb experiència, però molt sovint s'obliden de processos i persones que són crucials a l'hora crear continguts eficaços.

Foto: Ricard  Clupés

Bàsicament, el que hauria de passar al voltant de la vostra taula és el següent:

Gent de diferents departaments hauria de dialogar
T'has trobat mai amb informació redundant o contradictòria dins d'un mateix web? Has trobat la informació que buscaves repartida per diferents seccions? Has trucat mai a un servei d'Atenció al Client i al cap de dos minuts has tingut clar que no tenen ni idea de què posa al web de l'empresa? Potser saps què és omplir un formulari esperant obtenir una resposta ràpida i adonar-te al cap d'uns dies que la via del formulari ja no és vigent, si és que mai ho va ser.

Tots aquests problemes, i molts d'altres, es poden solucionar si persones de diferents àrees d'una organització col·laboren eficaçment a l'hora de planificar i crear els continguts d'un web.

Directors, empleats i redactors haurien d'escoltar els clients
Un web és una conversa entre una organització i els seus clients. Com en tota conversa eficaç, és important tenir en compte els diferents interlocutors. Tens clara la sensació d'estar davant d'algú que parla sense parar sobre un tema que no t'interessa? Potser algun cop un venedor t'ha irritat profundament quan, en lloc de contestar-te la pregunta que li planteges, t'intenta vendre una cosa que no necessites.

Així és com se senten els usuaris d'un web si ningú s'ha preocupat d'escoltar-los abans de planificar el contingut.

Hi ha moltes tècniques per asseure virtualment els usuaris a la vostra taula de reunions: pots crear personatges, organitzar focus grups, analitzar dades de clients, entrevistar clients, etc. Un llibre que jo he trobat molt útil per aprendre a escoltar els usuaris és Roadmap to Revenue, How to sell the way your customers want to buy, de Kristin Zhivago.

Arquitectes de la informació, redactors, dissenyadors i programadors (per citar-ne uns quants) haurien de treballar junts
El contingut d'un web ha de respondre preguntes i ajudar a realitzar tasques. S'ha de poder trobar fàcilment, i ha de ser clicable. Ha de funcionar en pantalles grans i petites. Això vol dir que els bons continguts requereixen que especialistes de diferents àrees treballin junts, i no només un després de l'altre.

Un redactor, un arquitecte de la informació, un fotògraf, un dissenyador i un programador que rarament parlen o comparteixen taula no poden formar un equip eficaç. Et sembla obvi? A mi també, però això passa en molts projectes web, i per molts motius.

Les organitzacions que volen webs eficaços han de ser conscients de qui són les persones clau en la planificació i creació dels continguts. I han d'estar preparades per convidar-les a totes a la seva taula de reunions. De vegades no és fàcil, ni ràpid. Però sempre val la pena.

O sigui que si penses que la teva aportació és rellevant a l'hora de crear els continguts del web de la teva empresa, la propera vegada que sentis algú parlar de millorar o crear el web, intenta que et facin lloc a la taula.

De fet, la propera vegada que sentis parlar de qualsevol altre element de comunicació (un blog, una presentació, un vídeo, un tríptic, etc.) para l'orella i fes-te sentir. Faran bé d'escoltar-te.

Is your table big enough?

You may not be a copywriter, a journalist or a content strategist, but chances are you're nevertheless a content person.

Good web content satisfies the users' needs and meets the company's objectives. Easier said than done, this requires people of all sorts working together. Companies may look for bright writers, cool designers and smart programmers, but quite often they neglect both the processes and the people that are actually crucial to  get the content right.

Photo: Ricard Clupés

So here's roughly what should be happening at your content table:

People from different departments should be talking to each other 

Have you ever found redundant or contradictory information within one website? Ever realised the information you wanted was actually scattered all over the place? Have you called a customer service claiming you read something on their website only to realize they didn't know what you were talking about? Maybe you know how it feels to fill out a form expecting a prompt answer and find out a few days later that the form isn't the way to procede anymore (if it ever was).

All these problems and many others can be solved by making sure that people in different areas interact with each other efficiently, and that everyone is taken into account in the content planning process.

