Internet Strategy & Planning For Business Websites
A website is not enough. What is your business plan for the website? Are you looking at it as an expense, like a brochure or advertising?
I'd like to try and convince you to think otherwise. To not think of your website as a digital brochure or simply a well designed piece of Internet advertising. It can be so much more than that.
I've been involved in many hundreds of website developments since 1995 and I've learned a lot by observing what works and what doesn't. Simply building a website and then moving on to other things definitely will not work.
Business owners ask, "How much will a website cost?". I tell them that they are asking the wrong question. That question usually means they are beginning a journey towards an unsuccessful website. The question should be "What percentage of my yearly Internet budget should I be spending on my website?". Ahh, now we're talking, I know we are both on the same page and that the business owner understands that to make his website effective he needs to do more than just publish it.
Here is a list of things necessary for a business website to truly produce outstanding results.
- time should be spent creating goals for the website
- the site should be persuasive not simply informative
- there should be "call to actions" if appropriate
- new text, audio or video content should be added regularly
- the site should be promoted with traditional "offline" methods
- the site should be promoted online
- quality website analytics should be used
- regular reviews of the website performance and adjustments made
If the list above seems like it would cost too much in both monetary and human terms that all depends. Everything on the list can be done inexpensively depending on your goals and your budget. You can add fresh content weekly and pay to have it produced professionally or you could add fresh content quarterly and spend a few hours writing something yourself. Both satisfy item number 4 but costs involved vary considerably. Item number 7 refers to "quality analytics" which can be provided free by Google or can be purchased for large monthly fees from other companies. I've only worked with 2-3 companies that needed anything better than the free Google product.
My point is this. Do not assume that publishing a well-designed and informative website will do much for your company. If you do you will be disappointed. Set a few simple goals, get the free Google Analytics installed, put a small budget aside for marketing (both online and off) and you will not be disappointed. Give your website a fighting chance to be successful.
As for the question "What percentage of my yearly Internet budget should I be spending on my website?" The answer depends on several factors that I will elaborate on elsewhere on the site but for now consider a range between 20-50% maximum, assuming this is a brand new website.
