Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Nikole,
I disagree with you on this "The reason why I say marketing plan and not web site plan is that the website is not the end all."
I think by far your web site should be your primary marketing tool. As far as a web site plan? yes Nikole it would be part of the marketing plan.
But here is the thing... and this is why I love this topic...
How do you plan your web site? From my own personal experience, before I start developing a web site for my customers I like to create a simple diagram in VISIO and I layout the pages for the web site (something like what DreamWeaver 8 does for you. )
I address issues like, am I going to use flash? perhaps, I want to create a hybrid, half in Flash and half in HTML. Images, Layout, Functionality, Debugging, Testing, Linking and Download time. All these issues have to be addressed before you can start developing.

Craig Static means its simple HTML web site(basic in the sense that it is basic HTML and fuctionality.
Dynamic Means you are using database, Flash, and Server side Scripting to get the results you seek... Example OSCOMMERCE.. its Dynamic since it is constantly changing.. everytime you add a new product it changes. There for Dynamic Just means Constantly Changing...

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Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

OK so that`s how we differ. I don`t start with a site map. Site map/site plan is like step 5 for me. I start how I said earlier ... what is the goal, the message, the marketing plan? Before I get to thinking about site map, I draw paths a user might take to get through the site, kind of like a map of Disney Land ... what will they see? Where will they stop? What will attract them? Then ... then you get to the site map.

My primary marketing tool is me, to be honest. It`s tied for first place with word of mouth. Second is my business card. The site, probably 3rd. And I`m a developer! Other people might have it 4th or 5th! Your website is never the end-all, and if a business relies on it as such, they are not going to be very profitable. They must have some other kind of plan in place ... traditional marketing, viral marketing, advertising in print or online, networking, business contacts, alliances, partners, events, promotions, press ... there has to be an overall strategy to it.

No site should be static. Even my static-looking pages aren`t static because I use a function to detect the browser and deliver an appropriate stylesheet for that browser. You can have a site that hasn`t changed in months that is still dynamic. It doesn`t mean "constantly changing". It means "compiled on the fly". For example, a page that pulls data from a database and includes, compiles it, and displays it as HTML for you ... that is dynamic. Writing a HTML page that displays exactly as it is written, that is static. Any time you see file extensions like .php, .asp, .pl, .cfm - those are more than likely dynamic pages. When you see .htm and .html, those are most likely static.

I think "constantly changing" is a definition for "chaos".

Shouldn`t a website plan be for those who need it when they need it,
wether it be a top priority for Edgar or step five for Nikole?

Sounds to me like everyone it trying to define the perfect "requirements document".  Good luck...

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Pokerman It`s not about what you can do... it`s about what you will do! Amateur Poker League Software - Drive Traffic - Add 100,000 Songs to your website - Music Catalog

Your plan isn`t step 5 ... your site map is.
1) Life Plan, 2) Business Plan, 3) Marketing Plan (including web site)



And then you tack your sitemap into step 5 of part 3. (Carry the 1 and divide by 4 and then subtract your age in dog years ...)

Nikole, you are calling it a site MAP as part of a marketing plan. I think
we get that. Then correct me if I am wrong but do you then think there is
no reason for a site PLAN?

Plan, map. Map, plan. Whatever it`s called, aren`t we discussing the idea
of having a set of concepts or guidelines (however vague or specific) to
help someone build a website? I mean, of course a website is part of a
marketing plan. Of course it is tied to business and life. And branding,
and finances, and customers, and products, and services, and core
missions, and competition, etc... The question isn`t WHERE a website falls
in the chain of plans and stategies as that will be different for everyone.
We`ve already discovered that in the discussion above.

The question is, what goes into a website plan? If there even needs to be
one!

Alright...alright..WAIDDAMINNITT!! ;-D (Whistle blows)

Nikole so far has made the divergent point: MOST "web site plans" we`ve seen and discussed have been *for the developer!* Not for the client! That`s true.

This thread is partly derived from the one about a book that would attempt to explain Web site terms and "effectiveness" to a non-technical person. Not a business person, marketing person, sales person, or teaching person. Just a person.

Now: What should a regular person, Average Gene, think. Should they have a plan of some kind  that`s specific to the "concept" of a Web site? I say yes, but I`m not yet sure how they would formulate that plan.

A business plan, excepting in situations where sales already have produced trending informaiton is really a work of both fiction, and a "contingency" system. IF the business makes Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 of money and events, THEN this is how to handle it. Small startups don`t usually have a fully-developed business plan including financials. But it`s a mistake to not have any business plan at all.

I have no quarrel with listing 1) Life Plan, 2) Business Plan, 3) Marketing Plan, then 4) Whatever. I don`t mind the order here, as it isn`t critical. (Well, maybe the life plan is critical, that`s a different argument.)

But to say that a Web Site Plan is a sub-heading, folded into something more important, I think is a mistake. It`s why I also think there are myriads of really bad Web sites currently taking up space.

As Steve reiterates, what would go into a Web site plan---from the new business owner`s perspective! There are countless modes of transportation in the market, but most people at least have a basic plan: Is it a bike, a plane, a car, a truck?

I don`t agree that Craig`s List or Wikipedia fall (somehow) outside of this concept of a site plan. Craig Whatsisname, and the Wikipedia family FIRST had to sit down and say, "Why are we going to produce a Web site? What will it do? Should it have links to anything?"

Oooh, I knew I shouldn`t have brought up the CraigsList example. I didn`t
fully explain what I meant by that. Don`t think I assume those sites didn`t
have plans. Nevermind that example. Proceed with discussion.

CampSteve,
A web site plan is just simply an IPO = Input / Process/ Output Scheme that a developer puts together as a main starting point. (it shouldn`t be something that you go nuts over)
I usually create a simple Marketing Plan for my customers. In the marketing plan that I create I include the following Topics: Marketing  and Technical feasibility Specs.
In the marketing I just simply try to educate my customer what his posibilities are if he has a good marketing plan and what his competitors are doing and what he needs to do to push his marketing plan forward. On the technical Feasibility I address technology and  what approach I going to take and why I chose that technology over any other. I also Include a simple layout that shows all the pages and linking.

-------------------------

Edgar Monroy
Web Developer / Owner / Consultant
When starting your own business the need to "know-how" is greater than money!
http://www.nuevolution.net

Site PLAN is in the marketing plan. It is for the client ... what they want to do, what the experience is, what the goals are.
Site MAP is for the developer. It`s a big diagram of all the pages on your site. Like this site has a home page, then you`d see little lines that link to all the subcategories (blogs, podcasts, articles, forums, whatever) and all the pages in there... and then it breaks down from there ... like a big family tree and you`re the home page. Only you have 12 parents.