Web Development

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Web Development

Those words are usually uttered in frustration by small businesses when a site either:

Looks horribly dated
Contains outright errors (often due to the business itself changing over time)

Time and time again, these words launch another trip down the same path of mistakes.

Sites become horribly dated, either in look or content, when they are built without the planning necessary to gain leverage.

Leverage is not always measured by converting more prospects into paying customers. It should be measured by higher achievement against the organization's mission statement. Remember, non-profit organizations have mission statements.

Ok, so what should I do differently?

A top investment firm, Kleiner Perkins, who knows something about achieving leverage via the Internet (e.g., early investment in Google); did the world a huge favor by crystalizing what they believe it takes for software companies to succeed. Their "Seven Rules", or at least a good part of them, are applicable to many endeavors — and that probably includes your web presence.

Kleiner Perkins's Seven rules for start-ups:

Instant Value to customers - solve a problem or create value with the first use
Viral adoption - Pull, not push. No direct sales force required
Minimum IT footprint, preferably none. Hosted SaaS is best. (Software as a Service)
Simple, intuitive user experience - no training required.
Personalized user experience - customizable
Easy configuration based on application or usage templates
Context aware - adjust to location, groups, preferences, devices, etc.

They go on to say: "Most start-ups will not align with all 7 rules. But, if you don't follow at least 5 of them...rethink your plan and business model."

Now we realize that your website does not have to conform to any rules, let alone the rules for new software start-up firms. We just find that the "rules" (maybe with some minor 'bending') seem to be applicable to a very wide range of successful endeavors.

Our advice: If you want a successful website, think about the Seven Rules and make them as applicable as possible.

There are a few things to do at the outset. They can be accomplished in parallel if you or your staff have the bandwidth to multi-task.

1. Take an honest assessment of your current web profile.

We'll guess that it is closer to Web 1.0 than Web 2.0. Old, stale, and unlikely to be a platform to achieve any leverage. That was a bit of a no-brainer. If it wasn't, you would likely have quit reading before now.

2. Describe what you believe is an ideal or target web profile.

It is not as difficult as it sounds. Reread your mission statement and then ask yourself the following question: "What can we do via the web that will significantly raise us as an organization in the eyes of our customers?

Let's take a look at a couple of examples:

Product Company:

Facilitate an online community where owners / users can exchange ideas on how to get the most from your products. (There is a side benefit in this. They will probably tell you things you never thought of!)

Services Company:

If your organization manages complex engagements, create a secure client area where you provide visibility into the project plans.

If you say or even think: "I can't do that, they would see our dirty laundry!", then you should click here as we should be discussing process improvements!

Hopefully, these simple examples enable you to envision scenarios that are fully applicable to your mission.

To state the obvious, the World Wide Web is the single most important source of leverage for most organizations in today's world.

Let's greatly simplify this leverage "thing". It is typically derived from two factors.

Allowing people to find you when they are looking for what your organization offers.
Having the content that convinces them on first or second visit that you are the right organization to connect with.

Therefore, look hard at your web presence the way your clients do — or more importantly — the way your potential clients will. Does it measure up? Probably not.

Why?

A great many small organizations still create their Internet footprint in the same way. They approach it as advertising; merely a catalog replacement, rather than a very powerful method used to truly connect to current / future clients.

This approach, incorrect from the start, immediately takes site development down the wrong path.

Advertising is typically designed by graphics artists who orient the site into something that may be aesthetically pleasing yet completely useless from two important aspects:

Advertising is typically one direction. Out.
Overuse of graphics, videos, and Flash™ can, if undertaken by artists (as opposed to web designers), make it very difficult for search engines to properly identify and categorize the content and thereby potentially destroy the ability for your future customers to find you.

The end result: The site might be very cool and interesting but doesn't convert viewers into customers. No leverage.

In the technology savvy world, we hear so much about Web 2.0.

What does it mean?

Let's keep this simple:

Web 1.0	Web 2.0
Static	Engaging
One way	Interactive / Collaborative / Social
Difficult to maintain "freshness"	Created within an easily modified framework
Content intertwined with presentation	Presentation controlled via Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)

Let's start taking the steps necessary to move forward.

3. Develop the business case that identifies the investment and expected return!

This is the most often overlooked step in any small business. Relax and accept it. Write down the pros and cons and the financial model. Make ranges based on different criteria. If it still looks good then...

4. Describe a project plan that reaches your ideal

Think it through. Achieving and maintaining leverage is a journey not a destination. It's about separating you from the pack in this highly competitive world. It involves small frequent steps over time where the effectiveness of the plan needs to be monitored continously and modified when necessary. In other words, the project plan needs to allow for testing and reworking.

Examples of simple testing:

Using site analytic tools, determine if the search keywords you are using are actually the ones your potential customers are using.
Survey your customers to determine if your website meets the test of DMMT. Remember DMMT? DON'T MAKE ME THINK!

5. Select a Web Content Management System (WCMS) That Supports the Goal

A WCMS is a web-based platform that provides functions to create, control, version, publish and archive web-based digital media in a collaborative manner.

This might well be the single most important step. In other words, if you ignore all other steps, this one will bring value.

Most small businesses have a web environment that is built for them using a tool known by the designer. The structure of the site, the content, and the presentation are often completely intertwined leaving the site owner little to no capability to modify the site. This guarantees at least one of two outcomes:

The site has a very short lifetime
Heavy dependence on the designer for even simple content changes resulting in a stagnant site.

A WCMS will likely alleviate this. Modern tools typically have very simple methods to update content and even modify site structure. This allows the content owner(s) to ensure site accuracy and "freshness". Providing just a few simple criteria will facilitate the selection of a WCMS. Therefore, this selection and the subsequent migration of current content can be performed very early in the plan bringing immediate value. Maybe not leverage but certainly value.