Developing a Web Business Plan Posted by Jack Powers | April 14, 1996 Revised March 19, 1997 A World Wide Web business plan has two goals: to crystallize the guiding vision and goals for the site; and to minimize surprises during the development process. Because web sites come in so many different flavors and because everyone comes to the Internet with so many different expectations, a clear and complete statement of vision is essential. Since web development is such a collaborative process and since most publishers don’t have years of experience managing interactive media creation, a formal understanding of the relationships and the responsibilities of everyone involved in the development cycle helps keep confusion and conflict to a minimum. A web development plan has five important components: THE WEB SITE PLAN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS MARKETING AND PROMOTION PROGRAMS COST PROJECTIONS DEFINING AND MEASURING SUCCESS THE WEB SITE PLAN: THE VISION, THE GOALS AND THE WEB MAP Like any creative development project, a web site can have many different purposes: to support (or supplant) a printed publication; to sell (subscriptions, products or services); to promote (specific events, product launches, sale programs); or to simply “establish a presence” on the web. The defining vision for the site and the primary goals must be clearly defined and well-thought-out. Internally, the editors, publishers, designers, sales reps, marketers and others must understand and accept the priorities outlined in the plan. Externally, the web developers, page designers, HTML coders, programmers and systems operators need a strong direction for their creative efforts and a comprehensive map of the elements needed. THE VISION The defining vision is the simple mission statement for the site, for example: Our web site will extend our reader service features into the on-line world to provide information in a more comprehensive, searchable and timely form. or Our web catalog will make products faster, easier and cheaper for our customers to order and more profitable for us to deliver. or Our web forums will enhance our readers' sense of community, increase readership of the printed magazine, and provide our advertisers with new interactive marketing opportunities. This broad vision should be based on the advantages that a web site has over other communication formats (see the Six Advantages of New Media) and should match or augment a company's overall mission statement, keeping the web effort in line with the firm's main business. While it should not be tied to actual revenues or sales projections, an explicit vision gives decision-makers a sense of the scope of the planned development, whether it fits the company's business and whether it is worth the effort and expense. THE GOALS A listing of specific site goals outlines the development priorities. Every list of goals should be ranked in order of importance and provide as much detail as practical to every member of the development team, for example: The Home Page should match the graphical style of the printed publication and should give as much information as the print Table of Contents page. New copy should appear every two days. or Readers should be able to search the whole site by key word, create Boolean relationships, and be able to limit their searches by main category. or Information should be accessible with as few clicks as possible. Purely navigational pages must be kept to a minimum. or Video and animation should be available as options to browsers that can view them but must not be essential to the site experience. Often this list of goals is hashed out in a brainstorming session that starts off with a clean slate and gradually builds the site experience element-by-element. Usually there is no shortage of ideas, the hard work comes in scaling and prioritizing the ideas into lists of "must-haves," "nice-to-haves," "should eventually-haves." The goals should have cost considerations built-in: a sophisticated interactive forum that costs thousands to develop and requires a full-time moderator might not be as attractive as an unmoderated freeware bulletin board routine. Input from web developers and programmers is useful in analyzing the costs of each goal. THE WEB MAP Moving further from the general to the specific, the web map is the chart of the features and information that are required on the site, for example: HOME PAGE Page One News Feature Story Stat of the Week Ad Placement This Month's Table of Contents Ad Placement Previous Month's TOCsin Subject-Oriented Catalog Departments Ad Placement Arts and Entertainment Politics and Culture Sports Web-based Editorial Supplement Ad Placement Editorial and Art Sound Animation Video Reader Forums Ad Placement Arts and Entertainment Politics and Culture Sports Reader Roundtables Company Information Ad Placement (House Ad) General Background Recent Press Releases Staff Biographies Recent Press Releases Regional and Local Offices Office Search Page Dealer Database Dealer Search Page Contact and Email Sitewide Search Page and Site Index Ad Placement The web map often mirrors the directory structure of the site, although non-linear link relationships are easily built for example, between the Sports Department editorial feature and the Sports Reader Forum. The easy part of the map is the boilerplate data and the features