2.7 Internet project management

The above-named rules from Jörg Krause are created to make sure that an online marketing project has success. Unfortunately putting these rules in practice is not as easy as it looks. The planning process is often realised by the wrong staff, for example some marketers are very good in the traditional sectors of marketing, but do not know much about internet and online marketing. Another mistake is that planning often does not take place, because marketers think that it is enough to build up an online shop and they forget to promote it (Voigt, 2004).

Dr. Walter Braun divides the internet project management in eleven steps, which should increase the possibility of success. However, success in project management is never guaranteed, but good planning or any kind of structured work is better than planning nothing.

• Operational objective definition
• Market analysis
• Target group analysis
• Content
• Sitemap
• Creative production
• Budgeting
• Time planning
• Controlling
• Publication
• Actualisation

The operational objective definition is defined with four questions:

• What? (Planning object)
• How? (Which measures?)
• When? (Time scale)
• How much? (What should be reached and how is this measured?)

The market analysis describes internet markets, which contain on the one hand the markets of the competitors, customers and suppliers and on the other hand the virtual markets. In virtual realities the irrationality plays a big role (Braun, 2000, p.45).

Generally speaking an internet user cannot be measured with traditional sociological demographic methods. An internet user can surf and consume anonymously without barriers. But there are institutions like Webhits which try to measure the user behaviour. One example is to divide the market into groups with different ages:

Figure 7: Age groups which use the internet

Source: Statista, 2010

The content is always different, but when creating the content it should be considered that a web page is not an interactive flyer, but an interactive medium which should deliver a value. Users searching online for a product are looking for information, not for another slogan. The focus of the interest has to be how this product could help to solve a user’s problem.

The sitemap of a web page serves to increase the clarity of the project. It is a hierarchy of all subpages. It is important that a user never needs more than three clicks to reach every page within a web site. A clear structure is good for the orientation of a visitor and gives the impression of a professional company. The user should feel fine using the web site. A human being only has the capacity to memorize eight things at the same time. Therefore a menu must not have more than eight subpages.

Figure 8: Web site structure

Source: Self created

Creativity on the internet has technical barriers, because complex flash animations or videos on a web page cause a large amount of data transfer and decrease the velocity of a web page. Users do not feel like waiting for a very creative web site. They will leave. Instead of animations one should offer static alternatives and images have to be optimised for the internet. Furthermore for many applications a user has to install a plug-in its browser which also costs time. A modern user does not want videos, music or animations on a web page. For these things the Web 2.0 offers other possibilities like YouTube.

Budgeting not only includes planning and programming a web page, but also marketing activities, maintenance and updates. This is a reason why many online projects do not have success. Executers often think that it is enough to put a web site on the internet, but the follow-up costs sometimes can be multiple times the initial price.
duration of a project depends on the size and complexity of the task. Nevertheless, three phases should be defined: strategic (long term), operational (medium term) and tactical (short term).

A new website should be constantly monitored and reviewed mainly on some important points. The most important are the functionality of links, pictures, downloads, e-mail and of course the shop system. A user will not ask why something does not work, he will just leave the page and one has lost a potential customer without knowing why.

Because the internet is a pull medium, it is important to publicize the site. They use traditional push instruments which are listed below and described in this work.
internet year lasts four calendar months, so updates should also be made quickly and flexibly. This can be done through the maintenance of static pages such as HTML or dynamic pages, which are controlled through a database. There are also specialised content management systems which have been developed, with which the user can easily change the sites on an input mask. Nowadays there are many tools and programmes which help making a web site. It is not necessary to have the knowledge of a web programmer. On the contrary, the amount of mistakes could increase if a marketer tries to programme an online shop (Braun, 2000, p.45-68).

Max Adler Salzhemmendorf Webdesign

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