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Website development strategy

Monday, January 7th, 2008

I need help with my web site, but I have a limited budget!

I hear this day in and day out from people who are seeking web site assistance. People want their web sites to be beautiful, get a lot of traffic, generate a lot of visibility, make a good impression, and essentially generate revenue.But do they want to spend any money towards it? Nope! Almost every business owner wants all of the above but all of them have a limited budget.

I understand that no one has excess money to throw away. But web sites cost money to create and maintain. Gone are the days when you have to pay for technology consultants at a rate of $100 or $150 per hour. But spending less than $500 on a web site presence may not necessarily get you much further either.

That’s why it is important for web site owners to first create a web strategy to understand the role that they want their web site to play in their business growth plan. Once a business owner creates a web strategy, they can understand the need for setting aside a budget to handle web site related tasks such as regular updates, content writing, content management, and basically what they need to do to get a functional web site.

Another area where a strategy is necessary is in the area of online marketing. Search engine optimization, paid marketing, public relations, etc. are all online marketing strategies that are geared towards bringing targeted traffic to the web site. Business owners need to create a strategy to understand what this all means and how to accomplish it using outside experts.

If you face ongoing challenges such as inability to manage web site content, lack of targeted traffic, manual processes, no client database, etc. etc. it’s time for you to create a web strategy and determine next steps.

Even though you may be technology savvy or can find the time to work on your web site, is that really where you want to spend time? Isn’t your time better spent prospecting for new clients?

A web strategy and working with web technology experts will enable you to create a robust online presence, reduce manual processes, and create new revenue. Contact Us to see how we may be able to help you get a web site at cost effective rates.

Web Sites - Are They An Expense Or Are They An Investment?

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

By Nipa Shah 1 Comment »

I really am not joking when I say that in my business, I compete with the next door neighbor’s kid’s girlfriend who knows how to design web sites. Seriously, web site design is such a commodity without even factoring in the offshore angle. Once we figure in the offshore companies, things get even more competitive and complicated.

I find that web sites are one of the biggest pain points for most businesses. I met someone today who said “our web site is horrible”. Well, most small businesses (I say most, not all) would tend to agree that their web sites even if not quite “horrible” are generally not up to par in terms of what a “professional” or “business” site should look like.

But why do I think that is?

There are many reasons for why businesses have a poor web site, but the top three reasons are:

Site was designed in-house by someone who knows how to “dabble” in graphic design or web site creation
Site was created using a free or low cost hosted solution
Site was created by a friend, neighbor, freelancer, etc.

Some other reasons include web site designed without a clear plan or strategy, dated content, and poorly written content.

But even though business owners are really stressed over their web sites and the lack of timely response from their developers/designers, they don’t think of retaining professionals to resolve the issues with their web sites.

That’s because business owners find it extremely tough to understand that a web site should be considered an “investment” and not an “expense”. They also just don’t understand why a web site should cost thousands of dollars. Lastly, most business owners really don’t understand that a web site is one of the best marketing tools a business can have.

A web site not only allows a business to become more efficient from automating functions through a database and other functions, it also performs like a 24 x 7 sales agent. That’s because when the web site is prepared for search engines, it generates leads for the business through the Internet.

Continue reading my blogs each week to learn more about database driven web sites, content editors, social networking sites, online marketing, and much more. Web sites are an investment and should be developed using a long term strategy.