Please notice, that I did not end the title at “website”, I ended it with “business”.  Why?  Because you can start a website on blogger.com, but if you’re looking to start a website as a revenue producing vehicle, then you are really starting A Business.

Like any business the first thing you need is a business plan.  You need to put your ideas down on paper.  You need to visualize and have realistic goals for what can actually come of a website venture.

I get quote requests for building a websites everyday.  Almost all of them have a list of features they want in a website.  I rarely see any quote request which starts with… We want X,XXX users by XX/XX date who were able to X to fulfill X need.

The simple stating of that goal, completely changes the entire conversation and I promise, it will lead to (more…)

Your website is a means to an end, a way to reach a goal, a tool for information about you, your product, your service, and sometimes your website is a service within itself.   However what it all comes down to at the end of the day, is that there is some action you want a visitor to take when they come to your website.  The solution to whatever problem or goal you seek, almost always lies in conversion.   How do we make a visitor turn into a user.

Whether you’re Google, Microsoft, or Joe the Plumber, your website success relies on the management of a solution to the goal of conversion.   Managing the experience you want to provide compared to the need you’ll fill is a high level thought out process which should begin any website project and yet can change everyday after that beginning.

Management that provides solutions is management whom keeps a keen eye on a many different aspects of your website.

• What is the action you want from a user?
• How are users finding your site?
• What do users see when they do find your site?
• Is the first thing they see the optimal solution for their goal in visiting?
• Does the user’s experience on your website give a feeling of satisfaction?
• How do you follow up with a user to make sure they get satisfied again and again?

Each question is separate, but each question is a substantive piece of the whole “user experience”.  A 30,000 foot view is where solutions management flies, and a successful combination of answers to those questions is what any website is and should be striving to achieve.

Never forget, feelings are an integral part of building a website, because feelings are an integral part of the human condition?  If a user visits your website and gets a feeling of satisfaction, or for that matter produces any positive emotion then you have managed to provide a solution for that person.  In our world of instant gratification, you not only need to provide that solution but do it in roughly 1.6 seconds or less

Good luck with find a solution to your next problem or goal.

A successful website manager should handle at least four basic details in the execution of a web project or ongoing site maintenance task.

Resources - This can consist of a number of different assets. The software you use, the computer you work from, and especially the people you work with.

Time - A goal, a set date to deliver by, so that your entire team is working knowing that time is of the essence.

Money - Getting a new project to profitability as soon as possible is key, and should never be forgotten. If you website is not profitable you won’t be managing it for long.

Scope - Arguably the most important of all three. Keeping a close eye on what the project starts as, and what it morphs into by the end can be the toughest of all three to properly manage.

Each of the aspects of proper website management, are completely related and dependent on each other. Good resources cost money, money well spent can save time, time is money, and scope encompasses each of those into a well thought out plan to reach an end goal, without needlessly changing the end goal.

If scope “creeps” it will cost you time, money, and can chip away at the morale of employees quickly. You might think that adding one additional task is nothing, but almost invariably it doesn’t end there.

Anyone who manages websites can tell you, “A website is never finished.” As it shouldn’t be. If a website was done, and you stopped innovating and making it better and better, someone will quickly come along and take that idea to the next level without you. That doesn’t mean however that you allow scope creep at any specific or particular time.

Its very important that you stick to your goals, unless you’ve clearly made a mistake in your original plan. Once the goal has been reached, that is when you take a second to step back reevaluate and see where it should go next. Bogging a project down by endlessly changing the goal posts can easily keep a goal from ever being reached.

If anything, its simply being advised to tread lightly when it comes to only saying “yes” to change and revision requests, so that you can keep an eye out for a chance to show your expertise with a suggestion that saves time and money by keeping your eyes on the goal. You’ll be a much happier website manager, and your client will thank you in the end.