[thelist] SITE BUILDING: plan of attack OR how do youexperienced people tackle a from-the-ground-up website?

[Bill Haenel]

Howdy.

I do both conventional marketing projects (such as writing marketing plans
for new product releases, etc.), and site development. When it comes to
planning, there's a standard formula works well for me for most any project.
I'm sure many people are more than familiar with this, but it's always good
to think it over in an organized, step-by-step fashion. I start at the top,
and I don't skip any steps:

== State a MISSION (why are we doing this?)
- "Our site will improve the quality of life on Earth with candy."

== Set OBJECTIVES (what goals can we set that will help us to meet our
MISSION?)
- "We will have a website that encourages visitors to buy candy"
- "We will sell only 'very good candy' on the website"
- "We will promote the website on a global level"

== Define STRATEGIES (how will we meet our OBJECTIVES?)
- "The site needs a design that appeals to candy-lovers, and makes them want
to eat candy"
- "The site needs a nav system that leads visitors to the candy, then to the
shopping cart"
- "The site needs a system that measures customers' tastes for specific
candies"
- "The site needs a world-wide sales and marketing plan"

== Outline TACTICS (what, exactly, will we do to execute our STRATEGIES)
- "Use red and white of the candy-cane page, blue for the 'sour blueberry
tongue' pages"
- "Use only two menu items: 'browse candy' and 'buy candy'"
- "Call everyone who orders and ask them how they liked their candy - or run
a survey"
- "Phone the marketing team and tell them what we need and say it should be
done yesterday"

(You get the idea...)

While you're writing your plan, you should involve your team, whether it's
your manager(s) or your sales people, or whatever. Be sure everyone agrees
on each step before proceeding to the next one. And keep a notebook and pen
handy at all times - draw lots of pictures and take lots of notes. This can
be applied to almost ANY planning project.

I usually turn some or all of this into a flow-chart, do a couple of
hand-drawn page-layout-possibilities, then write a site map after completing
the TACTICS (although sometimes it is good to do the site map during the
TACTICAL planning.

Good luck!

Bill Haenel