Crafting Digital Success: Mastering the Four W's of Website Creation

Website creation is both exciting and challenging. As marketers, we are responsible for the strategic planning that shapes the digital face of our brand. Just like putting a face to a name, a website serves as the maximum representation of your product or service in the virtual landscape. 

Your website not only clearly states the value proposition of what you offer but also conveys the subtext behind it, such as brand values, communication tone, and brand positioning.Now that we understand the significance of this, I'll guide you in effectively and efficiently planning your website creation. To illustrate, I'll use an example from one of the many websites I optimized for my clients some years ago.

In 2020, Reckitt Benckiser, a British consumer goods company, sought my expertise to update their Enfamil website for the entire Andean Region, which includes Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia. The goal was to give the website a fresh new look while optimizing SEO, CRM capabilities, and online purchasing—crucial during the COVID-19 lockdowns experienced by many South American countries.

The 4 W’s of website development

As a first step, I began the website planning process by identifying what I call the "4 W's" of website development:

1. Who: Who is my target audience? Clearly define your audience's demographics, develop buyer personas, and keep them in mind throughout the entire website creation process.

2. Why: Why should they come to my page? It may be wise to review Anthony Miyazaki's "The Many Purposes of Marketing Communication" to better formulate these questions. Do I want to inform about my product? Connect with my audience? Motivate a specific action? Remind them we are the best option in the market? In my experience, your boss will often want all these, and why not?

3. What: What are we offering? What is the best way to present it? Is the primary focus the product, or is there any additional value, benefits, promises to highlight?

4. Where: Where will my customers be directed? Will they stay on the website to make a purchase, use a third-party e-commerce site, or perhaps integrate with a retailer?

The 4 W's of website creation guide you to define your audience, clarify your purpose, present your offer, and direct your visitors seamlessly, ensuring every click leads to meaningful engagement

Let's put these concepts into practice by examining what I did for Reckitt’s Enfamil:

• Target Audience: Our target audience was mothers or soon-to-be mothers aged 20-40 expecting a baby or parenting a young child. They had medium to high incomes and were highly motivated to acquire all the essential knowledge for their children's development. They also took great care in researching the components and alternatives of baby formula.

• Purpose: Reckitt wanted to position itself as a provider of the best product on the market and as a brand that connects with mothers, providing them with tailored information based on their customer journey. For example, mothers with 10-month-old babies would receive different content than those with 2-month-old babies.

• Value Proposition: We offered Enfamil products such as Digest, Promental, and Comfort, clearly identifying their differences and unique benefits. What we provided foremost, was a product that would help their baby develop their mind by obtaining all the necessary nutrients, a promise for a great future.

• Customer Journey: Customers were directed to third-party e-commerce sites like PlazaVea or Metro or to our in-house e-commerce platform, where they could access discount coupons.

  
  
  
  

Source: https://enfabebe.pe/.

Effective planning: Website Architecture

After identifying your 4 W's, you can move on to developing the website architecture to ensure no core building blocks are overlooked. As Clifford Chi mentions on HubSpot, "Website architecture is the hierarchical structure of your website pages,"  Or like I prefer to describe it, website architecture is: the structure you create to segment your website into different core sections that collectively create value and work towards achieving your marketing objectives, like promoting customer engagement, interaction, and conversion.

Involving other teams

To plan effectively, you must consider other areas of the business and integrate them into the creation process. I recommend involving the sales and e-commerce teams as active participants in content creation; their input can help you, as a marketer, develop a better-integrated website. For example, every blog entry could include a call to action for online product purchases, and every piece of content should aim to inform, connect, remind, and persuade. 

Final thoughts

Don’t get too attached to the design you came up with personally. When creating or optimizing websites, having an extra set of eyes for feedback is extremely helpful, allowing unbiased A/B testing and ensuring your website remains customer-oriented and user-friendly. This will help you achieve better results for your company.

The ideas and perspectives expressed in this article are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or entity with which I am affiliated.All brand names, logos, and trademarks mentioned in this blog are the property of their respective owners. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by any of the brands mentioned. Any opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect the views or opinions of the brand owners.