Executive Summary
The Internet and corporate Intranets, particularly the World Wide Web, are changing the
way we do business. These networks empower people to get the information they need,
quickly and easily, regardless of its physical location. In addition, they provide a high
level of interaction between people and information, so the information delivered can be
custom-tailored to meet the needs of each individual. As a result, the Internet and
Intranets are growing at an unparalleled rate, and bringing about a revolution in business
and communication.
Today, approximately 400,000 Web sites are in operation, and more are being added
daily-not only on the Internet, but also on private Intranets. In fact, at the beginning
of 1996, nearly 25 percent of Fortune 1000 companies had already implemented Web servers
on their Intranets, and 40 percent more were planning to establish them.
Implementing a Web site may be one of the most important moves your company makes. Web
sites, with their nearly universal reach and highly-interactive nature, present
opportunities that are not available through other means. Through Web sites, organizations
can increase revenues, decrease costs and build tighter relationships with their
customers, employees and business partners.
But Web sites can require substantial investments to create and maintain. Web site
spending by companies ranges from $15,000 for small companies to more than $1 million for
large companies. Whether you are considering a Web site for the Internet or your Intranet,
it's important that you plan and implement it carefully. Only in this way will you realize
the full potential of your site and gain a handsome return on your investment.
Planning and building a Web site requires expertise in a wide variety of new areas,
including Web technologies, the unique aspects of the Web as a medium and the cyberworld
resources available, such as Web search engines and Web advertising, to help you generate
traffic to your site. To get on the Web quickly, without sacrificing the effectiveness or
quality of your Web site, you may want to seek assistance from outside organizations that
specialize in Web planning, deployment and refinement.
This paper describes the explosive growth of Web technology and its potential. It also
presents a six-step, business-oriented process for planning, deploying and maintaining an
effective Web site. These steps provide an overview of the factors you need to consider in
incorporating the power of the Web into your business. Use these steps as a guide to help
you tap the full potential of the Web and make it an integral part of your overall
business strategy.
Background
Web technology makes possible exciting new business models for marketing,
communications, commerce, publishing, advertising, client/server applications, telephony,
business process optimization, entertainment and eventually broadcasting. With a Web site,
an organization can reach a worldwide audience of literally millions of people, quickly
and effectively. Because the Web is interactive, it can custom-tailor the information it
delivers to each person for maximum impact. That's why organizations and individuals are
implementing Web sites at an astonishing rate.
Today, an estimated 400,000 public Web sites are in operation. ActivMedia predicts that
Web site expenditures will reach nearly $2.6 billion by 1998. The Yankee Group estimates
that annual Web site spending by companies with less than 100 employees ranges from
$15,000 to $25,000. For companies with between 100 and 500 employees, that range increases
to $75,000 to $125,000. For companies with more than 500 employees, annual Web site
spending is estimated to range between $250,000 and $1 million.
In a June 1996 survey of 1,100
businesses that are already conducting business on their Web sites, ActiveMedia found that
31 percent said they were profitable, and 28 percent more said they expect to be
profitable in the next 12 to 24 months. These 1,100 businesses accounted for $130 million
in Web commerce revenues in June 1996óan annual run rate of over $1.5 billion. This $130
million represents only a small portion of the total business conducted on the Web.
The potential audience on the Internet is enormous. More than 35 million Americans now
use the Internet, 9 million of whom started using it in 1996. International Data
Corporation (IDC) predicts that in 1999, there will be 199 million Internet users. The Web
is a particularly attractive medium because it reaches consumers as well as business
users. Today, 40 percent of computer users in business are connected to the Internet
compared to 30 percent of home users. IDC expects the percentage of both to more than
double by the year 2000, increasing to 95 percent of home and 95 percent of business
computer users connected.
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Key statistics:
- There are about 400,000 Web sites in
operation today.
- Web site expenditures will reach nearly
$2.6 billion by 1998.
- 31 percent of todayís Web-based
businesses are profitable.
- IDC estimates that there will be 199
million Internet users in 1999.
- 40 percent of business computer users and
30 percent of home users are already connected to the Internet.
