The Importance of a Well Laid Plan
Often I talk to potential clients who just want to build “a nice enough for now” website, or drive more traffic to a website that isn’t getting results, or simply follow the latest buzzword. A few years ago it was pod-casts and v-casts; now it’s twitter and Facebook. These potential clients want to jump right in, saying “Let’s just do it”! As an ethical company, it is our responsibility to not allow our customers to throw good money after bad ideas.
What we saw from the dot-com bubble of the late 1990’s proved overall that a solid foundational business strategy still applies to this industry. After all, any house built on a foundation where the bricks were laid without mortar is sure to eventually tumble. This same theory applies to your online business strategy.
So, when we look at a business’s existing website we must see it as not only an additional 24×7 storefront and customer service center, but also a feedback center for everything else that business does. Additionally, we now have gathering places of our potential audience where we can participate and/or target our consumers exactly. (There is a fine line between the two).
Some of the components for your next online business strategy that need to be taken into consideration, before the first pixels are delineated are:
• Brand objectives of the company
• Brand audience
• Goals of the website
• E-commerce
• Customer feedback
• Scalability needs
• Usability
• Search engine marketing
• E-mail marketing
• Business blog
• Social media opportunities/polices
• Monitoring brand buzz
• News room press releases
• Collaboration with traditional advertising
Regardless of your immediate goals, everything you do today regarding the web will affect your goals of tomorrow. Investing in an online plan up front will prevent you from having to reinvest in the same technologies and will help ensure that the online systems that you are creating are set up to work together. Ultimately, upfront planning will bolster the combination of components rather than overworking an independent system.
