Web Strategy: The Three Elements of Web Strategy

Categories: Web Strategy, Web TheoryPosted on August 25th, 2006

Update: August 26th, 2007 (one year later) I’ve evolved this concept, please see Web Strategy: The Three Spheres of Web Strategy (and the skills required)

Let’s define what a Web Strategist does.

Web Strategy is the long-term iterative process of defining the direction of a Web Site or Web Product. The Strategy must meet three goals: 1)Users, Business, and Technology to be succesful.

Every website has a strategy, and many different folks can help shape it. In a startup, it’s a hat worn by many within the company, from product teams to marketers. At a larger corporation you’ll find this role to be in the Web Manager or Director type of role.

The Three Elements of Web Strategy:

1) User
The Web Strategist must understand (by using a variety of techniques and tactics) what users want. This is commonly known as User Experience Research which will create and craft a ‘mental model’

2) Business
A website that is not aligned to business or market objectives is ultimately doomed to fail. The User and Business requirements will often match, but will rarely ever be a perfect fit. The Web Strategist) will need to obtain business requirements from stakeholders, whether that be execs, sponsors, sales, or even shareholders. Understanding the market, competitors (and key milestones) and other external forces are also required –a business requirements model will be formed, these are you objectives.

3) Tools
Lastly, a Web Strategist needs to know how each and every tool and technology work, they’ll need to know the strengths, benefits, limitations and costs. This also applies to human capital, and timelines. Often technical limitations will reduce the scope of User and Business needs, so you’ll need to incorporate this going forward.

While I continue to simmer on this –love to get your feedback.

Related Defining Topics: I have a hard time describing myself to my family and friends, called a web hippie, an evil liar, and Neutral or Neo Marketer.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 25th, 2006 at 6:41 am and is filed under Web Strategy, Web Theory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

[...] A Web Strategist should be able to have a full converastion about their vision of the web without even mentioning tools or technology. The conversation should be at the feature and benefit level, include people and should be articulated with normal English. I define a Web Strategist is one who defines the long term vision for a website that meets the needs of Users, the Business, and the Tools. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Speaking of Web Strategy… on December 9th, 2006 at 9:18 am

A web strategist should take a proactive role in helping improve departmental business processes (inside and outside the org), by monthly meeting with managers and users for short sessions. The objective is time-reduction and quality improvement. The strategist will keep up with computing/web trends and be able to reasonably know when supply (the right tools) and demand (business/user needs) will meet at the right time. Changing user behavior in computing/communication can be very difficult. Having a strong appreciation of this, strategists should hold that in account when evaluating their own proposals and those of others.

Posted by Mario Vellandi on December 10th, 2006 at 2:36 am

[...] This term is starting to emerge more often, I’m hearing that more folks are starting to put it into their resume, including a former manager of mine, cool. But what exactly is a Web Strategist? I’ve defined Web Strategy as the role as someone who is responsible for the trilogy (users, business, and tools) of a website’s long-term direction. [...]

Posted by Web Strategy by Jeremiah » Who is a “Web Strategist” on March 16th, 2007 at 4:18 am

[...] Now, web is an integral part of all corporate communication, both externally and internally, or at least we hope it to be. There are three spheres to master in Web Strategy: the Business, User, and Technical spheres, I’ve written more about the role and persona. [...]

Posted by Evolving the Web Strategist on August 19th, 2007 at 3:50 am

I’d add:

4) The Market/The Audience

It’s broader than the user and not inner-focused as the business. A web strategist must no wht if markets are conversations then much of the conversations regarding a company/organization and its products/services depends so much on what is being said overall. And many companies/organizations/product lines (my own acronym: c/o/p) will have several target groups they are trying to attract. So a web strategist must have an idea as to what the conversations are regarding their c/o/p’s. And then they will have to know how to best engage them via key channels.

Posted by Jonathan Trenn on August 21st, 2007 at 8:34 am

Johnathan, I think you’re right!

I may amend this post, let me think further.

Posted by jeremiah_owyang on August 21st, 2007 at 8:51 am

[...] Jeremiah Owyang is one of the best strategic minds out there when it comes to using the web as a means to conduct business, to communicate, to market. A year ago, he laid out what he considers to be the three elements of what a web strategist needs to understand: 1) User The Web Strategist must understand (by using a variety of techniques and tactics) what users want. This is commonly known as User Experience Research which will create and craft a ‘mental model’ [...]

Posted by » The Fourth Element of Web Strategy Via Marketing Conversation - New Marketing and Social Media by Abraham Harrison LLC on August 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am

Just wrote about my above point here:

http://marketingconversation.com/2007/08/21/the-fourth-element-of-web-strategy/

Let’s see what people think.

Posted by Jonathan Trenn on August 21st, 2007 at 10:12 am

[...] I originally introduced this concept August 25th 2006, just about one year earlier, and am now making these amendments. This was primarily spurred by [...]

Posted by Web Strategy: The Three Spheres of Web Strategy (and the skills required) on August 26th, 2007 at 8:56 am

[...] be clear, what does it mean to be a social media strategist? Can it be the same as Web Strategist (see the definition of Jeremiah Owyang, guru on that matter)? Or would Social Media specialty be more connected with [...]

Posted by Account Planning + Social Media + Community management = Social media strategist role and activity - Fast.Fwd.Innov@tion on June 17th, 2008 at 3:17 am

Do you have any suggestions for specific interview questions we can ask candidates to guage their ability to define web strategy for clients? What areas would you probe on, and what type of responses would you look for in helping to determine whether the candidate is a strong web strategist or not?
Thanks!