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A business-oriented approach to
effective Web sites
Because of the attractive potential of Web technology--such as its worldwide reach and
ability to interact with users-and the apparent ease of building sites, many organizations
are rushing headlong to establish Internet and Intranet Web sites. But many are taking a
haphazard approach, resulting in wasted money and, more significantly, lost opportunity.
Forrester Research found that one of the most common mistakes companies make when
implementing Web sites is not having a clear vision or purpose for the sites.
Web sites can represent a significant investment in time and resources. That's why,
whether you are considering a Web site for the public Internet or your corporate Intranet,
it's important that you pursue a well thought-out process in planning, implementing and
monitoring your site.
The following sections of this paper present a business-oriented approach to planning,
deploying and refining your Web site. By addressing the factors identified in this
process, you can take full advantage of the power of Web sites to maintain a competitive
edge. There are six fundamental steps in the process:
- Step 1: Understand the medium
- Step 2: Plan your Web site
A. Define your goals
- Step 3: Deploy your Web site
- Step 4: Market your Web site
- Step 5: Analyze the results
- Step 6: Refine and maintain your Web site
These steps are presented individually in the following sections.
Step 1: Understand the medium
Before you can realize the full benefits of a Web site, you need to understand the
capabilities of the Web and the exciting possibilities unleashed by these capabilities.
There are three stages to reaching this understanding: lay the foundation; understand the
possibilities of Internet Web sites; and understand the possibilities of Intranet Web
sites.
Lay the
foundation
In laying the foundation, it is important to consider three factors. First, understand
the nature of the Internet and corporate Intranetóin particular the nature of the Web as
a unique and dynamic medium. The Web has aspects that are similar to other media: it can
be used to disseminate information, to target specific audiences and to generate direct
response. It also has many aspects that are new and different from other media.
One of the most important differences of the Web as a medium is its interactive nature.
That makes it much more personal. According to an article in the September 23, 1996 issue
of Business Week, "The successful Web players are not simply replacing
existing businesses in the new online medium, they are taking full advantage of the
unique, interactive nature of the Internet." This applies equally to Internet and
Intranet Web sites. To exploit interaction fully, you need to become aware of the dynamics
of users' interaction with Web sites.
The second factor to consider in laying the foundation is to understand your
competitors' Web presence. This includes an understanding of the brands and products they
are emphasizing, their promotional plans and main messages, their target audience and how
they are reaching these targets.
The Web itself provides a rich source of competitive information. Many of your
competitors probably post a wealth of information about themselves on the Web. You can use
this information to learn their products and positioning. You can also evaluate their Web
expertise by the quality and functionality of their Web sites.
The third factor to consider in laying the foundation is to understand the flexibility
and responsiveness made possible by the Web. The Web provides an exciting opportunity to
experiment and learn. Unlike more static media, you can quickly incorporate new ideas into
your site and observe the effects of changes to content, organization and navigation.
According to the Business Week article cited earlier, "The successful Web
trailblazers exhibit the ability to adapt, to scrap what's not working and improvise a new
business plan on the fly."
Understand the
possibilities of Internet Web sites
After you have laid the foundation for
learning, you can familiarize yourself with the potential of Internet Web sites. Remember,
the Internet extends your reach to a worldwide audience, and it allows you to interact
with that audience. The possibilities are exciting:
- Reach new audiences. The Web provides a new and unique opportunity to reach
audiences that have been impossible or hard to reach with traditional media. For example,
the 18 to 34 year-old audience represents an estimated 40 percent of Internet Web surfers.
Not only can you reach new audiences, you can also present richer messages than with other
media. That's because the Web's multimedia capabilities can include audio, video and
animation.
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An Internet Web site can
help you:
- Reach new audiences.
- Sell products and services.
- Generate brand awareness.
- Increase customer satisfaction.
- Disseminate information.
- Receive feedback.
- Automate business processes.
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- Sell products and services. A recent report by Forrester indicates that consumers
are eager to buy products online. The report predicts that $518 million worth of goods
will be sold online in 1996 alone, and will increase to $6.6 billion by the year 2000.