CEOs, employees and writers should be listening to customers

A website is a conversation between an organization and its customers. Like in all fruitful conversations, it is important to take into account both parties. Have you ever been bored to death by someone who's ranting about something you don't find the least bit interesting? Ever felt irritated by a salesperson who's  trying to sell you something you didn't ask for but isn't answering your very specific question?

Well, that's how your users may feel when browsing through your website unless you've cared to listen to them before planning your content.

There are many different tecniques to  virtually sit users at your content table: you can create personas, organize focus groups, analyse customer data, interview customers, etc. I personally found very useful advice on how to listen to customers in Kristin Zhivago's book Roadmap to Revenue, How to sell the way your customers want to buy.

Information architects, writers, designers and developers (to name a few)  should be working together
Web content needs to answer questions and help carry out tasks. It needs to be findable and clickable. It needs to work in big and small screens. This means that for good content to happen, specialists in different areas need to work together, not just one after the other.

A writer, an information architect, a photographer, a designer and a programmer who hardly talk to each other won't make a good team. Does this sound pretty obvious? Maybe so, but it happens all too often in web projects.


Organizations that want good content need to be aware of who their content people are. And they need to be ready to welcome them all to their content table. It may not be easy, it may not be fast. But it'll definitely be useful. And worth it.

So if you think you're a content person (and more than likely, you are), try to make sure you get a seat at the table next time you hear someone talking about improving or creating the company's website. Or, for that matter, any other content form (a blog, a presentation, a video, a flyer, etc.). They'll be wise to listen to you.

That's none of your business... or is it?

“That's none of your business, pretend you didn't hear it, don’t interfere... focus on CONTENT. Web, users, goals, content. For-get-a-bout-the-rest!” I used to hear that all the time as I first worked on content projects. It was a little voice inside my head.

Photo:  Ricard Clupés

The fact was I found it extremely difficult to ignore my former-professional-self. I had spent a few years managing projects and people, and I had loved it. But that was my old job, it had nothing to do with my new role as a content strategist. Or so I thought.

The first few meetings as a content consultant were slightly confusing. When my clients were talking about their goals, their users or their messages, I found myself spotting inconsistencies, flawed processes, difficult relationships among workers or teams, etc. And, well, I tried very hard to ignore most of them. After all, I had been hired to do a specific job: help the company have a website with efficient content.

Fortunately, I never managed to completely ignore the non-content issues that kept coming up. In fact, I’ve realised that those inconsistencies, flawed processes and difficult relationships matter a lot when it comes to creating and governing an effective website.  

Not that Halvorson and Rach (among others) haven’t stated it loud and clear: content strategy is as much about people as it is about content.  But I had always taken that to mean that good content cannot exist without a well organized editorial process that aligns everyone involved. Mind you, that alone is a huge thing.  

To make things a bit more complex and interesting, I’ve now become aware of how much of an impact an effective website (or any project that involves a content strategy) can have within an organization as a whole. It’s common sense, really.  

Want to tell your web users how well treated they’ll feel in your surgery? Well, you’d better make sure your receptionist starts smiling a bit.

Want your website to claim that your holiday homes are clean and cheap? You might want to improve your cleaning service right now.

Want to let everybody know that your technical team knows how to talk to non-techies? Er... what about a serious education plan for the most of your technical team?

I’m not claiming that when doing Content Strategy one has to reorganize and fix the whole organization. But I am claiming that for content to be really effective it has to be honest. And well, most of the time we’re simply not what we want to claim we are.

So yes, I'm quite confident this is still my business. I believe that content strategists have the professional right (and duty) to listen to all those little and not-so-little issues in an organization and detect flaws, inconsistencies and problems-to-be. Not all of them will be fixable or fixed, but bearing them in mind will more than likely result in a better content strategy for a better organization.

I, of course, can be very wrong. But I feel I'm kind of right when I hear my customers say “Hey, why do you say you do websites? You do so much more than that!”

Jo d'això no n'he de fer res... o sí?

"D'això no n'has de fer res, fes veure que no ho has sentit, no hi interfereixis... concentra't en el CONTINGUT. Web, usuaris, objectius, contingut. O-bli-da-la-res-ta!" Quan vaig començar a treballar en projectes de continguts per a web sentia això constantment. Era una veueta dins el meu cap.

