Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

Table of Contents

The strategic planning for a site can begin when the main objectives for it are established. Some websites may be considered a hybrid of the mentioned categories, and the individual objectives should be identified and measured on an individual basis. For example, a retail company knows that it will be primarily an e-commerce website, but it may also be considered a lead-generating site that helps them promote some of the services they offer. The retailer’s website could also be considered a self-service site to answer some of the frequently asked questions of customers. While most sites could be considered some form of hybrid, it is necessary that the main purpose of a site be established to effectively continue with the strategic planning.

It is very important that the website creator have a strong understanding of the traditional business goals of an organization before embarking on the website creation process. It is only through this understanding that the creator can effectively make recommendations and align the website strategy with that of the business. Creating a successful website requires many skills from the business sector. Most notably, of course, are the technical skills that are required to produce the computer language programming that is necessary to produce website functionality. This is considered the “back-end” of a website. The back-end of a website is what goes on behind the scenes, and the less visible it is to the general visitor is usually for the better. Many problems of websites stem from the goals of the website being mis-aligned with the goals of the business.

Appendices
(All in a single document) Appendix 1-1: Overture Search Term
Research Tool

Appendix 1-2: Wordtracker Search Query Research Tool

Appendix 1-3: Google Sets Website Theme Research Tool

Appendix 1-4: Reach/ Acquire/ Convert/ Retain

Chart Appendix 2-5: Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Information Architecture Flowchart

Appendix 2-6: Search Engine Themes Pyramid Information Architecture Example

Appendix 2-7: Webpage Download Time by File Size Chart

Appendix 2-8: Expected Locations for Common E-commerce Elements

Appendix 2-9: Website Usability Checklist

Appendix 2-10: Text Vs.Code Ratio/ Content Near the Top of Souce Code Examples

Appendix 3-11: Overture Bid Price Tool

Appendix 3-12: Webalizer Website Visitor Tracking Tool

Appendix 3-13: AW STATS Website Visitor Tracking Tool Appendix

3-14: Clicktracks Website Statistics
Analysis Tool

References
Author Notes

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Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites Table of Contents

Planning, Developing, and Promoting a Successful Small Business Website

Website Strategic Planning - Page 4

Strategic Planning for the Website

Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

Table of Contents