that match the regular print publication. THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS:  WHO DOES WHAT, WHEN Interactive media development has three primary components: CREATION, including editorial, art and design; COMPUTING, including forms building, searching and transactions; and PRODUCTION, including keyboarding, scanning, coding and web serving. Different kinds of sites need different combinations of these components. An advertising site might need advanced design and copywriting talents; a complex forum or game site would require heavy programming skills; a web newspaper or reference site that is updated daily needs strong production capabilities. Pick the principal developer by matching their focus and experience to the work that needs to be done. Be sure that all parties involved in the creation of the web site understands their roles, from the internal editorial and art departments to the outside web developers and programmers to the systems operators and technical staff. CREATION While many web developers pitch turnkey site development, doing everything from page design to coding to production and updating, the best web sites are created by information providers who understand a market, own proprietary content and generate their own publication ideas. A web developer can design pages, lay out the file structure, program forums and games and run the system, but the primary responsibility for editorial direction should always lie with the information provider. Multimedia design elements should be used to support the editorial direction, not just provide "eye candy" or show-off technical wizardry. Choose the most appropriate elements from the list of multimedia data types: MULTIMEDIA DESIGN ELEMENTS Typography Illustration Standard GIFs and JPG files Vector files: CMX, ART formats Photography Hyperlinks Animation Server Push Animation Shockwave Sound Downloaded .AU, .AIFF, .WAV files Streaming RealTime Audio, Live Audio Video Downloaded Quicktime, .AVI, MPEG files Streaming VDO Video Virtual Reality Quicktime VR VRML Application Formats Adobe Acrobat .PDF files MS Word word processing files Spreadsheet files Presentations: PowerPoint, WebShow Pick the multimedia illustrators who have the best visual sense and the most experience with the particular elements that you need . COMPUTING The difference between a compelling interactive publication and a collection of "re-purposed" print pages displayed on a browser screen is often defined by the creativity of the programming features. Well-crafted forums, a good search engine, interesting database hooks and exciting games PROGRAMMING FEATURES Input Forms Email Feedback questionnaire Contest submission Reader registration Database development Site search engine Live data Web still cameras Live audio and video Continuous database updates Sensor interfaces Transaction programming On-line ordering On-line digital delivery Computation Java applets Games software Form-based Shockwave Java applets Page customization HTML on-the-fly Algorithmic ad placement Algorithmic editorial Off-web links Web/CD-ROM hybrids Beeper links Fax links Electronic commerce Credit card and electronic funds routines Inventory and fulfillment system links Security and encryption utilities Pick the web programmers who have the best design sense and the most experience with the particular programming feature that you need . PRODUCTION There are two phases of production: the initial propagation of the web database and the on-going input of new data. Often the first part is handled through an outside service firms and the second part s handled in-house. Production comprises a wide range of input,digitizing and converting functions: PRODUCTION TASKS Keyboarding, proofreading and correcting new copy Creating new illustrations Scanning new images Developing a searchable web database Converting standing text into HTML Converting standing high res images into GIF and JPG Converting standing multimedia into Shockwave "De-composing" desktop publishing pages into HTML Distilling desktop pages into Adobe Acrobat format Digitizing sound and video Handling transactions Clearing credit card charges Shipping on-line orders Running the server Hosting the site Maintaining site statistics Pick the production house who has the appropriate facilities and the most experience with the particular production tasks that you need . Often, traditional prepress and printing suppliers are best situated to handle the digital text and graphics components. ASSIGN RESPONSIBILITIES As you develop the list of multimedia elements, programming features and production tasks, assign responsibilities to the appropriate in-house people or outside service companies. Before committing new ideas to expensive computer code, storyboard and comp every page and multimedia element to be sure they fit the design. Discuss the graphical look and feel of the site as well as the navigation tools. Apply the search criteria on the real database to test what the on-line reader will see, fill out each form to see how real data will fit, and play every game to see what the likely out come will be. Checking approval proofs of type and artwork is easy, but checking interactivity often means filling in the blanks with dummy data to see how the software reacts. Build in clear approval steps in the storyboarding phase to limit the expense of changes