Many companies use the Web as an additional sales channel that augments their existing,
traditional channels. Through the Web, these companies are exposing their products and
services to new audiences that are not available to their traditional channels. Large as
well as small businesses are taking advantage of the Web. Dell Computer, for example,
opened its Web store in July 1996. The company expects to sell $20 to $30 million worth of
PCs per quarter from that site.
- Enhance brand awareness. A Web site can deliver a richer brand identity than
other media. You can augment traditional text and graphics with more engaging multimedia,
including animation, audio and video. More importantly, Web technology helps you develop
more individualized relationships with your customers by enabling you to deliver
information that is custom-tailored to each customer. As a result, you can generate brand
awareness that has increased personal meaning to each customer.
- Increase customer satisfaction. Because of its extensive reach and high level of
interaction, a Web site can help you provide better service, better information, better
support, and develop a closer relationship with your customers.
- Disseminate information. Through your Internet Web site you can provide easy
access to information about your products, services and company. This helps you move
customers more quickly to the next step in the sales cycle.
- Receive feedback. Solicit feedback from Web site visitors. Customers are more apt
to respond because it's so easy and anonymous. They simply enter the information requested
on a questionnaire or survey page and click a button to send it to you.
- Automate business processes. Automate a variety of business processes by
redeploying them to a Web site. Federal Express, for example, permits customers to check
the status of their packages on a Web site. As a result, up-to-date information is readily
available to customers without the cost of additional support personnel.
Understand the
possibilities of Intranet Web sites
Intranet Web sites can plug
in to your existing network infrastructure. As a result, they leverage your network
investment. Because they operate over your existing network, Intranet Web sites are easier
to secure than those on the Internet.
Like Web sites on the Internet, Intranet Web sites present a number of possibilities
that can revolutionize the way you do business: |
An Intranet Web site can
help you:
- Automate business processes.
- Redeploy client/server solutions
- Disseminate information.
- Facilitate a collaborative culture
- Increase employee satisfaction.
- Receive feedback.
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- Automate business processes. Automate a variety of internal business processes on
your Web site for increased efficiency. For example, many organizations are using Intranet
Web sites to automate the distribution and administration of internal documents, including
policies and procedures, benefit selections, financial information, telephone lists and
job postings. Electronic distribution eliminates the high cost of updating and
distributing paper documents every time an update occurs.
- Redeploy client/server solutions. By redeploying client/server solutions to Web
sites, you provide universal access to information without the need to install and manage
specialized client software. Users can access the information they need through their
standard Web browsers. Many organizations are already redeploying client/server
applications in human resources, accounting, sales management and executive information
services onto their Intranet Web sites. These Web-based applications are considerably less
expensive to maintain and manage than traditional client/server solutions.
- Disseminate information. Through your Intranet Web site you can disseminate
internal information to employees and even to business partners, such as suppliers and
contractors. You can use your Web site to present information in new and engaging ways, so
your employees will be more apt to access the information. Your business partners will
also appreciate being kept "in the loop."
- Facilitate a collaborative culture. Because important information flows more
freely through Intranet Web sites, it is easier for your employees to become more engaged,
involved and interactive-within their own departments and workgroups as well as with other
departments and workgroups.
- Increase employee satisfaction. Use your Web site to keep employees informed and
solicit their feedback on matters that are important to them. As a result, you'll build
closer relationships with them.
- Receive feedback. Because of its ease of interaction, a Web site can help you
obtain valuable feedback from your employees and business partners. Use this information
to improve service and support to these people who are so important to your business.
Step 2: Plan your Web site
| After you have developed
an understanding of the Internet and Intranet, you are ready for the next step-planning
your Web site. This is, perhaps, the most important step because it establishes the basis
for your Web site business plan. In the planning step, you determine the opportunities
the Web presents to your organization and then define your objectives accordingly. It is
important to develop your Web site business plan within the context of your overall
business plan. Be sure to address two major issues: |
Important issues to consider in
planning:
- Plan your site within the context of your
overall business strategy.
