Successful websites need a tailored proposition
admin | June 3, 2008
The most important element of a successful website isn’t the technology, the content, or the marketing. It’s having a clear and defined proposition which is understood by the entire team – and most importantly, by the users of the website.
I’d always been implicitly aware that the likes of Google, Ebay et al had a clear purpose upon which they’d built success, and yet I’m as guilty as anyone of putting the cart before the horse, and trying to fill something with content, and market it, without ensuring that there was a clear proposition in place. That’s even true of this blog, which has evolved over time, but really began as a general internet/tech blog. Even now, posts like this are somewhat at odds with my main focus on community and social media marketing!
Anyhow, since moving from editorial to marketing, I’ve had the chance to see how much a clear proposition helps the titles I work with – much of it driven by great work by one of my colleagues, Charlie Watson. Suddenly there’s a clear purpose and drive which can be lacking, particularly on sites which have been going for some time without direction.
But it’s also important to remember that direction and proposition may need to change over time, and be adapted in response to your audience. And that was underlined by a great meeting with the Ditto team yesterday. I can’t say what’s changed quite yet, but I can say that I’m constantly impressed with the way they respond to their audience, whilst maintaining a clear focus and proposition.
I guess it great propositions boil down to:
- Define a clear and simple aim for your site which differentiates itself from competitors, and aims to answer the needs of your audience.
- Monitor how effective the proposition is, and be open to changing it. Noone has ever got it exactly right first time – but the biggest websites listened and evolved more quickly than their competitors.
- Don’t be tempted to keep adding ‘and also this’ to the proposition. It needs to be so clear and simple you can convey it with one look at your homepage, or in a few words in ad advert or message board. Or even in a logo. You can’t do that if the proposition is 3 paragraphs long with an appendix! Google’s proposition is summed up by a logo and search box.
Oh, and if that does help you build the next big thing, my commission is around 10%!
