Internet Strategy - Forward Thinking and Beyond
Remember the early days of Web site development? When it was cool just to develop a Web site, any Web site, like a cowboy riding into the wild west with nothing but your wits to guide you. The speed at which companies built sites was reminiscent of a gunfight; the Web arrived, someone shouted "draw!" and everyone rushed to build a site more quickly than the other guy.
Well, those gun-slinging days may be over, and that cowboy posse may have moved on; but the Internet frontier remains just as wild, and there is still plenty of unknown territory to stake out. Now building a Web site is a major undertaking, a task demanding the combined efforts of many in an organization. Now an integral element of marketing strategy, Web sites must meet complex interrelated needs, and must do so while providing exceptional human experiences.
Today and the future
Yet another major shift is taking place in business, driven by Internet technology. Though somewhat quieter than the initial information revolution, the shift to the executable Internet, where customers can interact directly with an organization, is happening. Customers are developing higher expectations of the Internet, and the services organizations can provide via the Web. Increasingly, customers expect to be able to visit a Web site and conduct business, to purchase goods, and to obtain customized information. However, a great deal of what is available online currently does not meet visitor expectations. Many people can recall frustrating experiences registering for an event or making a purchase online. Given the high level of resources required to develop these services, it is no longer feasible just to build a Web site; rather, organizations need to develop comprehensive Internet strategies tightly integrated with overall marketing, branding and organizational strategies.
Developing an effective Internet strategy demands much more than just building a Web site. Internet strategy takes time, expert knowledge of an organization's needs, its niche marketplace, its target consumers, and the range of technology available. Having the right expertise is key; without it, an organization risks wasting huge investments in time and money.
An Internet strategy must achieve three correlated goals:
First, and highest on any organization's priority list, a Web site must meet visitor goals. Consumers not only expect up to date information, increasingly they expect to be able to interact with the organization, to exchange information, and to conduct business transactions online. They expect the Web site to be easy to find, easy to recognize, and above all, easy to use; if not, the competition is just next door (a single click away). If an organization does not strive to provide the best human experience possible, they risk losing visitors and consequently losing business. In a shift to an information services driven economy there needs to be a renewed focus on "the human experience". A given brand will soon be only as good as the online experience its Web site delivers.
Second, Internet strategy must be an integral part of an organization's overall marketing plan. It must drive the organization's brand, and must be effectively marketed across all channels, from brochures and radio ads, to search engines and email messages. Media convergence is becoming a necessity: offline communications must mirror those online and vice versa. Inconsistency only undermines a brand.
Third, the technology involved must be well chosen, must meet consumer expectations, and must be robust. The rapid progress of server technology, software development, and the widespread adoption of high-speed Internet access are dramatically changing the Internet and how it is used. Organizations must make informed choices regarding the technology they employ; it is imperative that they choose the right tool for the right job. Technology, when chosen carefully and applied with business needs in mind, can introduce new efficiencies and increase profitability.
Obviously, developing a plan to achieve all of these goals is a daunting task, and most organizations do not possess the expertise to do so. Professional Internet services firms - firms with a sound knowledge of business needs, and an ability to address those needs with technology - begin with the premise that the Web is a tool, and a company's Internet strategy must make the best use of that tool to meet the needs of their target audiences. Organizations should regard their Internet development partners as they do lawyers and accountants - standard service partners every successful organization must engage.
A successful Internet strategy must address a wide range of elements. Professional Internet Services firms ensure these issues are addressed by breaking them down into seven fundamental segments; the building blocks of business-driven Internet strategies.
1 Branding
First and foremost, a Web site must clearly communicate an organization's brand; it must work in concert with all of an organizations' communications tools (regardless of medium) to deliver one clear, consistent image. A well-defined identity helps customers identify an organization effortlessly and instills confidence in the marketing messages being delivered, not to mention the organization as a whole.
Case 1: MacLaren Art Centre: www.maclarenart.com
A mid-size, non-profit, community oriented art gallery, the MacLaren opened a brand-new state of the art facility in 2001 in Barrie's downtown core, and has consequently enjoyed a large increase in attendance, and participation at events and classes, a 30% jump in membership. With this growth comes an increased expectation of the MacLaren to look professional both on- and off-line while maintaining a strong reputation as a community-centric organization. The MacLaren needed to deliver consistent messaging both on- and off-line. By redeveloping the Web site within a fully articulated branding strategy that emphasizes participation and interaction the MacLaren was able to reinforce the marketing strategy and meet the public's expectations of the growing organization.2 Human experience
Exceptional human experiences set organizations above the competition. To create Web sites that are easily navigable, and that present straightforward tasks, takes careful forethought, and accurate knowledge about visitors' abilities and goals, as well as the level of technology via which they are accessing the Internet.There are two key ways to increase the usability of a site:
First, create positive redundancy. Provide several different navigation features to appear on every page in the same location, for instance, a left-hand navigation menu, a search function, and a site map. Employ conventional Web design cues, particularly those used by other organizations in the same niche market.
