By  : Linda Kaun 

 

The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.

 

Michael Porter, Author and Professor, Harvard Business School

Turn your website into a powerful marketing hub by deciding on a web business strategy right from the beginning. And when you center that decision on the needs, problems and concerns of your buyers, you'll create a clear message that will bring you the results youre looking for.

Who benefits from you deciding on your strategy?

First of all, you do. It helps you to clarify exactly what your message needs to be. This in turn lets your viewer know right away if you can help them or not. It saves you time and energy in explaining about who you are, what your services cover, or details about your products.

For lead generation, buyers are at least partially pre-sold when they reach you. Of course if your goal is online sales, a clear and persuasive website will only enhance your sales.

Creating a strategy early on also guides your direction for your website marketing plan once you're online.

A sound web business strategy starts with choosing the goal that's right for you.

What are some possible goals for your website?

Your overall goal might be to:

• Build your brand awareness
• Sell products or services online
• Generate sales leads, subscribers or members
• Offer training, seminars or product demonstrations

You may very well have several goals, but focusing on one overarching goal for the entire website pulls all the parts together into a cohesive whole. Different pages will also have a goal, but these help support the primary one.

When do you decide your strategy?

At the beginning of the process. Before a single word is written. This will save you much wasted effort in the long run. Otherwise you may get half way through your project and realize you're not really speaking to the right audience, or you ought to be focusing on this program not that one.

You may also have a website that needs updating. Perhaps you've added sections or pages over time and now it's not coordinated. This is even more important for you to go through the site, page by page, and make sure the overall structure and content still relate to your main goal.

Be aware your website is not finished when you get it online. It has to grow over time with added pages, links to new content, articles, demos, videos, podcasts or a blog. By planning for this growth from the outset, you'll easily maintain your overall strategic goals.

How do you shape the page to match your goal?

By deciding on the main objective of each page you get a clear message across. This lets you focus on the appropriate keywords for that page so the page itself comes up in the search engines. If the page has too much going on, it's more difficult for your reader to stay focused as well.

Sometimes you might have several options on one page. On the home page for example, you might have a choice of three directions the reader can go. Separate links act as a gateway, a directory, to move the reader deeper into your offerings.