Web strategies for success
At most client briefings there are quite often common goals; improve usability, make us different, make sure we are better than our competitors. Which are fine but these objectives have now become ‘the norm’ and get recycled over and over, it’s a safe option and familiar to everyone involved. Objectives like these may lead to change but vary rarely do they lead the client to progress – conventional thinking that leads to conventional results!
By thinking outside the box we can overcome the conventional way of thinking by using a few off the shelf strategies that do actually work:
- Competitors: Watch your competitors but don’t copy them or try to one up them. Just because your competitor is doing it does not necessarily mean it will work. You can’t lead your market by following the pack.
Don’t chase your competitors, CHASE YOUR CUSTOMERS!
- Usability: Most web build objectives include ‘improved usability’. While usability is a must for long-term success it really should be a given that the website will be useable for your customers. If your websites and products are not ‘useful’ as well as ‘usable’, then the best usability won’t help your customers find what they are looking for.
Be useful first; then be usable
- Functionality: Making a list of all the functionality and features that you would like to include in your new website, then designing the website around these ‘features’ will lead to unsatisfactory customer experiences because you are not aiming your products or services at your customer. Most customers do not care about features and functionality they just want the information about your products and services – quickly and easily.
Design you website around your customers; NOT FUNCTIONALITY
- Findability: You can have the ‘best’ website in the world with all your products and services easily navigable by your customers. BUT if no one can find your website you have just wasted a large amount of capital. Making sure your website is found by your customers is the most important strategy to consider and one that should never be allowed to stop. By analysing what your customers are searching for and building that into your strategy is one of the key tactics to ensure your website will be found.
Don’t get lost be found; MAKE BUDGET FOR YOUR ONLINE STRATAGIES
