February 20, 2015

How to Approach Strategic Planning for Websites

Design is important when it comes to your website but there are a lot of other elements at play when aiming to convert. For example, a logical layout of the site’s navigation, the location and design of calls to action and positioning of key conversion elements, to name but a few. Unfortunately, these critical elements are often overlooked in favour of aesthetics.

Of course, ‘conversion’ can mean different things for different businesses. An e-commerce site would consider a conversion to be a sale for example, while a non-e-commerce site would look at conversion as submissions of online request forms, calls to the head office, etc.

The best, sure-fire way to ensure that all elements are considered when developing a new website for your business is to develop a Website Strategy prior to diving into the design and development.

A Website Strategy considers your goals and objectives, conversion goals, markets, customer value propositions and more, combined with industry best practice to create a clear and detailed plan to then provide to the developers.

In many ways, it is a lot like a blueprint. Mapping out wireframes of all key pages and explaining functionality requirements in great detail, which ensures that the developers have a clear roadmap to deliver to you a website that is not only beautiful in terms of design, but also effective in terms of user experience and conversion.

The Infographic above provides a snapshot of what the Website Strategy process looks like from start to finish. If you have any questions or would like to learn more, please feel free to get in touch.

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Llew Jury

Founder, Executive Director

As a leading Australian digital entrepreneur, Llew drives Reload Media’s ongoing innovation and strategy on our journey to become Australia’s leading digital marketing agency. Llew’s leadership has seen Reload Media’s growth accelerate from just himself and co-director Craig Somerville in 2008 to over 70 staff today. This growth and Llew’s vision has seen Reload Media attract and retain some of the very best talent and clients, demonstrated by Reload Media’s national award for Australia’s Best Customer Service in 2014. Llew personally has won numerous awards including the Brisbane Lord Mayor’s Young Business Person of the Year in 2012 and the Brisbane Business News Young Entrepreneur of the Year – Digital in 2014. Llew has widespread Australian and international business management and digital strategy experience in corporate, small business and government organisations. Llew also co- founded Queensland’s largest web design agency Alfresco, that he sold in 2006 to a consortium led by STW Group. As a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, Llew understands what it takes to own and manage a high profile and leading digital agency. He shares this insight as a guest author for Fairfax Media’s Brisbane Times, writing in the weekly digital and technology section. Llew is also passionate about sharing his wealth of knowledge and helping other businesses succeed. To do this, he sits on the ADMA Queensland executive team and is a mentor at QUT, iLab and River City Labs. Llew also plays an active role in charity events, including the CEO Sleepout. Follow Llew at LlewJury.com and Twitter.com/reloada
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