Our goal with this online book is to give you what you need to develop a successful Web plan. We're concerned with good planning, realistic numbers, and pragmatic Web development in a business context. So you're looking to develop a Web plan. You might be a business owner or a business manager. You might be an Internet expert, beginner, or pragmatic do-it-yourself person. You may be working with one of the millions of business that already have their website, or you may be involved with one of the millions of business that don't yet have a website but suspect they need to. Either way, our goal is to help you put that whole business function into a logical, orderly framework. We want to help you set business objectives for that website, focus on strategic goals, set priorities, understand the target market, develop the technical and communications strategy, plan and muster the resources you need, develop the plan, and make it happen.
So this isn't a book about how to develop the website, at least not exactly. It's about how to plan a website as a business function, in a business context, with proper business objectives, strategy, implementation, and follow-through.
Even if you're already an Internet expert, we still think we can help you develop a plan. You probably already know all we have to offer about the technology, but we can help you through the planning process, give you the step-by-step guide, and suggest a methodology for channeling what you know into a logically sequenced, orderly plan that you'll be able to implement. You know as well as anybody that Web plans are a new offshoot of business planning, so the framework itself can help you get the job done.
If you're not an Internet expert, then look at this book and the process of developing a plan itself as a practical guide to the business decisions and choices you need to make. We've tried to give you all you really need to know, from a practical point of view, to develop a Web plan. This book includes details on how to develop your strategy, how to focus on key elements, analyze and research your market, develop Web strategy and tactics, project your sales and build your budget, so you can create a plan that you can implement.
Regardless of your background or experience, you want your Web plan to be a useful document that describes your current situation, states your strategy, and outlines a pragmatic approach to accomplish your desired results.