Second, provide positive feedback. Each time a customer interacts with the site, give them a positive message explaining the result of their action, and what their next steps should be.
Providing customers exceptional experiences works positively in two ways. It enables visitors to achieve their goals, thus reinforcing their overall positive perception of an organization. It also allows an organization the opportunity to retain and reengage site visitors. If a Web site is easy to use, visitors are more likely to use it regularly. Simple but effective: regular, happy visitors are generally more open to targeted marketing strategies, helping an organization to drive particular products or services, as necessary.
Case 2: Simcoe County District School Board: www.scdsb.on.ca
The SCDSB Web site must provide large amounts of information quickly and easily to teachers and other education professionals. Before redevelopment, the site did not have any standard navigational features built into the site architecture. By redeveloping it along utilitarian lines, with standard navigational cues on every page, such as menu bars, a search function, and a site map, it is much more functional and now meets the needs of the school board's target audience.
3 Search engine visibility
Online visibility is a third critical component of a successful Internet strategy. A staggering 85% of Internet traffic comes from the top three engines: Google, MSN, and Yahoo!. To achieve top rankings in search engines requires professional expertise. Search engine algorithms are constantly updated, and search engine spiders are engineered to find Web site structures that fit certain criteria. While this can create difficulties for the uniformed, knowledgeable and diligent search engine marketers can reap great rewards.
Business-to-business (B2B) organizations know that the value of a new customer is typically very high. And once an affiliation has been forged the lifetime value of that single business relationship can be in the hundreds, thousands, or even millions, of dollars. That makes search engine placement a particularly critical part of many B2B marketing managers' overall plans. Regardless of where prospects are in the buying cycle, chances are that searching is part of their daily information collection routine. Prospects may be researching:
- Features and Benefits
- Usage practices
- Reliability issues
- Costs
- Substitutability for other products or services
- Manufacturer reputation and customer support
- Testimonials or case studies
- Supplier/distributor locations
A well-crafted marketing plan, which includes both paid placements and organic (non-paid) search strategies, is an organizations' best approach to ensure that potential customers seeking this type of information find the site. While sometimes difficult to assess, knowing the success of organic search engine results versus paid placements provides valuable information when allocating marketing funds.
Corollary to developing solid search engine strategy is developing good follow-through. The landing page that visitors first view on your web site must be exceptional; first impressions count, and an excellent first impression reinforced by an immediate call to action is the best strategy an organization has to engage and retain potential customers.
Case 3: Flags Unlimited:
An industry leader in custom flag and banner manufacturing located in Barrie, Flags Unlimited's search engine results did not reflect their position in their marketplace. A new site was carefully developed to not only showcase their manufacturing technology and innovation but also improve the organization's organic search results. Flags Unlimited's sales from their Web site increased to represent 43% of customer sales in the last year from the help of their increased search engine visibility and innovative Web design.
4 Web Content Management
Straightforward in theory, the constant need for timely and relevant Web content can be difficult to put into practice. Customers expect a Web site to be absolutely up to date and absolutely accurate, but the process of developing and publishing content, particularly when whole departments are responsible for different sections of a site, can be difficult to manage. A web content management system must be utilized and the system should provide for workflow management, content scheduling, versioning, navigation and web page management, search engine friendly pages, content editing via a rich text editor, among other technical features and requirements.
Related to the need for a Web content management process is a Web site specific marketing plan. The two are complementary as both must be developed in conjunction with the site, and both must be continued throughout the lifetime of the site. Workflow planning for Web content management, and targeted Web site marketing are key elements of Internet strategy development.
Case 4: World Vision Canada: www.worldvision.ca
An organization of over 100 employees, with many different projects underway simultaneously, many departments and different managers were responsible for different sections of the Web site content. Instead of relying on the technical team primarily for technical support, they were also responsible for editing content - not their field of expertise! The process of updating the Web site was taking literally weeks, even for simple changes. By introducing a site driven by a Web content management system, even non-technical people are able to update the editorial content of the Website, and thus the process can be broken down by department. Now instead of waiting for edits, each department is directly responsible for maintaining their own content, and the technical team can focus on providing technical support.
5 Web statistics analysis
Just as Web content management and Web site marketing strategies must be on-going processes, so must statistical reporting on Web site traffic and activities. Accurate statistics provide valuable information an organization can use to evaluate - and to evolve - search engine and other marketing strategies. It is important to invest in an accurate reporting tool; most freeware applications do not provide the quality of information necessary to inform Internet strategy development. Web analytics can facilitate either moving an Internet strategy forward or adjusting it, as required.
