2012 Update: I must have heard at some point to build content with nine points :)
STEP 1: INTERNET STRATEGY
Remember the phrase, “measure twice, cut once?” Well, it has survived because there’s truth in it. I’m going to try to sell you on the value of hiring an experienced E-Business Strategy Consultant—there is no substitute for expertise and experience—to help you map out your Internet business strategy plan and tactics.
The E-Business Strategy (“EBS”) Consultant will have personal experience with what works and what doesn’t, and probably reads trade publications and online discussion to glean expertise from other’s experiences. The EBS Consultant needs to learn more about your business; you need to learn more about his. It’s important to have a qualified expert review your Internet projects to date, and to identify business opportunities. He’ll visit your current website and interview you and your staff until he has a solid understanding of your business. He’ll work with you to learn how we should align his work with your company culture and brand.
He’ll also observe your customer’s online habits and assess your competition. Then—and only then—can he go back to his office and brainstorm and conceptualize an effective Internet strategy for your business. The EBS Consultant will then present you with his thoughts. This deliverable usually includes a vision of success, a roadmap, and a detailed description of the opening tactical moves.
STEP 2: DOMAIN NAME REGISTRATION
Hopefully you have a domain name, and you registered it years ago when you were able to get one that is simple and memorable. For new organizations, however, choosing a domain name isn’t easy.
Should you buy “yourbusinessname.com?” Absolutely, if it’s available. Should you buy “your-business-name.com?” Yes. Should you leave it at that? No. While buying a domain name is easy, choosing a domain name is an important step, especially since some of our Internet marketing strategies work best when you have multiple domain names that include important keywords.
STEP 3: CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
When you visit websites, have you noticed how bad some of the content is? Do you find stuff that is sometimes irrelevant, pompous, incomplete, and unclear? The Internet has always demanded a new level of honesty and straight-talk, but corporate America hasn’t been listening. Most organizations, in an effort to save money or usually because of simple ignorance, are recycling content from offline marketing efforts. It just doesn’t fly well on the Internet. Online, you’ve got to be clear, you’ve got to be honest, and you’ve got to be brief.
Another thing the Internet demands is “information yearns to be free,” a concept that conflicts with most organizations direct business needs. So a delicate balance is required. You are reading a “free report” with the only price paid being your email address. As in other areas of your business, make it a win-win.
A group of specialized consultants are emerging that can help you to develop content that generates more than 10 times more “Most Wanted Responses” than what your organization can do internally. The content must be developed to sell your Most Wanted Web Responses as efficiently as possible, just as your sales force is designed to sell your product efficiently. These Most Wanted Responses include such actions as downloading a free report, requesting more information, subscribing to a newsletter, signing up for a trial account, or actually buying a product.
To do this, give your visitors both the short cut and the long path, much like effective direct marketing. Encourage them to take action as soon as they are ready, and give the detail seekers enough to fulfill them.
Through all this, you must develop content that ranks well on the search engines as well as while clearly and persuasively communicating your message.
STEP 4: WEB DESIGN
Your visitors have expectations… Your visitor’s experience on your web site must be in sync with their experience with your organization in general - your web site design must match and meet their expectations.
If your business image is “cutting-edge”, then you need to maintain a cutting-edge web site. It your image is elegant, you need a web site design that articulates your message elegantly.
No matter what, you need a flexible design that will allow you to update your pages frequently and change your information architecture when necessary without expensive design overhauls. And be sure not to hire a designer that allows “design” get in the way. Graphic design is a small part of what makes a web site successful.
STEP 5: WEB APPLICATIONS
Most websites require some form of custom web application, and unless your website is extremely small and static, you’ll need to make some decisions here.
These days anyone with a flair for design can build you a halfway decent web site, if your goal is to have a halfway decent return on investment. Using web design software, a graphic designer can make you a web site that looks great, but delivers a poor user experience, and you probably won’t even notice the difference (of course, your customers will, but that’s another issue.)
You want something you haven’t seen yet? Something new? Then they’ll have to hire a web programmer. Hire the wrong one and he’ll talk you into expensive hardware and software.
STEP 6: E-COMMERCE & INTERNET SECURITY
While e-commerce is not for everyone, you can be successful selling online.
If you decided to do it, you’ll need complete Internet security and e-commerce solutions that enable your customers to purchase your products and services or exchange information securely on line. You just fulfill the orders.
STEP 7: SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
Search Engine Optimization isn’t easy, but you can win the search engine contest.
Search engine optimization needs to be in everything your web designer does. There is no magic solution. Be wary of submission software that blitzes the search engines and builds hundreds of “splash pages”. You need to find out what specific phrases your customers are using and then build content areas of your web site to meet their requests. And you need to make sure every valuable page on your site gets indexed!
STEP 8: INTERNET MARKETING
Though there is a place for banner ads on the Internet, I’m really talking about tried and true Internet marketing techniques.
STEP 9: CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
Changing the content on your web site every month improves your search engine ranking and gives your visitors a reason to come back.