I was in a meeting last week and someone made a comment that a website is not that big of a deal and really not much different than a yellow-page ad in the phone book.  I nearly leapt out of my chair!  Online marketing and yellow-page marketing are worlds apart!  Here are just a few points of refutation to this argument:

Measurement:    It’s tough to measure the success of a print piece other than the number of people who get it.  With a website, you can not only measure (using analytics tools) how many people come to it, but which pages they go to, how long they stay on each page, the path they took as they navigated through your website, where they came from, where they went to, and the list goes on and on and on.  The limits of understanding are endless!

Flexibility:  Once you’ve placed your print ad, you are stuck with it until the next round of printing (or in the case of yellow-pages, next year’s printing).  That typo is there until you reprint – read time and expense.  With a website that has even a basic content management system you can make changes any time you want, day or night.  Typo - Fixed.  New product - Added.  You get the idea.

Space: With a print ad you are limited to the size of the block.  With a website, not only do you have more space, but you can add more pages and sub-pages to make sure that the additional detail (and levels of detail) are available.  You can also link to other pages or websites where there’s even more content!

2D versus 3D:  Print is a 2-dimensional product – unless it’s a pop-up book.  Online is a multi-dimensional, interactive technology that allows one to drill-down into layers of information, link to other sites, launch applications, view videos, etc.  The ability for interaction is much greater!

Level of interactivity:  One can have real-time, immediate interaction with applications or other people via the web.  Have you tried Skype?  Played a multiplayer game online? Used instant chat?  Placed an order with Amazon?  Now remember how you interacted with that print piece?  It probably made you smile, or at most go to their website at a later time (notice how it still drives to a website?)!  But, did it make you “click” right then and there to make the purchase or fill out the contact form?  No, it didn’t, because print can’t.  A great deal of the impact the Web provides for businesses comes from the immediacy it allows.

Behavioral swing:  Because of all of the previous points – and probably some more that I didn’t mention – people are turning to the Web more and more.  While there may be a variety of very legitimate reasons to continue your print pieces, you cannot neglect the Web.

At BitWise, we don’t know the print business, we know the Web.  If you have print related needs, you should call someone else...but if you would like some help with your Web strategy, Web asset management, web development or anything Web related really, give us a call, I am fairly confident we can help.

To those of you who have been following this recent series on developing a Web strategy, I hope you have gained some valuable information to help you in formulating a strategy for your next Web development project.  This post will conclude our series on developing a Web strategy, but I hope that by no means you cease to continue following our blog.  We will be doing more series like this in the future and I think there will always be some good nuggets of value for you to obtain from the professionals here at BitWise Solutions.

Last week we talked about having clearly defined company goals, the purpose and value of objectives, and the roadmap of strategies.  This week we’ll get a little more granular into the tasks of how to achieve your goals and objectives.

1. Tasks are the “to-do” list.  Tasks are the components of a work plan of what we are to accomplish on a daily or weekly basis.  Be cautious not to intermingle tasks with strategies which can create shortsightedness on behalf of the implementation team.
2. Create the interwoven network of goals, objectives, and strategies.  Let’s revisit our fictitious corporate goal and two objectives from earlier and add some strategies to help define the network of how the strategic plan should work:
   
   (Goal) To be the go-to company for difficult engagements in our industry…
        -(obj) Increase the number of difficult vs. run-of-the-mill projects completed by 25%...
             (strategy) Create Web-based project scoring matrix to determine degree of difficulty;
             (strategy) Initiate re-branding effort to reposition our company to own newly created “difficult” market segment.
        -(obj) Differentiate ourselves from our competition…
             (strategy) Using scoring matrix from above, score and publish our engagements and those of competitors accordingly;
             (strategy) Create a public “clearinghouse” of known engagements where industry experts and prospects review the scoring matrix;
             (strategy) Rebuild portfolio of engagements on Web site, emphasizing project difficulties and video testimonials.
3. Make sure you have the right team.  When creating the roster of individuals who will be on your Web team prior to undertaking a new Website development project, it is important to ensure you have the right individuals on the team.  So, who are the right individuals?  For the most part, it’s the usual suspects: marketing, communications, a smattering of IT, executive leadership, etc.  Make certain that you don’t overlook someone (usually someone in a position of authority) who believes they “have a vote” on what is going to be developed.  This will help you avoid having the project wrecked by the “last minute executive.”
4. Every Web strategy must have an owner.  Every strategy you create in the course of planning must have an owner.  Strategies without a dedicated champion are destined to be orphaned.  If the strategy is worthy of time spent during the planning phase, then there must be one owner to see it to success.
5. Politics are always present during planning.  Office politics seem to swarm around every Website project and yours will be no different.  The classic argument of “who owns the Website” is often fought between marketing and IT.  This dialog is non-productive and should be refocused on delivering the goals, objectives, and strategies created in your planning work.  Be sure to take this into account when constructing your team.
   

A thoughtful and creative Web strategy can give you a competitive advantage in the marketplace.  Most often, people look to the Web first when evaluating potential vendors; your Website can either bring in your next big client or turn away every potential client.  Follow these guidelines to ensure you make the most out of your Web presence and garner the best return on your investment.

At BitWise, we pride ourselves in being the premier web development firm in Indiana.  We don't build all of our Websites with a Content Management System, but only when the client's needs require one. 

Last year we began developing Websites, when necessary, with a content management system platform built by internationally recognizable Kentico CMS for ASP.NET. We have tried many different content management systems over the years and this one has proven in a short amount of time to be one of the best out there.  It's very easy to use for the end-user, our clients, and is relatively painless to work with for our Web developers from a coding standpoint.

We recently launched a new Website for The Farmers Bank using the Kentico CMS platform and the Website ranked in the Top 10 Kentico Websites developed in February!  This is a great honor to receive for only having been developing Websites with the Kentico CMS for less than a year. 

We are proud to receive this status for our Web development efforts here in Indianapolis and it just goes to show that Indiana is producing more than just corn and soybeans.  There are numerous companies based in Central Indiana that are receiving awards left and right for technological advancements and forward thinking. 

Even if our "Top 10" award seems like no big deal, it is a big deal to those of us around the BitWise offices...it reaffirms to us that the work product we are delivering is still top quality and it gives us the satisfaction of knowing that our client is going to benefit greatly from the Website or application we developed for them. 

Of course we like to think our deliverables are quality but it's always better to know that other people think it's good too - other people's opinions matter way more than our own.  Thank you Kentico and thank you Farmers Bank!