Traditionally, a new website has been treated in the same way as a brochure; publishing a website was seen as the final act of a design and build project. This was how brochures were developed so it’s not surprising that the same process was applied to websites as they became the new ‘window into a business’ But is this approach still valid? Is the launch of your new website the end of the project – or the start? There used to be 2 types of website; e-commerce websites, regularly updated with new products, offers etc and brochure websites which were commonly launched and then left untouched for a few years until it was decided to have a new site. Oh how things have changed! OK there are still a lot of old, static brochure websites out there but how many of these sites’ owners are truly proud of their website? I suggest few, if any! With the advent of blogs, social media, video and a whole swathe of internet marketing technologies, a static website just doesn’t cut it any more. Your website must be dynamic and constantly changing to reflect development in you business, your offering and your customers & markets. To be proud of your website you must be confident that it professionally reflects your company as it is today, not as it was a year or 2 (or more) ago when the site was launched. You want to be certain that visitors to your site will understand your business proposition, what you offer now, and how they can benefit. When you launch a new website you communicate your new, carefully crafted message to your market but in the real world, no matter how much planning you do, you will only start to get a true understanding of how your customers engage with your website, when they start using it. There needs to be the capability to update, add to, and remove from your website. Things chang and you should be ready.
"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." Helmuth von Moltke - Military Strategist
Helmuth von Moltke went on to observe that “When plans meet the real world, it’s not the real world that will yield to your plan; you must adapt what you are doing to the circumstances at hand”. Whilst his comments were on military strategy, they also hold true in business. For your website this means that when you launch your new site you are at the start of a marketing communications project, not the end of a website development project. Check out this post for our take on a shifting approach to website development We have always said that at heart, BSA ia a marketing communications business. Our bread and butter is working with clients using technology to effectively communicate their business propositions to target markets in order to drive sales. A website is always at the heart of our approach but it is simply a communication tool, a means to an end for business growth and success. As we see a need for a change in communication, it is critical that the website can, and does, adapt to meet changing needs. Launching a website is not the final act of a brochure project, it is the creation of a set of communication tools that can be used to deliver current and continually refined messages. The march of the shift to dynamic websites is constant and inevitable. Everyone expects their website to deliver just the way they wish. Barely a week goes by when we don’t receive a call that starts with the words….
You know our website, can we just....
At BSA, we see the publication of your website as the start of something rather than the end. We know the capability is there to allow us to say…
Of course!
