Consider how important your website really is to your organization.
That small real estate on someone’s browser means instant exposure to
new or existing customers anywhere in the world!!

So what you may say:

• I am a local business, who doesn’t need access to the world (local
  customers use the web too)
• I tried and maintaining a website is costly and takes too much of
  my time from my primary activity. (When your business dries up it
  may be too late)
• I am a small business and I can’t afford a dedicated design company
  (Have you seen the latest in Content Management Systems?)
• We are a large business and our IT department/marketing department
  manages the website. (Passing the buck will bite you in the end)
• I have managed well so far without a strategy (The news ain’t good)

If your organization does not have a strategic plan or include the
website as a critical success factor in the plan, then in these challenging
times your competitors who do, will have the edge and guess what - survival
is at stake.

How should one approach the website strategy?

First of all if your organization has an up-to-date vision or mission
statement then this is the starting point. If not or, if it is not clear
then your organization direction must be reviewed and updated. This
exercise is a senior management responsibility as well as the communication
of this vision to all of the organization. One can find many different
methods to develop or improve on the organizational vision, choose one
that fits your organizational culture and build a vision that everyone
can relate to.

Once an organizational vision/objectives are established then you can
build your website objectives to meet that of your organization.

5 step process to develop your web strategy:

1. Set up your plan
   • Organize an internal team
   • Establish a schedule
   • Engage outside facilitators if required ( using outside facilitators
     helps focus the group and minimize internal politics)
2. Develop a clear set of objectives and outcomes for your website
   • Build on the organizational vision mission ( see this is where
     it comes in)
   • Solicit the input from your stakeholders, get them involved
     early on in the process
3. Collect your data - Discovery Phase
   • Perform a web audit
   • Understand how your users are using your website today
   • Obtain user feedback from direct and indirect sources
4. Define your audience
   • Interview survey or talk to your customers to find out what
     they want
   • Develop and categorize your target users
   • Build a persona (characterize your users by developing a needs,
     wants and goals)
   • Develop scenarios that your persona would most likely do
5. Develop your plan
   • Use the input plus the knowledge of your team/organization to
     develop a website plan
   • Validate against the website objectives you initially developed
   • Document the plan - what you can do now, what can be implemented
     later and the long term vision for the website
   • Identify critical success factors and metrics to measure the
     success
   • Outline the next steps for implementation

At the end of this process you will have:

• Input and buy in from the key stakeholders on your website direction
• A sound documented plan that will guide you for several years
• A check point to see how well your website is achieving the organizational
  goals
• A means to improve on the website
• Guidelines for your web developer who can build the applications
  you need
• Input from your users so that you can develop the appropriate applications
  such as dynamic database access, social media, user focused designs
  and focused content.

Should this be done internally or externally?

This very much depends on the size of the organization and whether
specific facilitation and project management skills are available. If
not available, developing these skills may not be the best use of your
resources and the learning curve may be too long. Bringing in specialists
for this one task may well be your best option, in particular someone
who has done this for other organizations.

Check to see if the consultant has a well defined process that clearly
marks out the sequence of steps. A solid web strategy can be delivered
in about 8 weeks, which will save considerable time when the actual
web design is being implemented. Although many people refer face to
face contact in this type of strategy development, with today’s collaboration
tools, much of the work can be done remotely. Most importantly check
the references and make sure that there is compatibility between the
consultants and your team, often the best work is performed in a smoothly
functioning team.

The most successful organizations pay heed to the planning process and
can act quickly to the rapid changes in the market place positioning
themselves for the future.
If you’d like to talk to someone about whether an external facilitator
makes sense for you, or how to develop a web strategy that would be
the best fit for your organization, contact [1] Web-Insight.

Peter de Gosztonyi

Managing Partner Web-Insight