- Define your goals.
- Identify opportunities to increase
revenue.
- Identify opportunities to decrease costs.
- Define your target audience.
- Establish and monitor objectives.
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- How does the Web site support your existing business objectives?
- Does the Web present new opportunities that are not currently available to you? These
should be integrated into your overall business plan.
Look for opportunities to increase revenue and decrease costs. In defining your
objectives, it is important to determine your target audience, and to build in the means
to monitor your progress in accomplishing your objectives.
Identify
opportunities to increase revenue
The Web presents a variety of ways to increase revenue:
- Enhance brand awareness. Because of its multimedia capability, the web can help
you increase brand awareness through richer, more engaging brand identity.
- Enhance product awareness. Increase the awareness of your product to a specific
target audience.
- Boost lead generation. Take advantage of the interactive nature of the web to
capture leads.
- Speed lead response. Because you get leads immediately, you can respond faster,
while the customer is still "hot."
- Reach new customers. Because of its worldwide reach, the Web helps you reach
customers who may not be available through other media.
- Add a new sales channel. Add online sales that are incremental to those of your
traditional off-line channels such as retail and direct mail.
- Increase sales through existing channels. In addition to providing a new sales
channel, the Web can also boost sales through your existing channels by increasing product
and brand awareness.
- Improved customer service and support. The Web presents opportunities to increase
revenue indirectly through enhanced customer service and support.
Identify
opportunities to decrease costs
You can use both Internet and Intranet Web sites to reduce costs and improve
productivity in external and internal business processes:
- Reduce support costs. It is often cheaper, easier and more effective to support
customers over the Internet than through more traditional methods such as telephone
support. In addition, corporations can support employees and business partners over their
corporate Intranets, keeping them informed and soliciting their feedback.
- Reduce sales costs. Sales over the Internet typically require less overhead and
less sales support than traditional sales channels. A Web site can reduce dependence on
more expensive sales channels, including retail.
- Reduce inventory costs. A Web site can help you reduce inventory costs by
shortening sales cycles. In addition, the Web can help you reduce inventory costs by
shortening supply cycles from your vendors.
- Reduce materials costs. Save paper production, printing and distribution costs by
disseminating information electronically over the Internet or Intranet. For example, you
can publish annual reports, distribute marketing materials and present customer support
tips on your Internet Web site. An Intranet Web site can lower the cost of delivering
internal manuals and forms.
Define your
target audience and their motivations
The Web gives you the ability to reach audiences that are out of the reach of other
media. But reaching your audience is only part of the task. It is essential that your Web
site be carefully tailored to your target audience. Just as with any other medium, you
need to know your audience to take full advantage of the Web. Ask yourself the following
questions about your target audience:
- Who are they. Are they consumers, business customers, business partners,
government organizations, or your own employees? What are their demographics?
- What are their qualifications?. What is their level of familiarity with
computers? Are they "netheads?" Are they technically oriented? Are they
consumers?
- How will they access your Web site? Will they use network or dial-up connections?
What is their typical modem speed? What kind of browsers will they use? These factors
influence the content of your site. For example, if your target audience typically uses
dial-up connections, you should not include graphics that will require long download
times.
Establish and
monitor objectives
Once you have an understanding of how the Web fits your business, you can establish
your objectives. You should define these objectives in the context of your overall
business objectives. Only in this way can you tap the synergy between the Web and other
tools available to you. In particular, you need to establish the role of your Web site in
your overall marketing mix.
You also need to set up methods and metrics to monitor and evaluate your Web site-on a
continuing basis. The site can provide feedback in two ways: It can collect data
automatically, such as the number of visits to each page and the paths visitors take
through the site. You can also solicit feedback from visitors through questionnaires and
survey forms on your site.
The metrics you establish for monitoring should be objective and measurable. Use them
to evaluate the effectiveness of your site in meeting the objectives you have established.
Are you reaching your intended audience? What incremental sales are attributable to the
site? What cost savings have you realized by automating business processes on a Web site?
