A Strong and Powerful Foundation
by Ninive Badilescu
Designing, upgrading or even just re-focusing your website
is not an easy task, and even more so when the foundation
of the whole project is set on shaky ground. Let’s look
at what is bound to strengthen it and make it the starting
point for a less stressful, less time consuming and most
of all less expensive experience. Oh...and I forgot to mention:
a much more successful result. Take a piece of paper and
write the following questions and your answers before you
take another step towards building or enhancing your web
site.
Why do I need a website and what do I expect to accomplish
from having one?
Failing to answer this question before you start your work
is the costlier mistake you can make. There are so many
sites out there that have clearly ignored this step in their
planning. When asking yourself “Why do I need a website”
go beyond the obvious answers such as: to be out there,
everybody has one, people are asking me about our web site,
etc. It is important to know what your expectations are.
Do you want to have a simple web presence, a so-called
“electronic brochure”?
This would mean that your site will only display static
pages with little or no visitor interaction and its role
will be to give an overall presentation of your services
or products. If you would like to have your website as an
integral part of doing business the scenario and requirements
are quite different. You will need to reproduce business
systems using back-end development, your site will be much
larger, the skills needed to building it will be quite advanced,
etc. If to this you want to add an e-commerce facility you
add in fact another layer of functionality that can only
be achieved with yet more specialised skills. Of course
there is always the “in-between” scenario where you offer
more than just static pages but less than fully automated
on-line business processes. The reality is that there is
no one-size fits all solution and each company will have
to invest the time in defining and scoping the functional
requirements for the website long before they start working
on it. Failing that you will have to deal with the costly
results of a website that does not help your company in
anyway and the prospect of having to do it all over again.
Take the time to see where the website fits in your business
and the business processes you conduct and design it accordingly.
Who is going to use my site?
Defining the market or the niche you are planing to attract
to your site is another very important step that needs to
be taken before you start building it.
Why?
Because you have to give your market the right tool if
you want to have the right results. When I say right tool
I am talking about considering the level of computer literacy
you are expecting from your visitors, the level of trust
they are likely to have in an online experience, the age
group for which you choose the design and layout, the type
of products or services you offer and who are the likely
customers for them, what are their interest you can use
to design and develop add-on products for on-line visitors,
etc. We fix your car transmission at your office within
3 hours (busy/successful professionals who can afford the
higher price, high level of computer literacy, easy access
to on-line features, confident in using on line functions,
time poor and need easy access and fast loading pages),
we offer retirement planning for people over 65 (low level
of computer literacy, low level of access to the Internet,
less confident in using on-line functions), we offer best
mp3 downloads for those under 25 (young people with lots
of computer time, interested in low price/high quality music
file downloads, confident in using the computers but not
necessarily ready for on-line purchasing). These three examples
will require a different approach in design and site functionality
to appeal to the targeted market.
What are my strengths?/Why would the visitors want to
come to my site?
Define clearly what sets you apart from your competitors.
Don’t stress the very obvious such as quality (I have yet
to see a business priding itself in having non-quality products/services),
better (all businesses are convinced that their products
are better than the next ones), etc. Be specific and stress
the very core of what sets you apart: dedicated account
manager, 24 hours door-to-door delivery, same day response,
etc. The more competitors are out there the more specific
you have to become in defining your competitive edge. Once
you define it make sure that your website reflects it and
reinforces it throughout. A sale does not take place unless
you offer something that matches the market’s needs (personalised
customer service, fast door-to-door delivery time, same
day response for specific enquiries, etc). You have to promote
your solutions rather than try and sell your products. This
is what attracts visitors to your site and this is what
will ultimately transform them into buyers. Of course there
are so many more questions that come to mind and many of
them will come up for you while the development of the website
is on its way. However keeping in mind the three questions
we talked about here will ensure a strong and powerful foundation
for developing a winning web presence. Having the answers
to these questions before you start the actual work will
mean less effort, less time and most importantly less expenses
in the long run.
Why?
Because you will have a strong and powerful foundation ready
for you to build on.
about the author
Ninive is the founder of UAchieve Coaching. If you are a
small business owner wanting to grow your existing business,
a professional wanting to start your own business or someone
who has it all but wants to regain the quality of life,
Ninive will help you achieve your goals faster and easier
and save money in the process. Visit her web site at: http://www.uachievecoaching.com
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