Case 5: Simcoe Community Access Network (SCAN):
A non-profit organization, SCAN serves 17 Simcoe County municipalities, including Simcoe County (County.Simcoe.on.ca). Accurate reporting on the traffic makes the Web site much easier to maintain; since each municipal site is large, knowing which sections are popular means those sections are a maintenance priority. It also means that each municipality can provide targeted content to engage visitors on popular pages, encouraging visitors to spend more time on the site. Furthermore, Web statistics are one of the only accurate ways of measuring the impact of the services they provide - valuable information for applying for government grants, and reporting on success.
6 Reliable Web hosting
Simply stated, 100% reliable Web-hosting is imperative. Customers demand the sites and services they use be available, and reliable, not to mention secure. Today server technology can easily provide round-the-clock reliability.
When looking for Web hosting services, organizations should invest in more than just hosting, by considering full, value-added packages, which include data protection, application hosting, the provision of Web statistics, low cost per site updates, and, of course, a high level of customer service.
Organizations should also consider the ROI to be gained by outsourcing the site hosting compared to hosting in-house. If an organization is not in the business of hosting Web sites, then they should look for a knowledgeable and professional vendor with good experience, and a good history of customer service. A good vendor will have expert knowledge of hardware, software, and security technology, and will be constantly upgrading their services.
Case 6: The McQuaig Institute:
A global leader in providing Web-based tools for assessing, selecting, and retaining the best employees, the McQuaig Institute's online testing system is used 24 hours a day by organizations recruiting and retaining employees in the UK, Asia, Australia, and North America. Managed, reliable Web hosting is a must so that they can actively provide consistent customer satisfaction.
7 Forward thinking
Human interaction design - creating positive human experiences - is becoming more and more integral to professional Internet strategy development. For most businesses, a straightforward brochure site is insufficient. The era of the executable Internet is here; customers expect to interact with organizations, to conduct business, and to achieve their goals online, any time.
Developing Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) to support these consumer expectations is now a key business strategy. RIAs will only be successful if they work in concert with mainstream technology being implemented across the globe. Expert knowledge of industry standards is therefore fundamental to developing RIAs; Macromedia ColdFusion MX has become the standard development tool for Internet applications and it provides the ability to interface with existing Web services, and Microsoft .NET and J2EE technology that many businesses already employ. While HTML will continue to be the basic construction tool of the Internet (it is good for basic data presentation, and search engines rely on text strings), DHTML, XML, and Macromedia Flash MX are just a few of the additional tools which being increasingly used to create rich Internet experiences. These technologies allow for data sharing beyond basic desktop browsers to a wide range of devices and media.
As mobile computing becomes a working reality and the move to transparent data infrastructures becomes increasingly consumer-driven, an organization's data must meet these challenges with expert knowledge of the marketplace and changing technology, not to mention the relationship between the two. Internal business processes, marketing strategies and Internet application development are merging more closely all the time. Those organizations that push the Internet to deliver superior business value, that push the level of services available within their market niche, and that constantly move forward in the search for new opportunities, will succeed. Customers are savvy, and many are willing to pay higher costs for higher quality of service.
Case 7: Auto Sense Auto Parts:
A national distributor of after-market automotive parts, Auto Sense Auto Parts has developed an exceptionally strong brand image. To retain the integrity of the brand, and to provide member companies with a simple, flexible, and usable communications tool, Auto Sense developed an extranet (members only area) utility for creating marketing brochures quickly and easily from a database of auto parts images, stock company images and logos, and standard layouts. A unique Web-based marketing tool, this utility allows members to create flyers and other marketing materials that retain and reflect the integrity of the Auto Sense brand in their print material. It also eliminates slow layers of corporate approval process, and means individuals with no graphic design background can create professional materials.
Conclusion
In a constant state of flux, the Internet is once again witness to a fundamental shift, which is changing the nature of business transactions. Customers are increasingly expecting - demanding - to be able to conduct transactions, from shopping, to banking, to researching, to making travel arrangements, online, via RIAs. For an organization to succeed on the executable Internet, the development of a strategic Internet business plan is a must. A robust Internet development strategy must:
- Reflect an organization's brand strategy,
- Provide positive human experiences,
- Have good online visibility,
- Be updated regularly and consistently,
- Be supported by integrated marketing,
- Be continually informed (and improved) by statistical analysis,
- Be reliably hosted, and
- Absolutely - make creative use of the best technology that is available and relevant to a given market place.
A long and daunting list of musts, all of which are fundamental to successful business development. So while nearly any cowboy can rope together a Web site, for success in the era of the executable Internet, an organization should regard their professional Internet services firm as they would their accountant. Without expert knowledge, success is not possible in such a dynamic environment.
