Prepared by:
Website Development Comparison
Doyle Buehler
The Digital Delusion – Website Development Comparison Criteria
Website Development Criteria What you really need to know about getting a website and Why you need a digital business, not just a website.
26 Critical Criteria that you must know to properly assess the true value of the quote from your web developer or web agency.
By Doyle Buehler Getting a new “website� built or renovating your old one? Trying to add some polish to that social media channel? Want to get more
“leads”? You may be surprised at what you are actually getting, and more importantly, what you are not actually getting when you initiate a new “website”. Online business is not just about your website. Digital leadership is about the actual business behind the website, and creating a business that works for you and delivers results for you and your audience. True digital leadership includes the website, as well as all of the other critical elements that are necessary to actually build a solid and strong business, with a craving audience. This is your digital ecosystem, which then grows and builds as your business grows, and contains everything that you do, as well as what your audience does. Digital Leadership is the business behind making a profit for your company, online. It is different than just having a fancy “brochure” website; if your audience visits your site, you will have nothing to retain them, if they are not completely “ready” to make a purchase from you. Most online businesses miss out on a critical segment of their market, focusing inadvertently on the 3% that are ready to buy, leaving out a massive collection of your audience – 67% - in fact, that need to be nurtured, but can become your customer.
Your website is in fact only one small part of your digital ecosystem or platform. Without a strong platform supporting your website, your business will simply not be as effective. Consider it like building a house without a foundation. You may get a house at some point, but it won’t last. Websites without a solid understanding of your complete digital ecosystem, and your business behind it, will not get you sales. Most web developers will typically look at your digital ecosystem as a “website problem”, with the ensuing result that you ‘must’ develop a website to overcome your ‘problem’. This then typically creates a simple, single transactional website and business, with little understanding of the actual environment that you and your audience will experience. Of course, there is a lot to consider, and it all must be pulled together with a proper strategy. This is digital leadership – using the tools and resources to build a complete system that integrates everything that you need to run your business online.
Are you getting the leads and sales you believe you should be getting from your website? If not, then you need to develop your digital leadership, with your website being an integrated piece into the big puzzle of online. Do you want sales and a real business with that Website? If you are looking to lead the competition and deliver a remarkable experience online, look at how digital leadership can help you get there. Here’s a comparison and criteria of what you get in developing a website. You can even use it as a checklist when evaluating what you are trying to accomplish.
Criteria
Traditional “Website
Digital Leadership
1. Website structure
Development� Projects
Projects
Linear, single transaction webpage
Integrated, transitional site, with overall online strategy embodied across entire digital ecosystem
2. Mobile If requested. Usually responsive extra.
3. Contact Us
4. Digital strategy
Integrated into overall strategy
Standard Contact Us form, containing no true follow-up capabilities
Advanced sales funnel and customer nurturing campaigns integrated into overall process
Site structure only
Digital Ecosystem and Intrinsic Value Delivered To Audience
5. Content Planning
Content for website structure
Long-lasting content implemented across your digital ecosystem, not just the website
6. Social Media
Social media links on website
Comprehensive plan for implementation on your social channels
Visual designs for website. Occasionally video on site
Creation of a visual and video strategy that encompasses all channels across your ecosystem, and distribution
8. Website alignment
Website site design only
Alignment of website across your entire platform, outside of a “silo� of web; coordinating all aspects and all strategies with your website as a key component.
9. Sales Funnel
Typical single,
7. Videos & Visuals
Comprehensive sales
transaction “Contact Us page, with no automation or gifts for download. If the customer is not “ready” for what you are selling, you will lose this lead.
funnel included as part of the overall site structure, with key funnel points, gifts and marketing automation to properly screen leads and sales for your business.
DIY
Build up of integrated campaigns that reflect your overall marketing strategy, towards your ideal customer
If you install it
Analytics are a core component of measuring your success. This must be set-up properly and integrated into the site and every page created.
