30 Jan How to Build a Strategic Website Plan that Delivers Results

When it comes to building a website, having a solid site strategy is essential for maximizing the effectiveness of the site and ensuring that it meets your goals. In this blog post, we will explore the components of a strategic website plan, the elements that make up a successful website, and how to involve more strategy. By the end of this post, you will have a better understanding of how to create a strategic website plan that delivers the desired results.  

Define Your Goals

  Your website should act as an extension of your business’s marketing strategy and serve as a platform to reach and interact with your target audience. A good website strategy should incorporate elements that enable you to reach your goals, so it is essential to identify what those objectives are. For example, do you want to increase brand awareness, improve lead generation or drive more conversions? Asking yourself these questions can help you create a clear picture of what your website needs to accomplish. Once you have identified what your website’s objectives are, you can begin developing a website strategy that will help you reach those goals.  

Do Your Research

  Doing your research is one of the most important elements of creating a strategic website plan. This step should involve looking at what other businesses in your field are doing and examining their digital marketing websites to identify trends, strategies, and best practices. Additionally, review website strategies from other industries and organizations to discover innovative approaches that could work for your organization. Once you have a good understanding of what the competition is doing, you can then use this information to create a unique strategy that works best for your business.   Take time to examine the analytics of your competitors’ websites to gain insight into their user journey and which areas of the site they interact with most often. These insights can then be used to develop a website strategy that caters to your target audience.  

Create Personas

  When crafting a website strategy, creating personas is an essential step. Personas are archetypes of your ideal customers, which help you better understand their needs and wants when it comes to using your website. They will help you identify the features and content you should include ensuring your website meets the needs of your target audience.   When creating personas, be sure to include information such as age, gender, location, interests, goals, and pain points. This will help you determine what content and features to focus on, so you can create a website that resonates with the people who are most likely to use it. You can also consider other demographic factors such as job title or education level to gain further insights into the mindset of your target market. With this knowledge, you can create content and design your website with specific objectives in mind.   By creating personas, you’ll be able to craft a website strategy that resonates with your ideal users and helps them easily find what they’re looking for. This will help you create a more engaging and successful website.  

Outline Your Content

  When it comes to digital marketing website strategy, outlining your content is essential. It’s not just about what you want to say, but how you say it. Outlining your content will help you figure out which pages should appear on your website and the structure of the website. In general, a good website should include a home page, an about page, product or services pages, and contact information. You should also consider adding other pages such as resources, blog posts, and case studies.   When planning the content of each page, think about the goal of each page. What message are you trying to convey? What action do you want the visitor to take? Once you have your outline, you can start writing the copy for each page, keeping in mind the goal of the page and the audience that it’s intended for. Additionally, consider including calls to action throughout the site to encourage visitors to take the next step and make a purchase or sign up for a newsletter. By outlining the content for your website, you can ensure that all the pages on your website are working towards a specific goal and providing a unified user experience.  

Choose Your Platform

  When it comes to websites, the platform you choose can make or break your website strategy. Your platform should provide a feature-rich experience for visitors and be easy to use and maintain. It should also be flexible enough to allow for changes as needed and provide scalability for your business as it grows. When selecting a platform, it’s important to consider features like:  

• Ease of use – is the platform user-friendly?
• Mobile responsiveness – does it look good on all devices?
• SEO capabilities – does it help you rank higher in search engines?
• Integrations – does it integrate with other tools or services?
• Security – does the platform protect against hackers?
• Customizability – how much control do you have over design and functionality?

  Take your time in researching the different platforms available, and consider the pros and cons of each. Once you have found the platform that fits your needs best, it will be time to evaluate and iterate as needed.  

Design Your Site

  Once you’ve done all the preparatory work, it’s time to get into the nuts and bolts of actually designing your website. Your website strategy should focus on creating an intuitive and enjoyable user experience while showcasing the value your business can bring to visitors. The design of your website should reflect your digital marketing goals as well as showcase your brand’s identity.   Your website should be designed with an eye toward aesthetic appeal and technical optimization. Visually, it should be aesthetically pleasing, uncluttered, and have a logical flow. On the technical side, consider adding features such as a search bar or navigation menus to help visitors quickly find what they’re looking for. Optimize images and videos for fast loading times and ensure that your website is mobile-friendly.   Once you’ve settled on a design, make sure that you test it for usability and accessibility. Test with different browsers, devices, and resolutions to ensure a consistent experience across all platforms. Finally, use A/B testing to see what designs drive the most conversions from visitors. With proper design, your website will be easy to use, visually pleasing, and optimized for success.  

Launch Your Site

  Once you’ve completed all the steps in your website strategy and design process, it’s time to launch your digital marketing website. To ensure a successful launch, it’s important to create a launch plan that will maximize exposure and engagement on your website.   Start by creating a list of channels you’ll use to promote your site, such as email campaigns, social media posts, paid ads, or other methods. Consider the audience for each channel and tailor your message to them. Then, identify key performance indicators (KPIs) that you’ll use to measure success after launch.   Once your website is live, track the performance of your launch and measure it against your KPIs. Analyze your results and use them to iterate on future campaigns and content. Investing in SEO, digital marketing services, or other tactics can also help to improve visibility and engagement with your website.   Creating a strategic website plan and launching a website can be overwhelming, but with careful planning and research, you can ensure your website is successful. With an effective website strategy, you can build a powerful digital presence and achieve your business goals.  

Evaluate and Update

  Once your website is launched, it’s important to evaluate how well it is performing. Take a look at metrics such as website traffic, bounce rate, and conversions. This data can help you measure the success of your website strategy and determine if any changes need to be made to improve it. It’s also important to consider user feedback and reviews.   Digital marketing is also an integral part of evaluating and iterating your website strategy. You should be regularly checking in on your SEO rankings and optimizing your website for keywords and content that are relevant to your target market. This will help you increase visibility and gain more leads. Additionally, you should be making use of various digital marketing tactics such as email campaigns, social media marketing, and paid advertising.   By continually evaluating and iterating your website strategy, you can ensure that your website is achieving its goals and continuing to drive traffic and conversions. Doing so will keep you ahead of the competition and position you for continued success.   Your website is a huge aspect of your digital marketing efforts. Don’t do it alone– trust Social Spice Media to strategize, build and launch the website you’ve always needed! Call us at 805-482-8312 or fill out our contact form online.