Foto: Ricard Clupés

El cas és que trobava extremadament difícil ignorar la meva professió anterior. M'havia passat uns quants anys gestionant projectes i persones, i m'havia encantat. Però això era la meva feina d'abans, no tenia res a veure amb el meu nou rol com a estratega de continguts. O això és el que em pensava.

Les primeres reunions com a consultora de continguts em van descol·locar una mica. Quan els meus clients parlaven d'objectius, usuaris o missatges, jo em trobava detectant inconsistències, processos inadequats, relacions difícils entre empleats o equips, etc. I bé, intentava amb totes les meves forces ignorar-ho pràcticament tot. Al cap i a la fi, a mi m'havien contractat per fer una feina molt específica: ajudar l'organització a tenir un web amb contingut eficaç.

Afortunadament, mai vaig aconseguir ignorar del tot els temes no estrictament de continguts que indefectiblement apareixien a les reunions. De fet, m'he adonat que aquestes inconsistències, processos defectuosos i relacions complicades són molt rellevants a l'hora de crear i mantenir els continguts d'un web eficaç.

Halvorson i Rach (entre altres) ho han dit molt clarament: l'estratègia de continguts tracta tant dels continguts com de les persones. Però jo sempre havia interpretat això com que els bons continguts no poden existir sense un procés editorial que coordini bé totes les persones involucrades. De fet, això sol ja és molt.

Per complicar una mica la cosa, i fer-la encara més interessant, ara sóc conscient de l'impacte que té en una organització la creació d'un web eficaç (o qualsevol projecte que requereixi una estratègia de continguts). En el fons és de sentit comú:

Vols dir als teus usuaris que se sentiran molt ben tractats a la teva consulta? Faràs bé d'assegurar-te que la recepcionista comenci a somriure una mica. 

Vols que el teu web digui que les teves cases de vacances estan impecables? Potser hauries de començar per millorar el servei de neteja. 

T'agradaria que tothom sabés que el teu equip tècnic sap com parlar clar amb profans en tecnologia? Mmmm, què tal un pla de formació per gran part del teu equip tècnic?

No estic dient que en fer una estratègia de continguts calgui reorganitzar i arreglar tota l'organització en pes. Però sí que dic que perquè el contingut sigui realment efectiu, cal que sigui honest. I bé, en la majoria dels casos simplement no som com ens agradaria dir que som.

O sigui que sí, estic bastant segura que totes aquestes qüestions empresarials continuen essent rellevants per a la meva feina. Penso que els estrategues de continguts tenim el dret (i el deure) professional de mirar i llegir molt bé tot el que passa en una organització, i detectar errades, inconsistències i futurs problemes. No tots es podran solucionar, però segur que si es tenen en compte es podrà fer una millor estratègia de continguts per a una millor organització.

Evidentment, em puc estar equivocant. Però penso que d'alguna manera tinc raó quan sento que els meus clients em diuen: "Tu per què dius que fas pàgines web? Fas molt més que això!"

Three Wise People, a Business Plan and a Content Strategy

 Ready for a little story?
                                          

Once upon a time there were three wise people who wanted to create a start-up. These smart people were full of good and nice ideas, and they liked doing things well. So they worked on a Business Plan for their new company.  

They knew they would need a website, and they also knew that a website isn't done in a day. So they decided to start working on it as they finished polishing their Business Plan.

As destiny would have it, they ended up in the hands of a Content Strategist. (I did say they liked doing things well, didn't I?). The Content Strategist told them that good content requires good thinking, so she had them thinking. And what good thinkers they were! They had four long sessions thinking about this and that. About goals and customers and messages and all sorts of other things. The Content Strategist would ask and listen. And then ask some more, focussing on what seemed to be minor contradictions. They talked and listened and scribbled and drew. Until one day she said it was time to move forward. 

Phase I was done, and they could move on to exciting phase II. She gave them a document with a summary of the thoughts and comments and decisions they had come up with, and asked them to read it very carefully.

