Cyrius Media Group
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Solutions
  • Portfolio
  • Clients
  • Media
  • Contact
  • Overview
  • Cyrius News
  • In the Press
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Press Kit

Now, the world really is a stage.

Satellites peer down upon us, as we peer into the screens onto which their images beam.

Every action we take online adds to the story the earth is writing.

The next chapter?

Do you have a project in mind?

Articles

Creative Director Stefan Sojka is one of Australia’s most published freelance writers and commentators on Web business and Internet culture.  He has been a regular monthly columnist for the award-winning NETT magazine for the past three years.  Previous roles included 7 years writing for internet.au magazine and the Australian Net Directory. He continues to contribute to a number of blogs and publications.

What’s The Plan?

Monday, April 05, 2010

By Stefan Sojka

In business, one of the most important places on the Internet is your own Website.  So why do so many business Websites seem so unplanned, unprofessional and unfinished?  Do they really not care, or is something else going on?

I see two main factors conspiring against small business when it comes to Websites.  The first is the potential infinite scope and complexity of a Website – this tends to immobilise most people as they don’t know where to start.  The second is the false sense of simplicity that the hugely successful Websites lull us all into, giving the impression that they practically built themselves.

As users, we make ‘one-click’ book purchases, transfer money from country to country, bid furiously in auctions and buy plane tickets in the exact same window where we read the ‘about us’ page of our local pest controller.  From where we sit, it’s all the same – easy, fast and cheap.  We forget that the Auction site spends about $800 million a year on programmers.  Perhaps it is understandable that I got a phone call from a guy recently who wanted me to help him build ‘another eBay’ with a $5K budget!  As far as he knew, eBay was just a page on a screen with a few buttons on it.

If you want both a good laugh and the reassurance that you are not alone in your own incomprehension of what makes everything tick online, try http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com – real-world examples of just how out of touch some of us are.

There is hope.  With a little research and perhaps a bit of professional advice, you will learn to spot the difference between a $5K site and a multi-billion dollar global enterprise.  You might realise exactly where you fit in:  Somewhere in between.  Simple, affordable Websites can do amazing things, but they can only do what they are paid to do.  You are the one paying, so you need to know what you are paying for.  So start planning.

Before you approach Web designers for quotes for an unspecified length of string, work out what you want the site to do – write the draft content, collect the images, determine what features would be perfect for your business, decide how you want people to communicate with you, get some legal advice, business advice & technical advice.  Draw some rough wire-frames & collect a long list of links to competitor sites, sites you like and sites you hate.  Look around and see what other people are doing.  Ask yourself why particular sites seem to work so well – they probably planned it that way.

Your Website, if done properly, will be the cornerstone of your business.  It performs marketing, communication, branding, positioning, PR, showcase, statistics collection, customer database, Search Engine Optimisation, reputation and good will.  It is one of your most valuable assets, performing all these services for you even while you sleep.  So invest in it, starting with your own time.  Plan, plan, plan!

Try http://www.e-businessguide.gov.au as a starting point, then get out some paper and start scribbling.

Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink
Trackback Link
http://www.cyrius.com.au/BlogRetrieve.aspx?BlogID=4177&PostID=62399&A=Trackback
Trackbacks
Post has no trackbacks.
Comments

Post a Comment




Captcha Image

Previous 1 Next

Recent Posts

  • Think inside the square
  • Details, details
  • The Road Less Clicked
  • Groundhog Day is a Good Day
  • 7 reasons to re-design your Website
  • Prepare Thyself
  • New Year Revolutions
  • A Website is not a thing
  • A day in the life of an SEO spam recipient
  • The 'Not-So-Brief' Brief

Tags

  • Archives (90)
  • Blog (3)
  • Business Advice (36)
  • Community (1)
  • Consulting (27)
  • Google (1)
  • Humour (6)
  • Interview (4)
  • Marketing (16)
  • Motivation (27)
  • Music (6)
  • PR & Press (11)
  • SEO (1)
  • Social Media (8)
  • Web Design (5)
  • Web Philosphy (26)
  • Website Reviews (93)
  • Writing (124)

