“What is website strategy, anyway?” It’s an understandable question. The word “strategy” is bandied about so freely in business jargon it can sometimes lose its meaning.
Merriam-Webster defines strategy as “a careful plan or method for achieving a particular goal usually over a long period of time.” Whatever role it plays in building and growing your business, your website needs change as your business evolves over time.
A solid website strategy ensures that those evolving needs are met. It incorporates your business plans and goals, the website and search analytics that give you insights on your users, usability research, customer feedback, and sales data, with an eye on the fast-moving technology landscape of the internet. It predicts what site improvements would be most effective for your business, and then weighs that against your available resources. High- or low-budget. Skilled or novice staff. Long vs. short term goals.
Whether the outcome is that you make minor change to your navigation, employ some optimization techniques, adjust your editorial calendar, or rebuild your entire site, a solid strategic plan ensures that you are doing what’s right for your business and your customers, with measurable, profitable results.