Web 101 – Plan, Build, Measure, Repeat

The secret to a successful website? There is no secret. There's no magic pill. It takes discipline along with a good amount of work and most importantly, a plan.

So go grab your web site strategy document and let's examine it for the following points...

Ooops! No web site strategy document? How about a web site strategy? No? You're not alone. Many businesses build a site with some general ideas as to what they want to accomplish but are at a loss when it comes to specifics, never mind how to quantify the results.

Having a strategy is like having a map. It tells us where we are, what our destination is and how to get there. It also lets us see our progress and whether an alternate route might be appropriate as we approach our destination.

Consider these basic questions:

What are the objectives for my business website?
In other words, what do you wish to accomplish? Your objectives should be clear, concise and most importantly, quantifiable. Identify objectives that can be measured. Saying We want a homepage that makes people say “Wow!” is not a measurable objective. Deciding We want to increase the number of qualified prospects we obtain through our web site by 30% over the next six months is.

Who is your site for?
Identify your audience. There most likely will be more than one targeted audience. They might include prospective customers, current customers, investors, employees, the press or vendors.

Out of that list, prioritize and identify who your primary target audience is – with the rest being secondary or even tertiary. Not sure how to prioritize? Follow the money. Which audience has the potential for the biggest  return?

How do you expect to drive your audience to your site?
Customers won't magically appear just because you have a great site with a compelling message. How are you planning to market your site to encourage people to visit? There are numerous methods you can employ, including, improving Organic search results on specific key phrases, pay-per-click advertising, an e-mail campaign, banner ads and others.
This is also where SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and integration with your company's marketing plan comes into play.

Once your audience arrives, what do you want to tell them?
OK, so you got them to come, now what? All the SEO in the world falls flat if your visitor finds you and you don't deliver what they're looking for. Important features to consider include content, visual design, look and feel, usability, navigability and an appropriate feature set.

What do you want them to do?
Let's not forget, we want to get our customer to do something – otherwise, why are they there? This might mean getting them to place an order, submit information about themselves, initiate contact with us (phone, e-mail, smoke signals), download a brochure or view a demonstration of services. This is what's referred to as “conversions”. Compelling visitors to take action.

Finally, How are you going to measure the results?
How are we going to know our site is performing? Are we moving toward the objectives we've defined in our initial planning stage? To various degrees it's possible to measure who's coming to your site, how they got there, where they went, what they did and where they exited the site. This is how you'll know whether your plan is succeeding. This is how you'll know when you go back to step one and begin the cycle again

Plan your strategy up front. Build intelligently appropriate to your plan and your audience. Measure the results. Repeat.