Are you finding increased employee satisfaction because of improved information flow
through your Intranet site? Is your overhead reduced because of lower printing costs
(external or internal) or lower sales costs?
Step 3: Deploy your Web site
After you have completed the understanding and planning steps, it's time to deploy your
site. In deploying your site, take into account the following factors:
- Design your site from a usability perspective and not merely from an aesthetic
perspective. Rather than just looking for an award-winning, "cool" site,
consider the site visitors. Make the site easy to navigate. And don't scare visitors away
or frustrate them with a multitude of snazzy graphics that take forever to load.
- Build in the means to monitor and continually evaluate your Web site. Treat your
site just as you would any other business tool.
- Take advantage of the highly interactive nature of the Web. Solicit visitor
information.
What you'll
need
There are a staggering number of Web-related tools for creating and posting Web sites,
and new tools are appearing every day. The cost of evaluating, purchasing, integrating,
learning and using these tools can be significant. And it often requires expertise in new
scripting languages such as HTML. In addition, if you want to add pizzazz and include such
capabilities as soliciting feedback, you'll need expertise in other, more complex
programming languages such as Java, Shockwave and CGI Script.
Your site should be easy to navigate, so that visitors can quickly move to the pages
they need. (How many times have you left a Web site in frustration because you couldn't
easily navigate it?) A well-designed site requires expertise in the unique interactive
aspects of the Web medium.
Fortunately, there are organizations that specialize in Web site planning, design,
construction, deployment, monitoring and maintenance. These Web professionals can provide
you with the expertise you need to create and deploy an effective Web site.
Many organizations are already turning to Web professionals for assistance. IDC and Network
World jointly conduct an annual survey called the Network World 500. In this
survey, they interview 500 organizations that are among the leading networking users in
the United States. These are companies with more than 1,000 employees, multiple sites with
internetworked LANs and WANs and annual networking expenditures of more than $5 million.
The 1996 survey reveals that 23.1 percent of these companies are using outside firms for
installation and maintenance of their Web server hardware and software, and 22.1 percent
are using outside services for their Web site content design and maintenance. Smaller
companies, with 100 to 1,000 employees, are outsourcing at an even greater rate.
Integrate your
objectives
Before actually building your site, you should determine how your site can help you
accomplish your business goals and objectives. Take a holistic approach, that is, don't
look at the Web site in isolation but rather in the context of your overall business plan.
Understand how your cyberworld objectives relate to your physical world objectives.
Understand the role of each medium within your marketing mix, and leverage the strengths
of each.
Try to make it all work together. Support each marketing objective across multiple
media where possible. For example, cross-promote among media. Strive for synergy and
consistency. Even though the individual messages may vary to leverage the unique strengths
of each medium, the overall flavor should be consistent across media.
Build your
site
After you have integrated your objectives, it's time to build your site. Using the
three-phased approach outlined below will help you get on the Web quickly without
jeopardizing quality or effectiveness. It will also provide a valuable learning
environment, enabling you to adjust your business model to get maximum leverage from your
Web site as you gain experience.
- First, repurpose existing materials to the Web site in a compelling manner. This
does not mean merely copying existing paper documents to the Web server. It means adapting
existing materials for online use. Adding a table of contents that provides hypertext
links to document sections facilitates navigation considerably. Adding links within and
across documents further simplifies navigation. Keep it simple and intuitive for the
visitors coming to the site.
- Second, begin moving appropriate business processes to Web sites. Consider both
external and internal processes for deployment on the Internet and Intranet. Increase the
geographical impact of your Web site. Take advantage of the Web's potential to engage
target audiences. You may even begin conducting basic commerce operations over the
Internet and Intranet during this phase. Some processes may require that you integrate the
Internet with your Intranet. For example, it may not be practical to give an offshore
supplier a direct connection to your Intranet Web site. You can however, allow that
supplier to connect to your Intranet Web site through the Internet. As you increase the
number of processes you deploy, the more your customers, vendors and employees will view
your Web site as a viable place to conduct business. The result … you'll improve
access and service to your customers, suppliers and employees, and tighten your
relationships with them. And you'll increase revenues and reduce costs at the same time.
