Need a New Web Design Agency? Listen to This First

In this episode of The Briefcase, Makaila Hickey shares practical, no-stress advice for businesses navigating a common digital challenge: when their website provider disappears, retires, or stops responding.
Rather than panic, Makaila explains why this can actually be an opportunity.
What You’ll Learn:

• Why taking inventory of your digital assets (logins, hosting, analytics, domain info, etc.) should be your first move when switching website providers.
• The benefits of slowing down and asking, “What do I really want this website to do for my business?.”
• Why selecting the right platform and a support partner is essential. 

Need help untangling your website situation?
Makaila and the team at Sutherland Weston are here to guide you through a smart, strategic transition.
Got a question for the team?  Reach out at sutherlandweston.com

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You might wanna hold yourhorses, and here's why.
This is actually an opportunity.
This is the briefcase from SutherlandWestern Marketing Communications.
Quick conversations from everydayobservations, delivering practical
marketing ideas you can carry with you.
I'm McKayla Hickey and I'mthe digital content strategist

(00:21):
here at Sutherland Weston.
I've been swapping emails with afriend who was surprised to learn that
their website provider was going away.
Yeah, maybe your website person's retiredor they've stopped returning your emails,
or maybe you've outgrown the site thatthey've built for you 10 years ago.
Either way, you're gonnaneed a new website company.

(00:43):
What should be their first priority?
First, I would take inventory.
I would call it gettingyour digital house in order.
Get all of your assets together.
What platform is your site built on?
Is it WordPress, Shopify?
Is it something customthat was built in 2005?
That is gonna go away soon.

(01:05):
This also means that you'regonna want your logins, your
domain, who's hosting your site?
Analytics, your email, anything thatyour website touches, if you don't
have access to those, if those are notwritten in a journal and hidden under
your mattress, then you're gonna want toget access to them as soon as possible.

(01:25):
A lot of time gets wasted because thathandoff takes a long time and people
don't know where that information lives.
We know businesses can't survivewithout a website, a web presence right
now, so I can imagine anything theyshould do should be done yesterday.
You might wanna hold yourhorses, and here's why.
This is actually an opportunity.

(01:46):
Take a beat and take a breath beforeyou sort of rush into this new process.
Ask yourself, what doyou want your site to do?
And this is like a good time to sortof gather your surroundings and think
about your site from a 30,000 foot view.
Should it bring in leads?
Should it sell products?
That kind of clarity makes thedesign and technical decisions

(02:12):
so much easier down the road.
And sometimes a strategicrefresh is so much better than
sort of blowing it all up.
And the right partner will helpyou figure that out and not
just sell you a new website.
Should businesses be looking totry to take this on by themselves?
Do they have to partner up?

(02:34):
I think that you really need to choosenot only a platform, but a partner who
is going to support you and you needto sort of think beyond the launch,
who is going to update your site?
Is there someone internally on yourteam that can manage updates, that can

(02:54):
manage small typos on your website?
Or do you need a partner who cansort of handle that here and there?
Another important thingthat everyone always sort of
overlooks is what is hosting?
How much does hosting cost?
Will my partner help me whenmy site has a hosting hiccup?
Right?
Like a good website should last you a fewyears and really grow with your business.

(03:19):
So choosing someone that will helpyou with that growth is so important.
How often does the bat phone ring andyou answer it because a business is going
through exactly what we're talking about.
It happens more frequentlythan you'd think.
So businesses are not alone.
I am always helping people andbusinesses untangle these situations.

(03:40):
It's kind of my favorite thing to do.
It's a little bit funfor me, which is strange.
But if you want to talk through whata smart transition might look like
reaching out to us, we'd be so happyto help you take the next best step.
You have been listening tothe Briefcase from Sutherland,
Westin Marketing Communications.

(04:00):
Got a question for theSutherland Westin team.
Email [e-mail].