I see Website Architecture and Web Strategy as two completely different components that need to each other to create a successful web presence.

Good Website Architecture, like classic architecture, needs a plan. It needs to have a design that fits the needs of it’s inhabitants (visitors) and it needs to have aesthetic appeal and finally, the right inhabitants. For all you techies out there, take a look at Peter Morville & Louis Rosenfeld’s book, Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. (It’s an Oreilly publication) This is a heavy read, but it offers good pointers for those that want to lead a website project on their own.

A great short list of TO DO’s can be found on Seth Godin’s blog titled “Things to ask before you redo your website” I like this list a lot.

Here is his list followed by the link to his blog:

•What is the goal of the site?
•In other words, when it’s working great, what specific outcomes will occur?
•Who are we trying to please? If it’s the boss, what does she want? Is impressing a certain kind of person important? Which kind?
•How many people on your team have to be involved? At what level?
•Who are we trying to reach? Is it everyone? Our customers? A certain kind of prospect?
•What are the sites that this group has demonstrated they enjoy interacting with?
•Are we trying to close sales?
•Are we telling a story?
•Are we earning permission to follow up?
•Are we hoping that people will watch or learn?
•Do we need people to spread the word using various social media tools?
•Are we building a tribe of people who will use the site to connect with each other?
•Do people find the site via word of mouth? Are they looking to answer a specific question?
•Is there ongoing news and updates that need to be presented to people?
•Is the site part of a larger suite of places online where people can find out about us, or is this our one sign post?
•Is that information high in bandwidth or just little bits of data?
•Do we want people to call us?
•How many times a month would we like people to come by? For how long?
•Who needs to update this site? How often?
•How often can we afford to overhaul this site?
•Does showing up in the search engines matter? If so, for what terms? At what cost? Will we be willing to compromise any of the things above in order to achieve this goal?
•Will the site need to be universally accessible? Do issues of disability or language or browser come into it?
•How much money do we have to spend? How much time?
And finally,
•Does the organization understand that ‘everything’ is not an option?

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2009/09/things-to-ask-before-you-redo-your-website.html

I just finished a great book written by Seth on leading online communities, called Tribes. It’s a quick weekend read and I suggest any company decision maker that is interested in the new medium pick up a copy. It’s a paradigm shift to the way we all market ourselves, our ideas and our products or services online. It’s very basic psychology but also very Web 2.0! I got my copy at Indigo.

Keep up the great topics. I will try to engage more in the future.

Cheers!
Kersten
Business Consultant, Web Strategy
Calgary Alberta Canada