Planning Your Website: Objectives, Target Markets and Products and Services

June 3rd, 2008 Posted in Planning Your Web Site

Things have changed dramatically over the past several years in terms of web site design and development methodology. Back in the old days - a couple of years ago in Internet years - it was quite acceptable. and the norm, for a travel and tourism organization to pack up all of its brochures, ads, direct mail pieces, news releases and other marketing materials in a box, drop it off at the web developer’s office, and after a short conversation, ask when they might expect the website to be “done.” The web developer would then take the marketing materials and digitize some, scan some, and do some HTML programming to develop the site. By going through this process, organizations ended up with a web site that looked just like their brochure, hence the term “brochureware.” Brochureware is no longer acceptable on the web if you want to be successful. Travel related sites that are successful today are the ones that are designed around:

  • Objectives of the organization
  • Needs, wants, and expectations of their target markets
  • Travel-related products and services that are being offered

Everything related to internet marketing relates to these three things - objectives, target markets, and products or services. It is critically important to define these things appropriately and discuss them with your web developer. It is your responsibility - not your web developer’s - to define these things. You know (or should know) what your objectives are more clearly than your web developer does. If you don’t articulate these objectives and discuss them with your web developer, it is impossible for him or her to build a site that achieves your objectives.

You know your target markets better than your web developer does. You know what your visitors want, what they base their buying decisions on and what their expectations are. You need to provide this information so that your web developer can build a website that meets the needs, wants and expectations of your target market.

Need some extra help with the first steps of your new site? Why not get those steps and all the others that you never even thought of? My book, 101 Ways to Promote Your Tourism Web Site is just what the new site developer needs!

-Written by Susan Sweeney 

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