Jun 18 2010
Have a Pre-Planned Web Strategy
Have you been having trouble drawing users to your web site or Blog? Do you feel like no one is “getting” the point of what your site does or can offer them? This is usually the result of building first and planning second. Everyone (including myself) has gotten caught up in the moment and been so excited that they just jump in and start on a project right away. This is definitely a good thing!! It shows that you are passionate about what you are doing and are going to give 110 percent. Just watch out for that one major pitfall. Not taking the time to map out a strategy. know first what your objectives are going to be and how you are going implement them. Without a pre-planned web strategy to ensure you success, your project may turn into a hit or miss.
I have to issue a warning before we go to far here. There is no singular strategy plan that exists for the many different web platforms out there. But you can use a basic planning strucure to ensure your chances of success for any project. For the WWWeb, just make sure it is one that will focus on your users and their browsing habits. A person usually has a good idea of what they want to show or sell to the cyberworld, but users (your clients) can often get distracted or just plain lost in the process. A main tactic to use BEFORE the build is to sit down with coworkers, owners, and your marketing person, or just your best friend, to have a good ol’ fashion brainstorm marketing session. Throw down all of your ideas (even if they are not good ones, someone else may get their creative juices flowing as a result) and decide on a main theme with several complementing themes to support it. Not always as easy as it seems is it? Just keep it a light mood and it can become the funner part of the process!!
Once you have the general idea(s) of what you will present on the Internet and how you will present them, it’s time to focus on the user. That’s right, the user. If you do not know how and where your users are browsing the Net, you are dead in the water. I’ve seen to many projects start off with a bang, just to fizzle and stall after several months of no results or responses. Remember, these projects can sometimes take months even years to take off. Just stick with the strategy and do your homework. Do research and find the areas your future clients like to go. I say clients because that is how all your users should be seen. Whether business related or not, if you treat them as if you are offering a product or service, your approach will always be to draw more clients or users to your site.
Find the areas of the Web that you wish to target and pre-plan your build to cater those types of clients. Chambers of Commerce, Networking Groups, Blogging, and Social Media are just a few of the areas that have many cult followers. Find your industry or area of expertise and do some browsing of your own. You may be amazed at what you find. With a little research, you may find that there are whole sections of users that you didn’t know were there. A good example would be selling shoes. If sneakers are an important area of your sales, then you better be doing research on athletes and their fans. What sites are popular to this type of user, and how will you be able to direct that flow to your site. Starting a Blog about coffee? Find out what kind of news people like to read about while drinking their morning cup of joe. www.acupofjo.com (had to give these guys a plug here, they rock!!). I think you get the idea here.
The important part of a good strategy is the fact that you now have a basic plan of attack. Sometimes that plan will need to change with the environment. It usually does! But you are going to find that you are better able to deal with that change when the time comes. Being able to adapt while having a solid framwork is the key to success.
I tend to ramble on so I will leave you with this. You can have the best business or ideas in the world, but no one will ever use them if they don’t know they are there. A good prre-planned web strategy gives you the ability to present it to the world!!