When it comes to starting a new internet marketing project there are a heap of things to take care about as there are just too many traps and pitfalls you should avoid!
Every experienced internet marketer will confirm to you - after each project accomplished there are at least 5 things that - if done otherwise - would have avoided a lot of extra cost in time and budget.
It's like in softwaredevelopment or general project - every hour you fail to invest in the design phase will cost you a month in rollout phase.
Some things to consider and design beforehand...
There are technical issues to start with e.g.
- Domain registration and setup
- Server Hardware, OS, Web server system, SSL encryption
- Backup facilities and failover mechanisms
- Email and Server security
- IP and DNS configuration
- Content Management System
- Shopping Cart System
- online billing, online payments and taxing system integration
There are organizational issues to take care of
- Setup of technical support organization - inhouse or outsourced
- Setup of customer support organization - inhouse or outsourced
- Service Level Agreements for wisely chosen outsources
- Security and privacy policies, terms & conditions
There are product marketing related issues to think about - actually online marketing planning
- Products and niches to be distributed online -
- Target groups definitions
- Pricing strategies
- Promotional strategies
- Refund and return policies
There are internet marketing related issues to plan for
- Strategies for creation of Press Releases, Sales copies,
- PPC and paid inclusion strategy
- Organic Search optimization strategy
- Media Budget Allocation and spending strategy
- timely aquisition Text Link and Advertorial Advertising / Hosted Marketing Pages
All these issues and many more of an Internet Marketing Project
are to be handled by experienced project manager following the acknowledged and common general principles of Project Management - and executed as with every other software roll-out project - just combined with a fancy planned marketing plan.
The right project planning and execution can help you set the right expectations in time and budget. Internet Marketing Projects are just a combination of an offline marketing project with a software implementation and rollout project.