You've decided to create a website for your business. You know you need one and now it's time to get started. You’ve gotten through most of the process, but you’re still not sure. One burning question remains: how do I know when it's done?

If you're building software, or even developing a product you may be familiar with something called Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The MVP is the bare essentials. It allows you to focus on the critical aspects and what's important. Building your website is no different. You need to think: what are the absolute critical things that my website needs in order to be effective?

Think about it this way: every day you have to get up and go to work. Most people have their morning routines, things they "need" to do before getting started with their day. For me, I wake up, and while my wife makes breakfast, I make coffee and get lunches ready for the day. We like to relax in the morning. While we're eating breakfast, we watch the Today Show and catch up on the news. We finish up getting ready for the day and then we're out the door and off to work.

But the goal is for us to get to work. Over time we've figured out what works well for us. Could we spend less time in the morning and get to work faster? Sure we could. What's the minimum that we have do? We could get up, get dressed, head out the door and grab coffee and breakfast on the way to work, and still accomplish our goal. And in less time. We could change our approach to get what we want without spending as much time.

When building a new website, especially if you've never had one for your business, that same applies. You need to get your website out there as soon as possible so that you can start marketing your business. You could add a lot of bells and whistles to your website, but are they absolutely necessary to accomplishing your goal? Are there things on your website wish list that are just nice to have? Could you survive without certain features or sections of your website? The answer to those questions is probably "yes".

Your success is our success. We want to help you accomplish your goals as quickly as possible. Part of that is knowing and deciding what "done" looks like. The answer is different for everyone, but we can help you figure out what the essential features and functionality of your website should be. Let our team go to work for you and put our expertise to work for you to create a great first impression online. 

Josh is owner and lead developer at Clicks & Mortar Websites. He's an expert in designing and developing websites and loves helping other entreprenuers create a great first impression online. Learn more about working with Josh and his team here.