Extra
Developed from the ground-up, as a form of content management and technical website management
About ‘Us’
About How you can add value and solve your customer’s problems
14. Branding
Add your Logo to the site
Development of your brand ‘ego’ and how it fits across your ecosystem, including the visual development of the bran and subsequent brand guidelines.
15. Sales
No
10. Advertising
11. Analytics
12. SEO
13. About Us
Sales are part of an
integrated process. An understanding of your customer sales/buying cycle is critical to getting sales. Then and only then can you create a process online to lead your audience through, to your sales.
16. Leads
17. Email Marketing
18. Dashboards
Contact Us page
67% of the visitors to your site are potential customers. A “Contact Us” form attracts only 1-2% who are “ready” to buy. What if you could nurture an additional 67% of your audience to move them towards sales?
Touch and go. Newsletter. Maybe.
Email marketing is integrated into an effective online marketing strategy in order to fully capitalise on your buyer process and the nurture/sales cycle, to enhance the buying opportunity from your audience.
Word Press “Panel”
Most dashboards are incomplete, as they do not paint the full picture of what is actually happening online. Dashboards need to go far beyond this to give you real information
that you can actually act upon. The important parts? Advertising analytics, buyer process, site analytics, email processes, etc.
19. Metrics & Return on Investment
20. Content Creation
“Return on Who???”
You can’t be successful if you don’t measure anything. Digital leadership projects are based upon delivering actual value and a return on investment. In terms of metrics, the most important ones that are key to your own business must be integrated to be able to actually measure your success over time.
“Just write a blog”
A blog is a great starting point, but it is not a comprehensive strategy. You need to be able to produce and publish content regularly, and on a schedule that matches your audience needs - text based, but also video, audio, and of course visuals.
21. Gifts & “Don’t you want a Downloads newsletter?”
Most website developers do not include the most basic incentives for people to get to know you - the free gift or free
download. What is it? It can be a checklist, a solution to the big problem that you audience has, a “How to” do something better, faster, cheaper… This needs to be integrated with the email and other autoresponder capabilities; to further help you screen your leads to get to the most practical leads.
22. Newsletters
23. Brand Audit
24. Digital Training
Of course, but that is extra.
Brush up a logo
When was the last time you looked at a “newsletter”? While email is effective, your audience really desires knowledge and expertise from you. Send them valuable gifts that connect with them, in a sequence over several months. A brand audit to ensure that it matches and is congruent with your audience and the value that you are delivering.
We instruct you in all of the skills that you need to “Here’s some instructions build a strong and powerful on how to create a new business online - your blog” strategy, your content, your website, and of
course how to pull all of these elements together to build a string and successful business online.
25. Content Audit
“How many blogs have you written?”
26. Digital Audit & “Yes, your site is Baseline working.”
Discover what your customer is really looking for. How do you create value for your audience, across all content types? We create a proper understanding of where you are at and what you need to do to create compelling and remarkable content. Strategic alignment across your platform is critical for long-term digital success. How will you know where you are if you don’t know where you came from? A digital audit and baseline creates the foundation for you to understand what is working for you, and what you can improve over time.
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither is your online business. There has never been a better time to become the leader with your business online, beyond just a website. Want to get a step up and stay organized? Do you want to have systems and a simple process that delivers value to you and your audience? Find out if a Digital Leadership Project is for you, and if it will give you the tools that you need to accelerate your success across your entire digital ecosystem. Doyle Buehler The Digital Delusion.com doyle@thedigitaldelusion.com +61 413 106 880
About Doyle Buehler Doyle Buehler has coached and inspired many in the areas of digital leadership, online marketing, social media and digital strategy. He has grown multiple online & ecommerce businesses to become the fastest growing in the nation. He has electrified businesses and audiences around the world, with his wit, high octane public speaking, and is called by some as the World's #1
Digital Leadership Coach, or "The Digital Dude" by others. His mission in life is to prove that every business can be phenomenally successful online, given the right tools and knowledge. You can follow Doyle on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/doylebuehler Get his book on digital strategy and online marketing for free: The Digital Delusion: How To Overcome The Misguidance & Misinformation Online http://www.thedigitaldelusion.com/2