This is something the marketing team has been buzzing about for a while, and the

redesign is the perfect opportunity to launch this new section.

Tertiary objectives

The third level of priority could also be called the “nice to have” category, or maybe the

“why not, we’re already 90 percent there” category, or even the “hey wait, look what else

we get for free” category. In other words, it’s the stuff that is not mission critical, or even

all that important, but will make the site better if there’s time to work it in. From the pre-

ceding list, and taking suggestions from other team members, a list of tertiary or periph-

eral benefits might look like this:

1. Add the new company logo and implement the revised style guide for corporate

colors.

2. Construct the site with valid XHTML 1.0 Strict.

3. Use Ajax widgets to improve the interactivity of the shopping cart process.

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OVERVIEW

Since the redesign is probably happening regardless, it’s a good time to work in the com-

pany colors to the CSS file and be done with it. Similarly, having code validate to XHTML

1.0 Strict might come with making the website standards compliant, but it’s certainly not a

requirement. And as for the Ajax, that falls clearly into the “if time permits” category.1

Selling the redesign

After defining the redesign’s needs and objectives, it’s time to sell the idea to the people

who make the decisions—management. If you’re working in-house, it might be your boss,

or your boss’s boss, or even that really important guy on the 33rd floor. If freelancing or

working in an agency, you’re targeting the same people, but your job is made all that much

harder by not working inside the company.

In smaller companies, selling a redesign might come easily if the site doesn’t have much

traffic yet, the company is still trying to define its overall market position, and the lack of

managerial layers facilitates a more communicative environment. In larger companies, a

redesign proposition might be daunting for an outside agency. Bureaucratic red tape is

notorious for stifling change. Any major marketing decisions—even if you can prove they

will clearly benefit the company—have to be addressed formally and thoughtfully. In other

words, politics often come into play.