Archive

  • May 2017 (1)
  • April 2017 (1)
  • March 2017 (1)
  • February 2017 (1)
  • October 2013 (1)
  • August 2013 (1)
  • January 2013 (1)
  • December 2012 (1)
  • September 2012 (1)
  • May 2012 (1)
  • April 2012 (2)
  • November 2011 (1)
  • July 2011 (1)
  • June 2011 (1)
  • April 2011 (1)
  • March 2011 (1)
  • February 2011 (1)
  • January 2011 (1)
  • December 2010 (1)
  • September 2010 (1)
  • August 2010 (1)
  • July 2010 (1)
  • June 2010 (1)
  • May 2010 (1)
  • April 2010 (1)
  • March 2010 (1)
  • February 2010 (1)
  • January 2010 (1)
  • December 2009 (1)
  • November 2009 (1)
  • October 2009 (1)
  • September 2009 (1)
  • August 2009 (1)
  • July 2009 (1)
  • June 2009 (1)
  • May 2009 (1)
  • April 2009 (1)
  • March 2009 (1)
  • February 2009 (1)
  • January 2009 (1)
  • December 2008 (1)
  • November 2008 (1)
  • October 2008 (1)
  • September 2008 (2)
  • August 2008 (1)
  • July 2008 (1)
  • June 2008 (1)
  • September 2004 (1)
  • May 2004 (2)
  • April 2004 (1)
  • March 2004 (1)
  • February 2004 (1)
  • January 2004 (1)
  • December 2003 (1)
  • November 2003 (1)
  • October 2003 (2)
  • September 2003 (1)
  • August 2003 (1)
  • July 2003 (1)
  • June 2003 (1)
  • May 2003 (1)
  • April 2003 (1)
  • March 2003 (1)
  • February 2003 (1)
  • January 2003 (1)
  • December 2002 (1)
  • November 2002 (1)
  • October 2002 (1)
  • September 2002 (1)
  • August 2002 (2)
  • July 2002 (1)
  • June 2002 (1)
  • May 2002 (1)
  • April 2002 (1)
  • March 2002 (1)
  • February 2002 (1)
  • January 2002 (1)
  • December 2001 (1)
  • November 2001 (1)
  • October 2001 (1)
  • September 2001 (1)
  • August 2001 (1)
  • July 2001 (1)
  • June 2001 (2)
  • May 2001 (1)
  • April 2001 (1)
  • March 2001 (1)
  • February 2001 (1)
  • January 2001 (1)
  • December 2000 (1)
  • November 2000 (1)
  • October 2000 (1)
  • September 2000 (1)
  • August 2000 (1)
  • July 2000 (1)
  • June 2000 (2)
  • May 2000 (1)
  • April 2000 (1)
  • March 2000 (1)
  • February 2000 (1)
  • January 2000 (1)
  • December 1999 (3)
Membership

Web services

  • Overview
  • Consulting
  • Branding
  • Website Design
  • Web Development
  • Website Repair
  • InDesign
  • SEO
  • Online PR
  • Social Media

More services

  • Domain Names
  • Hosting
  • Custom Programming
  • Audio Production
  • Video Production
  • Photography
  • Multimedia
  • Copy Writing
  • Printing

Internet solutions

  • Overview
  • Business Catalyst
  • BigCommerce
  • WordPress
  • MailChimp
  • Joomla
  • Drupal
  • Volusion
  • More Solutions

Media & other info

  • Overview
  • Cyrius News
  • In the Press
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Press Kit

Networking

  • Memberships
  • Visit our Facebook
  • View Our Videos
  • Latest Tweets
  •  

Cyrius Media Group Pty Ltd
PO Box 240
North Ryde BC Sydney
NSW 1670 AUSTRALIA

Email: info@cyrius.com.au
Phone: +612 9877 5544
Fax: +612 9877 6644

© Copyright Cyrius Media Group Pty Ltd  | Privacy Sitemap | Home About Us Contact | Cyrius Website Design Sydney