originally uploaded by blog.compete.com
The business world changes quickly, the digital world even quicker. The problem is that very few business are really keeping up with the pace of change online and the rapid adoption of new media, device and applications by their customers.
The truth is that there are now very few industries unaffected by the web. Whole new business models are emerging daily that totally interrupt entire industries. If it hasn’t happened to you yet it will soon.
In 2012 the need to adapt will be more crucial than ever. Those that do will benefit and see their market share grow or uncover new markets. Those that don’t risk falling well behind or losing it all.
Here are the 9 things your business must do now:
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We’re in the process of building the perfect website – perfect for us, that is.
In reality there probably isn’t a perfect website, but we’re trying to build something that is exceptionally effective for the launch of our all new NLYZR Website Optimization System.
Of course everybody has different objectives for their websites and so there is no single design, layout or strategy that will work for all, but in our case we have a very clear set of objectives for NLYZR and have started redesigning from scratch.
Some of the considerations we need to include are; search engine optimization, ease of navigation, very clear conversion signals, plenty of compelling content, forms, videos, PDF downloads, payment facilities, an e-commerce platform, members area, confirmation messages and emails……and that’s before the user starts playing with the new NLYZR system we’ve developed.
It’s, um…….complicated and we’ve taken a lot of care in trying to design a site that makes sense and delivers results. Here’s the way we mapped it out in the office during planning…. (basketball hoop not included)
Will it be perfect? Probably not.
We expect to test and change the site a lot over the next year to continually improve the user experience and fine-tune our conversion strategies. A lot depends on the early results and feedback we receive. But we think this will be a great start. We’ve used our best ideas and closely studied exceptional websites from around the world in order to determine the best possible design.
Very few sites are “set and forget”, they need constant monitoring and adjustments to achieve exceptional results. It doesn’t matter whether if you’re launching a new site aimed at a global market, like we are with NLYZR, or a small site for your hometown…. every site can continually improve and evolve. They may never be perfect but hopefully they deliver increasingly good results for you.
Note: we aim to launch the NLYZR Website Optimization System in early September 2011, but you can use our Free Web NLYZR anytime.
Gavin Heaton has posted an excellent piece about the Three Ages of Content Management Systems which goes a long way to explaining how the web has evolved and how organisations and the systems they use may or may not have progressed. Its a great read and I urge you to take 5 minutes to see what Gavin has to say.
We now live in the sharing web age
The 3 ages Gavin talks about are:
Clearly, given the ubiquity of social media now, we are in The Age of Sharing. Organisations who realise this and have moved to ensure their web presence reflects it are the ones who are benefiting. The content on their websites is being passed around, searched and now generates considerably more traffic than many of their contemporaries who still live in The Age of Shouting.
Unfortunately many people treat the web the same way as they treat their traditional advertising. They see it purely as a broadcasting media. They haven’t heard of the Age of Conversation and they haven’t heard of the 1000 True Fans theory. They are still yelling at an audience that isn’t necessarily listening.
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