Monthly Archives: August 2011

Developing a sound strategy is critical before success is achieved on the Internet. I often talk with prospective clients who ask me to further articulate and provide them with additional clarity as to what strategy is. So with that in mind, I have decided to write this section for my new upcoming book Million Dollar Web Presence. Since I get asked this question a lot, here it is for your benefit.

A strategy is the framework that helps you identify where you are taking your company and what you want it to become. It is all about answering the “what” and the “why” questions while tactics are the detailed action plan that answer the “how” to achieve these type of questions.

Answering these questions will provide the clarity necessary to then develop your tactics or action plan:

1. What do you want the site to do and why?

• Create credibility?
• Deliver value?
• Educate the visitor?
• Diagnose the visitor through process visuals or surveys?
• Convert visitors to prospects and prospects to clients?
• Enable products purchasing for passive income?
• Leverage marketing effectively?
• Promote your products and services?
• Create a community?
• Promote your books?
• Capture visitors’ information?
• Become the hub and the repository of your intellectual property?
• Help you gain as many clients as possible while reducing your labor intensity and increasing your responsiveness significantly?
• Visitor to have fun?

2. Who is your audience(s)?

• Identify all groups.
• Where do they hang out and what are their geographic areas?
• What do they read?
• What trade shows do they attend?
• Where are they on the web?
• What are they looking for?
• What is their age group and sex?
• Do they search on search engines?
• Do they use social media platforms and which ones?
• Should journalists be targeted?

3. What do you want to become?

• Thought Leader?
• Consultant, author, coach, speaker?
• All or others?
• What are you known for?

4. What is the outstanding value you bring to your clients and your offerings?

Let me finally suggest that no technology should be discussed or design executed prior to the strategy being clearly identified followed by the tactics. As you’ve heard me say: “Strategy first, technology second!”

This is an excerpt from my new and upcoming book Million Dollar Web Presence - Leverage technology to build your brand and transform your business, which I am coauthoring with Dr. Alan Weiss and which will be published by Entrepreneur Press.

© Chad Barr 2011. All rights reserved