Deciding your web strategy

By Nigel Wilkinson, MD WNW Design Ltd

When visiting potential clients for our web design services it often strikes me how they fall into two groups.  Those who have a plan of what they want the website to do and those who do not.  Many businesses seem to believe they need a website but with no clear strategy about how a website can benefit them. 

 
Developing a clear strategy is vital to the success of the website.  Do you plan to create a brochure online, designed to appeal to your target market, where visitors can get “a feel” of the business?  You may wish to create an online catalogue, listing many or all of your products.  This can save on print-costs, especially in a fast changing environment, allowing customers to contact you with orders and enquiries.

 
Alternatively you may want to develop an e-commerce website, allowing online purchasing or booking.  Whichever option is for you, and it maybe a case of moving through each stage over a period of time, you need to be clear what the website will do and how you will measure it’s success.

 
Our website, for example, generates 400-500 unique visitors per day (not to be confused with hits, which are fairly meaningless,) it also generates sales leads for our services.  However it’s main purpose is to act as a sales support tool, providing information and showcasing our portfolio of work.  It is on these factors that the success of the website is judged. 

 
Being clear on the aim of the website is vital as it allows you to budget the resources it is appropriate to commit.  Spending thousands on a glorified business card is a waste, alternatively in is sensible to invest resources in a key selling tool or distribution outlet. 

 
So when you assess the viability of your website or consider a new or upgraded web presence, think first about what you want the website to achieve and plan your structure and budget accordingly.  For more information on web design or on building a successful website, please email us at info@wnwdesign.co.uk

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 12th, 2006 at 5:46 pm and is filed under Uncategorised, Web Design, Structure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.