Developing a Web Strategy

Posted on | October 16, 2007 | Comments Off

Many people think of two main goals in their web strategy – traffic generation and then the conversion of that traffic. You should think about these two aspects, but there is more to strategy than that. First you should create a list of specific objectives that are prioritized. Think about your organizations budget, needs and various constraints such as time.

Once you have your list of goals decide which ones need to happen immediately and which other are long-term objectives. While some of these long-term goals may be far away it’s still important to consider them in the beginning to avoid massive reworking to your strategy in the future.

Identify traffic sources for your web site early in the process. This can help decide your strategy. Depending on how you’d like to communicate with your site’s visitors you’ll need to gather different information. For instance if you send out catalogs you’ll want a sign up area to gather addresses and add people to your mailing list.

Conversion rates are the other side of the coin. Once you get people to your site you’ll want them to take a specific action, signing up for a newsletter or purchasing a product, perhaps. You’re web site’s “flow” needs to be intuitive and clear to the end user. If a buyer can’t find his way to the product he wants he’ll simply go to another site and make the purchase.

Think about your competitive advantage. It should be similar offline and online. Talk about it on your webpages and provide an “about us” section that emphasizes what makes you different or better.

Most importantly, your web site should match your business image. Try to use the same concepts that you use in traditional marketing. Put your logo on the site repeatedly, use similar colors and create a similar layout. A cohesive marketing strategy will ensure that your brand is more recognizable online and off. It will build a sense of familiarity and trust with consumers and that will encourage them to purchase your products or sign up for your newsletters.

Category: Strategy Lab

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