Doing Web-Based Communications Right—Part 2 of 3

September 8th, 2008

In this post, part 2 of 3, we will pick up where we left off on Doing Web-Based Communications Right.  As you may recall, in part one we talked about:

• Purpose
• Guiding Principles
• and Desired Outcome

At this point in the process, you should know what purpose your project serves, what rules you are going to play by, and what wild success looks like.

What’s next?

Brainstorm

Now is the time to think about all the components your project will encompass.  These components will most likely be the top-level parts of your project.  For example, if your web-based communication project is a web site, your brainstorm may produce items like:

• domain name
• web hosting
• content development
  • writing
  • images
• visual design
• customer database
• search engine optimization

The idea here is to think about as many possibilities as you can—impose no limits on your thinking.

Once you have completed Brainstorming the next step is to Organize Tasks.

Organize Tasks

At this step you breakdown the top-level components into specific tasks that will move the project forward. Every task should be executable. If something you are looking at is too abstract, as in you can’t actually perform the task, you need to break it down further. One key is to write each task as if a person was only going to see that task AND they are only 5 years old.

“Create report for meeting” is not going to cut it when you look at it alone. What report? What meeting?

To continue using the example above I will take the first item from the Brainstorm list.

Domain Name

1. Decide on the spelling of domain name by listing at least 5 choices in descending order
2. Go online to www.instantdomainsearch.com and type in your choices
3. Select one domain name and purchase it
4. Print and file copies of all contact and registration information

I think from this example above you get the idea.

So from here you have completed the process of defining your project and what it will take to get it done. What’s next?

That will be in our next installment, Part 3 of 3 of Doing Web-Based Communications Right.

Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Doing Web-Based Communications Right—Part 1 of 3

August 29th, 2008

Large corporations and well-funded start ups have the bankroll to build web communications with large amounts of research and planning. There are teams of people working on tasks such as:

• Defining purpose
• Defining goals
• Clarifying guiding principles
• Articulating desired outcomes
• Performing user research
• Brainstorming
• Scheduling
• Defining tasks and assigning to people to get it all done
• Delivering the product (website, email campaign, etc.)

For the small business person who may not have the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in the design and development of their website, there is a way to get the most value using a simple process to build or assess your web communications.

The first step is to ask yourself, or your company some basic questions about why you are doing this, what your desired outcome is, and how to get it done.

Here are some of the first questions to ask:

Purpose

• Why are we building a web site? Or if you have one, why do we have a web site? What is its purpose?
  • Inform people about your company?
  • Sell goods or services?
  • Create a sense of community?
  • Establish you or your company as a leader within your industry?

Guiding Principles

• While we are building this, what will help guide us?
  • Do we want to have fun?
  • Do we want it done efficiently to meet a deadline?
  • Are we working under a budget constraint?
  • Is there a philosophy, or mantra, that should be repeated while working on this?

Desired Outcome

• What do you want to achieve?
  • Do you want to make money?
  • Do you want to get more customers?
  • Do you want to establish your new brand?
  • Do you want to establish yourself, or your company as a thought leader?
• How can we measure our success?
  • Pick a measurable desired outcome.
  • Can the desired outcome be broken down into smaller milestones? What are they?

Get it Going

This should be plenty to get you started on thinking about your web-based communication project—or any project for that matter. In part two I will write about the next steps in the process, and in part three I will write about the conclusion; where does this get you?

If you have any comments or feedback please share below.