downstream. MARKETING AND PROMOTION PROGRAMS Every business plan need a marketing program, and a web site has both conventional and electronic promotional elements. As in the basic development, marketing tasks are divided between in-house personnel and outside service firms. CONVENTIONAL MARKETING  Advertising House ads Paid ads Direct mail advertising Marketing Web launch party Web promotional literature Promotional items Public Relations Web-site press kit Press releases and follow-up contacts Conference and seminar appearances ELECTRONIC MARKETING Listing on web search engines Creation of electronic descriptors Robotic search engine submissions Manual search engine submission Web page links Searching and targeting related sites Cooperative cross-links Paid web ad links Internet Public Relations Electronic press kit Press releases and follow-up to web publications Newsgroup appearances Email promotions Unpaid house ads are the cheapest and easiest form of marketing, but they only reach an audience that is already sold on the publication's contact. Widening the audience through conventional advertising and marketing campaigns are more effective although more costly. Electronic marketing targets the individuals who are already on-line, and a good set of descriptors submitted to the main search engines will probably deliver the most new readers to the site. Outside web public relations firms that handle both conventional activities--launch parties, press contacts, speaker promotion--and electronic marketing are very effective in drawing traffic to a new site. Pick a PR firm based on their success with similar clients and their contacts with the relevant media. COST PROJECTIONS A good web site plan will enable outside firms to bid on the basic web development and on the multimedia elements, programming features and production tasks., but even the most well-thought-out site will need a budget for revisions and alterations. More importantly, the unseen in-house costs of a site, the ongoing maintenance expense and the marketing and promotion costs must be part of a comprehensive cost estimate: WEB SITE COSTS Initial development: In-house costs Developing the web site plan Approving the development steps Testing and feedback Initial development: Outside charges Creation Editorial and art Multimedia elements Programming Forms Searches Programs Production Input and proofing Systems operation In-house education Editorial and design staff Advertising and marketing reps Management personnel Marketing and promotion In-house costs Outside charges Web PR firm Paid advertising Maintenance and upgrades In-house editorial and art staff Outside suppliers As a rule of thumb, new web pages will probably cost about 30% more than the same content prepared for desktop publishing formats. The equipment and software are not more expensive, but the design and coding skills are new and untested. Over time, web pages will likely be much cheaper to produce than DTP pages since the web design environment is simpler and the resolution requirements are lower. DEFINING AND MEASURING SUCCESS The planning and projecting outlined above will reduce surprises during the creation and roll-out of the site. The last surprise to target is the definition of success: How do we know the site is a hit? In part, this refers back to the vision statement and goals for the project, but once the site is up and running careful monitoring and measurement is necessary to gauge the effectiveness of the effort. INDEXES OF SUCCESS Count of unique visitors (unique IP addresses) Analysis of reader domains Study of reader demographics Analysis of popular pages Analysis of average pages viewed per reader Count of email messages received Count of transactions processed Count of on-line orders received and fulfilled Count and analysis of referring links Press clippings, paper and electronic Decide which success points are the most important, estimate the expected traffic volume, and then assign a financial value to the results. For example, a site that costs $50,000 and delivers 200,000 readers translates to a $250 CPM; if it results in press coverage of 1 million circulation the CPM is $50; if it delivers 50,000 qualified catalog page readers it costs $1 per lead; and if it generates 2,000 orders each order costs $25. In the real world, of course, the effects overlap, with readership, press coverage, qualified leads and actual orders all coming from a successful site. Moreover, the main investment comes in the initial development of the site, so second year costs are usually substantially lower. Define your expectations at the outset and monitor the site's effectiveness month-by-month. Expect a big surge of traffic shortly after the launch date with a tapering off of readership as the newness wears off. The real challenge is to keep upgrading the content and keep marketing and promoting the site to maintain growth. The World Wide Web offers a unique opportunity to deliver information, communicate with customers and transact business in a high tech/high touch environment. Careful and comprehensive planning are needed to focus an organization's vision, it's content and it's human resources to develop an effective interactive offering.\\ Copyright 1996, 1997 by the Graphics Research Laboratory, Inc. All rights reserved. Comments, questions, suggestions or updates? Visit The EP Diary Forum.