- Third, grow and evolve your Web site. Create active content that can be
customized for each visitor. Evolve your site into a full business entity--with its own
goals, objectives and strategies. Above all, keep your site dynamic. Your site will become
a strong adjunct to many of your organization's business activities and will soon be
considered as mission-critical by the various groups with which you interact.
Step 4: Market your Web site
Merely implementing a Web site, no matter how "cool," does not ensure that
your intended audience will visit it. Even when they do visit it, it does not ensure that
they will return. As a result of the large number of Web sites already on the Internet,
your site can get lost in the shuffle unless it is properly promoted as an extension to
your current marketing efforts or business processes. Even with internal Intranets,
promotion is essential to ensure that your target audience is aware of them and uses them
to their fullest capability.
You need to engage in active marketing to draw an audience to your site and keep them
coming back. There are a variety of ways to market and promote your Web site, many using
the Web itself.
Leverage
existing marketing resources
You can generate Web traffic by extending your traditional marketing programs. This may
be as simple as adding your Web site URL to your existing marketing collateral, press
releases, advertisements, on-hold messages and product packaging. Once you've caught a
customer's eye through traditional marketing activities, let them know that more extensive
information is available on your Web site. That helps you build qualified site visitors
who are interested in your content. Also include areas that tie in to your latest non-Web
marketing activities and promotions.
List with
online information and directory resources
Several types of online resources help Net surfers find information on topics of
interest, including companies that provide the products and services they are looking for.
You should list your site with as many appropriate resources as possible. Unfortunately,
thousands of resources are available, making comprehensive coverage difficult. Online
resources fall into four categories:
- Search engines. These sites utilize indexing software agents, often called robots
or spiders, that continually "crawl" the Web. They visit virtually every site in
search of new or updated pages. When an agent visits a site, it records the full text of
every page and visits all external links. Agents revisit sites periodically to refresh
their databases.
- Directories. Unlike search engines, directories do not employ indexing software
agents. Instead they require you to register your Web site with them. Directories are
usually subdivided into categories, so you need to submit your site under appropriate
headings. Listing your site in as many relevant directories as possible helps to ensure
that visitors find your site when they are searching.
- Announcement sites. The explosion of sites being added to the Web has resulted in
the establishment of announcement sites that track all new Web sites. These sites announce
different types of new Internet documents-such as new Web pages, new articles and new
resources. Announcements are posted for only a short period of time. When they remove a
document from their "What's New" section, however, most announcement sites
archive it so users can continue to access it.
- Award site and cool site guides. These guides are becoming a popular source for
finding interesting and useful Web sites. Guides post and rate only a small percentage of
the sites submitted to them, and typically select only one new site per day. You should
ensure that the people who maintain award and cool site lists are aware of your site. Make
sure your site is "rate-worthy" before submitting it for rating. Being selected
as an award site or cool site attracts high traffic-but only for a short time.
Advertise on
other Web sites
Web advertising is maturing as a marketing strategy and is now being brokered by
existing and new agencies. Advertising on targeted Web sites can help you build traffic
for your Web site.
As with other media, message, location and timing are critical components of a
successful banner advertising campaign. Targeting the right audience with the right
message provides a greater return than a high number of impressions to an untargeted
audience.
Promote your
Intranet Web site internally
Your Intranet Web site will be effective only if your employees and business partners
are aware of it and use it. That's why you need to promote your Web site internally. There
are a number of methods you can use to promote your site, including:
- Feature the Web site in employee newsletters.
- Distribute flyers or posters promoting the site.
- Post site information on company bulletin boards.
- Encourage managers to talk up the site to their subordinates and at company meetings.
- Conduct promotional programs such as internal contests based on some aspect of Web site
use.
- Conduct training sessions on using the site.
- Keep your business partners informed about your Web site.
Get help from
outside sources
As in building a Web site, marketing and promoting a site requires specialized
expertise. Fortunately, there are a number of firms available to help you promote and
market your site. These firms offer a variety of services, including:
- Web site submission to top search engines and directories.
