A little nourishment from the Hamburger Stand along the Information Highway
by Michael Bemis
Building a successful website is a lot like making a long journey.
There are 360 degrees in the compass rose and over the long distance, only one of those selections will get you where you’re going.
Time honored tradition and proven experience suggest that one should to sit down with some charts in advance, decide upon a destination, a route by which you can arrive there, take into consideration prevailing winds and currents, determine your course, set some checkpoints to determine your progress and set out upon the journey armed with adequate provisions
This formula has worked for all manner of mariners since the beginning of time; it can work for you too.
Where is it that your website needs to go? Who or what is your marketplace? How to get your message in front of that market? How to get them to act upon that message?
Getting it right takes time, patience and many disciplines.
1. Business strategy: Where is it that we are planning to go with this website, what do we want from it?
2. It requires Marketing or to borrow from Al Ries’ and Jack Trout’s well respected book, “Positioning”, owning a place in the mind’s eye of the consumer; understanding the market, the opportunity, your place in that market and how to seize that place.
3. Psychology- One needs to get inside the head of the consumer, to work out what kind of thought process leads to your door. Think about it, if you didn’t know who you are, how would you find you?
4. Visual Appeal- Contrary to all the Content is King chatter that prevails, visual appeal actually ranks higher for the first ten seconds. Your prospect is traveling down the information highway at a thousand miles per hour, if your billboard doesn’t grab their attention, they’re going to motor right on by!
5. Content is King- Yup. Content really is king! Suitably confused? It’s a chicken and egg thing; without good relevant content in the first place, your site is unlikely to be indexed by Search Engines and that prospect is unlikely to find your visually appealing place on the information highway.
That’s it, a few navigational aids for your journey on the information highway.
Oh, and it would probably help to seek some skilled assistance from someone who understands and practices these concepts, has good engineering skills and can actually communicate with YOU in the language of your choice!
Michael Bemis, CEO SigrisSystems.com, writes about Technology and Marketing.