A Simple Look at Web Strategy
After asking the question Do you have a Web Strategy?, I thought it was important to give a closer look at what the term really means.
My first post on the Viget Labs blog is entitled Defining Web Strategy. Here is the definition I came up with:
An organization’s web strategy is an actionable plan devised to achieve measurable results on the web. “Measurable results” require a web proprietor to have a specific goal (or set of goals) in mind for their web presence. The actionable plan provides recommendations based on these goals by analyzing web presence and web data in relation to effectiveness with all web stakeholders.
Or as I put more simply: “web strategy is your plan to achieve what you consider success on the web.”
One of the things I am hoping to do is create a list of the various best practices and tools that can be utilized to execute web strategy. That list would likely consist of web analytics, SEO, etc.
Any thoughts as to what should be included?
November 9, 2006 at 10:22 am
Hi Ken,
Great that you discuss web strategy. This will be a real important (and new) item on the CIO and CEO’s agenda!
Because nowadays web touches business directly, I would suggest to extend your definition with the success in business terms. Business terms like: target groups reached (that could not have been reached without the internet), efficiency brought by new business processes, innovation that took place as a result of the use of internet.
Gartner analysts predict that winners will be the companies who are executing well their IT- and webstrategy and losers will be the companies that are doing that poorly. So business success is very much coupled with succesful application of IT and web!
November 9, 2006 at 10:31 am
Joost…great thoughts. Not sure if you actually got to read the post at Viget. But I think it’s important not to define success in this definition for a number of reasons. One of the more important ones is that success varies for the organization attempting to execute the strategy…here is what I wrote on the Viget blog (which I encourage you to read):
“I think it is important to note that web strategy is not the end game. It is not the goal, but rather the means to it. Typical organizational goals include selling more widgets, increasing membership/donations, or achieving greater awareness of brand and messaging.”
November 15, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Ken,
I know I am preaching to the choir when I say that “if you fail to plan, you’ll plan to fail.” Most technology experts, whether in IT or in business consulting, constantly remind their clients that it is in their customers’ best interest to implement Best Practices early on across all their processes. Rather than just doing the right things, it is equally important to avoid critical mistakes that could not only cost a lot of headaches, but also result in significant expenditures and time.
I have blogged/collected over the last three years a bunch of resources and articles that may stimulate your discussion, although I am afraid that most of them are rather mundane, actionable items …
Cheers,
Uli
P.S. Here’s the URL: http://brightlaunch.com/category/resources/best-practices/