The three wise people took the document and retired to their homes. A few days later, the Content Strategist received an unexpected message:

                                    "We Need To Talk" 

The three wise people had realised they didn't want to go ahead with the project. That is, *their* project. Like, not the website, but the start-up.

According to their Business Plan, the company made sense, and the risk was low. Not only this, the three people had worked together for a long time, and knew how to deal with each other's peculiarities. What then, had made them change their minds? Apparently, the conversations in the analysis phase of the Content Strategy helped them realise that they had different views on the project, and that they weren't in a position to carry on with their idea.

Now, I'm not an expert in Business Plans or start-ups at all, but somehow I'm not surprised that it was through the Content Strategy rather than the Business Plan that they became aware of (and honest about) their own goals.

I think that it was when they were put in a situation of actually imagining a conversation with their customers and collaborators, of actually telling people who they were and what exactly they were offering, that they realised they weren't ready for the adventure. They listened to each other's views, and found out that maybe they didn't share as much as they'd thought. They verbalized what their customers needed and wanted, and started to see that maybe they weren't interested in doing what it took to fulfil their customers' expectations.  Needless to say, having to tell an outsider things that had been taken for granted for a long time also helped.

The numbers in the Business Plan said "go ahead". But the key issues in the Content Strategy said "beware, you might not be ready for this commitment".

Well, weren't they happy to have realised in time.

Thinking comes first

Everybody knows: It is generally a good idea to think about whatever you want to do before actually doing it.

Want to quit your job? Wait a minute! Think about it, there’s a huge recession out there!  

I’m thinking of buying a new car. What make? How much can I afford? Will a second-hand car do? What colour??  

Need a new website? Let’s hire a designer and a programmer.

Hold on... is this still so? Yes. Very much so, at least in some corners of the planet. 

Now, a content strategist might come along and tell the customer-to-be that it is crucial to get the content right, and that it is important to work on the content before actually deciding the colour of the logo or starting to implement the site. 

The “content-comes-first” sort of approach makes sense to most humans, so chances are the customer-to-be will be interested in what the content strategist has to say next. They'll more than likely be pleased to hear that planning content correctly can avoid project delays, and they'll pay a lot of attention when they´re told that it can also significantly reduce costs. So far so good.

Until... well, until they hear that good content involves thinking. Thinking a lot, together with other people. Thinking, deciding, agreeing, prioritizing, compromising. It means time and commitment.

And that's exactly when it all becomes scary. Or embarrassing. Or a bit of both.

Thinking can be so scary that it feels it isn't needed

"You see, we know very well what we want to say, and we know what our customers want, it's just that we don't  have time to write it, and we don't know how to write it so that it's catchy."

That's actually perfect. The more you've thought, the better. Is there a slight possibility you overlooked issues that are specifically important for web content?

Thinking can be so scary that it becomes an impossible ideal

"Mmmh, your approach is very interesting. In an ideal situation, we'd love to do it your way, but we've no budget to do a thorough analysis. We need the money for the design and the implementation."

Right. Money is obviously a factor to take into account. The thing is, not spending money on the thinking and exploring phase will more than likely mean wasting money in the writing, designing and implementing phases. Actually, thinking well in the early stages can shed some light as to how to redistribute your budget so that everything can be done efficiently.

Thinking can also be a bit embarassing...

"Maybe we should think a bit about it all internally, and once we've certain things clear in our minds, we can tell you... what about that? You know, not to make you waste your time." 

Nice try! But generally the best way to delay the beginning of the project yet another year. Having someone to guide you in the thinking process, asking the right questions from an outsider's point of view is extremely useful when it comes to efficient content.

...or even *very* embarassing

"Oh, you don't know this lot! You'll have us in a meeting and no one will open their mouths! It's very hard to get two words out of the people in this house. And especially X, Y, Z. They'd die if they had to go through such a process. You don't want to put yourself in that situation!"

Oh yes I do. I'd actually love to.

Thinking has to come first
However scary and embarrassing it may seem, and however time-consuming and resource-demanding it may be, thinking has to come first. Tackling key issues in depth at the beginning of the project is crucial to define an efficient strategy that allows you to create an efficient website.

Thinking is necessary and useful. Fortunately, most of the times (most of "my" times so far) thinking is also interesting, good fun and highly motivating.