How to Outline the Goals for Your Web Site – Now that you understand the benefits of having a Web site, it’s time to determine what you want your site to do for you. Your business plan and goals should ultimately drive your marketing and Web site plan and goals. Reviewing your business goals, answer the following questions:
Am I a small business that wants to have some Web presence and be able to send e-mail that has my business name as the domain name? For many small businesses, a basic marketing Web site is the place to start. Purchasing a domain name and establishing a site will enable you to have a basic Web presence and email address that makes even a home-based business look professional and official.
Am I selling a product? If yes, you may want to consider using your Web site as a virtual storefront that enables customers to make purchases online. If, instead, your company offers services, your site will likely take more of a marketing slant than a hard sales approach.
If I’m selling a product, what’s the sales cycle? If you’re selling a product that has a long first-contact-to-final-purchase timeframe, selling online may not be practical. Instead, your Web site can help you market your product and build relationships with prospects and customers. With this approach, your site can be an accelerant to the sales cycle.
If I’m selling a product, how big an investment is it for my customers? If you’re selling products that are considered inexpensive, you may find success with an online storefront. The lower the price tag, the less your prospects will need to establish a relationship with you before they trust you with a purchase. However, even with merchandise that’s considered expensive, having online purchase options may prove beneficial to your business. Ultimately, establishing a marketing-focused Web site that promotes you as a trustworthy company through customer testimonial, business history, press clippings, and so on can go a long way toward your ability to sell big-ticket merchandise.
As you answer these questions and outline your goals for your Web site, keep in mind that these decisions are not carved in stone. You can adjust your vision throughout the planning stage and even after you launched your site. A good approach is to create a Web site that meets at least your minimum requirements for now, but also has the ability to expand as your business grows.
How important is “the relationship” to my customers? Businesses that depend on repeat and referral business to succeed or whose products require a significant investment from customers are more apt to focus on customer relationship. Sites for such businesses need to have a customer-service focus and interactive abilities.
Do I have the staff to support a customer-service, interactive Web site? Enabling your customers to interact with you through your site can facilitate your relationships — as long as your staff is able to support this interaction. If it’s easy, for example, for a customer to log a work order on your site, but your support person or team is unable to respond to that work order in a timely manner, it’s likely you’re damaging that relationship. Your Web site should make it easy for
customers to relate to and communicate with your company, but only offer services that your staff can support.
How do I grow my business while I’m limited in my abilities to grow my staff at this time? Automating functions, such as registration for events or newsletters, purchasing, logging requests, work orders, and so on can help you meet growing customer needs without necessarily increasing head count. Again, it’s important to recognize whether any of the automated functions will need some back-end, human support. Make sure you have the personnel you need.
What type of Web presence do my competitors have? The online activity of your competitors should influence your Web site-design decisions. For your Web site to help you secure more market share, you’ll need to meet or, ideally, exceed the abilities of your competitors’ Web sites and other Web activity.
During the planning phase, visit your competitors’ and prospects’ Web sites. This will give you a better understanding of their businesses as well as their Internet savvy. Are my customers Internet savvy? Ultimately, you need to communicate with customers in a manner that they’re comfortable with and meet or exceed their expectations for companies they interact with, particularly their expectations of companies in your field.
If your customers are frequent Web users and if they expect companies in your industry to provide online services, you need a Web site. The extent of their comfort and expectations should impact your Web site plans; the more comfortable and the higher their expectations, the more impressive and interactive your Web site needs to be.
Additional Reading: Benefits of Taking a Business Online