To web or not to web is no longer the question. The Internet is here to stay, and its impact grows by the minute. The valid questions today deal with goals, processes, and technical and financial considerations. How should individual, institutions, or corporations go about establishing an Internet presence and moving part of their operations to the Web? What are the steps?

Here we look at some of the most important strategies and elements used by successful companies and institutions.

The accelerated development of the Internet has given impetus to the trend toward customer-centered marketing. As early as 1993, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers anticipated the possibilities of individualized customer engagement.*

Internet profits can be accomplished in several ways: by offering goods or services directly, by providing Internet access, or by selling advertising space, among others. Many businesses use the Internet to extend their regular business operations, to advertise products, or to free employees from mechanical tasks by publishing basic information and frequently asked questions about the company and its products or services. Corporations entering this new market should examine their goals carefully and consider which model fits their needs and possibilities.

If it is true that visual identity and the design and content of a website go a long way in attracting prospects, it is visitors and users who decide the usefulness and popularity of a website. Therefore, it pays to determine ahead of time what you expect your website to do for the company, and which image you want to project.

In order to understand the needs of your customers and ultimately establish a profitable relationship with them, site statistics are essential. Interpreting the gathered data helps businesses understand who is visiting your site and how visitors use it. Businesses are then able to find better ways to satisfy customer needs. In order to attract possible customers, some businesses offer free services in combination with the products and services they sell. Access to the free services may require visitors to provide certain information. This information can be used later as sale leads, to group potential clients, or to study market trends.

Automatic logs are widely used to collect such information as how much use the website is generating, which pages are being viewed, the order in which visitors view the pages, and demographics. The use of cookies is another way to gather valuable customer data. However, before implementing these approaches, privacy and security issues should be addressed. Developing trust is an essential prerequisite to establishing a healthy business relationship with customers. Customer data can be used profitably for personalization, which enables more of a one to one engagement with the individual consumer or client. The trend towards personalization fuels the growing emphasis on dynamic delivery, which is rapidly replacing the old static approach to content management.

Personalization seeks to tailor the content to the individual user. Through profiles, customers provide businesses with information about their interests and preferences. Businesses in turn use this data to personalize the content delivered and even the form in which it is presented, by matching customer preferences. Profiling also may apply to business rules. Some company employees, for example, may have access to wholesale prices, while salesmen may not. Some employees may be able to order directly from manufacturers, while others may even be able to update catalogues, publish news about the company, etc. Important weekly reports may be forwarded automatically to the right supervisor for approval, facilitating workflow. These programmed business rules are the rules of the game; they control the operation and sequence of business events. The levels of authority of each participant are also organized around a predetermined set of rules.

The prevalent trend in web publishing is to move away from static content management. New sites tend to emphasize dynamic content. Static pages are like the pages of a book, only in electronic form; they are completely preassembled. Dynamic pages, on the other hand, are constructed in the moment from elements that are stored in a database. These pages are generated according to certain preset scripts, rules, or preferences. But full personalization or customization- the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, sometimes assigned different meanings- can come at a high price.

Not all companies, however, need to engage in full customization. Many capitalize on a different approach: data collected about individual customers is processed and interpreted to enable them to group customers based on their similar needs or preferences. Segmenting customers in this way simplifies content delivery and personalizes it to a certain extent. Companies may use recommendation engines and segmentation software to aid in customer categorization. These tools enable businesses to make educated guesses about which products or services members of a particular group may be interested in. In this way, people who buy a particular book, may be sent recommendations for a related book or product, based on previously established profiles. These profiles may be updated based on future purchases or preferences. Marketing strategies and approaches are thus tailored to specific segments of the customer base.

Taking your business to the Internet requires good planning. Companies should formulate their goals clearly and establish a sensible course of action. All the elements related to the operation of the future website should be taken into account. These would include, among others, visual identity, business model, content management tools, plans for personalization or segmentation, and marketing strategies. Some of the necessary tasks may need to be approached in steps.

The cost of deploying and maintaining a website should be considered in advance and weighed against the expected gains. Taking your business on the web can be a wonderful enterprise, but sound preparation will prove essential.

*Peppers, Don, and Rogers, Martha. The One to One Future,1993.