- Search engine triggering analysis and query result improvement.
- Nomination to appropriate award, new announcement and review sites.
- Arrangement of strategic links with related Web sites.
- Press release submission.
- Competitive research and evaluation.
- Interactive, banner type Web advertisements.
- Web advertisement placement strategy.
Some firms offer specialized services. For example, there are Web site promotion firms
that employ automated tools to register Web sites electronically with search engines and
directories. These firms typically offer a free service to submit a site's URL to the top
general search engines and simple directories. They also offer extended tools that
register a site at a considerably larger number of resources, and they can target specific
topics or geographic locations. Other firms offer Web site marketing and consulting
packages that include a combination of services.
Step 5: Analyze the results
It is important to monitor and evaluate your Web site continually to ensure that it's
meeting objectives. In the planning stage, you determined what data you would gather and
what metrics you would employ to analyze that data. Based on the data and metrics, you can
analyze your Web site on a variety of dimensions depending on your needs.
There are two primary purposes for analysis. One is to evaluate the effectiveness of
your site and compare it to your traditional marketing programs and business processes.
The second purpose is to provide information to help you continually evolve and tune your
site. Remember to evaluate Web results in the overall context of your business strategies
to determine if the results meet your business objectives.
In analyzing your site, look at the data you gather online, including:
- Number of site visits and specific page visits per day. How large an audience are
you reaching? Which pages are most popular? Which pages are least popular?
- Visitor paths through the site. How do users typically travel through your site?
Which paths are most often taken?
- Solicited online feedback. Look at information gathered from solicited online
responses, such as questionnaires, that are posted on your Web site. This valuable
information can help you optimize your site to the needs of your customers.
- Visits derived from ad banners. Analyze how well banners are working. Determine
which banners are producing the most visits, and which are producing the most qualified
visitors.
Also, look at other data, such as:
- Solicited offline feedback: Analyze feedback from sources other than your Web
site. For example, look at customers' responses to questions asked by offline sales
personnel, such as "Where did you hear about our product or company?"
- Testimonial and anecdotal information. Take advantage of unsolicited information
as well as solicited information.
- Incremental revenue. Look for added revenue that is directly or indirectly
attributable to your Web site.
- Cost savings. Look for cost savings that are directly or indirectly attributable
to your Web site.
Use the information you gather to compare the results of your Web site programs to
those of your non-Web programs. You also need to compare the quality of the results for
each of these types of programs.
Step 6: Refine and Maintain your Web
site
The Web is the most dynamic medium available today. As a result, it's important to
establish a philosophy of changing and evolving your site continually to keep it fresh, at
maximum effectiveness and in tune with your overall business strategies.
You should establish a process that enables you to refine and update your Web site on a
continuing basis. The process should include the following components:
- Leverage interaction to improve your site. You will continue to get feedback on
your site. Use this feedback to help you modify your site. Establish an iterative process
to keep your Web site optimized. Take advantage of the dynamic and interactive nature of
the Web to provide a learning experience for your organization. Experiment and monitor the
results. Make changes and watch their effect. An iterative process enables you to involve
visitors in bringing your site up to its optimum potential and keeping it that way.
- Review site marketing strategies. Evaluate results in the context of your
marketing strategies and determine if the results are on- or off-track. Do this for both
Web site and non-Web site tactics.
- Review business strategies. Reconcile your Web site strategy in the context of
your overall business strategy. If you find the site is not meeting certain business
objectives, re-evaluate your Web business plan in light of these shortcomings. Establish a
process for continually refining your Web site objectives in light of new information. The
process should also include updating the role your Web site plays in your overall business
plan.
- Stay in tune with technology. As technology advances, you need to evolve your Web
site when appropriate in the context of your objectives.
Conclusions
A Web site can revolutionize the way you do business. It can help you increase
revenues, decrease costs and build tighter relationships with customers, employees and
business partners. As you gain experience with your Web site, you can continue to
integrate it with your business, taking advantage of its unparalleled reach and high level
of interaction to increase your competitive edge.
