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Five good reasons for starting your online strategy

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by FRANk

on Jul 10

FRANk is a creative engagement company originating clear and sustainable solutions for brands to make relevant connections with their customers. FRANk has emerged as one of the new-breed communication companies attracting the likes of seek.com.au, carsales.com.au, Kidspot.com.au, wotif.com, STA Travel, imate, movember and carservice.com.au.

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Tamir Berkman works at FRANk media

I usually don’t start with thinking about building a website. I will first recommend taking a look at your existing online profile, what your competitors are doing, the industry and, of course, your target audience. The five reasons below were used to educate a client on why they didn’t need to re-do their website without following a digital strategy exercise. A digital strategy will help you understand the threats and opportunities for your brand and to think about creating a web experience instead of a website.

So, why should I think about online strategy?

  1. Because ... your website is a marketing tool. Your website has a purpose - to retain people’s attention and sell them on something. But there is no point building a website without thinking how people will hear about it. The truth is that a website is like a store. You still need to advertise the fact that you have one. So the best way to start building a website is planning. Not only where the buttons go or which information will be displayed. We want to find out how we can differentiate ourselves from our competitors, give our customers what they need and keep them coming back. Think about it this way: a website without a strategy is like a building without an architect.

  2. Because ... a website is not enough anymore. OK, so you have a website. In most cases googling yourself will show you that website followed by competitors or other links that are not yours! Why not try and have more touch points on the first page of google? Giving people more opportunities to check you out and make sure you’re catering for first time visitors as well as people who already know you. There are many things you can do online and your strategy should have a mix of them.

  3. Because ... your audience is not the same. Today’s audience is savvy, time poor and used to advertising. Oh yeah, and for most of them the internet is the number one choice of media. But the internet is huge and if attention is the new currency we need to make sure people will pay attention to our offering. Another flash website won’t cut it. How about regularly updated content or some sort of community or a game? These are things we need to think about before the website is built.

  4. Because ... time and money are things you don’t want to rush with. There is no point building a website for $30,000 only to find out it’s not achieving your goals. The first thing you need to do is to come up with a plan that will save you money and get you to where you want to be. Maybe the best thing to do is to invest in a different online presence. Have an internal blog or offer some real benefits for your users.

  5. Because ... a website isn’t done when it’s done. Building a website is only the beginning. How will you market it? Who will talk about it? Who will contribute to it? How will people engage with it? How easy it is to change? Will it be out of date in two months? There is no point building a website until you can answer these questions.

I really hope this client will ask the right questions before saying yes to their new website. If they’ll decide to do it, I bet you nothing will change. Oh, except the layout.

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