Thus far in this series of follow-up posts to our Web Executive Seminar "Six Steps to a Successful Online Strategy", I have discussed the key inputs to a strategy. Now we finally get to what many will think of as the strategy itself: what is it that an organization should actually do? Hopefully I have convinced you that you rush to this step at your peril, but, if you have followed along, congratulations - you are here! Let's talk about the right online services.

First, a point on semantics that is, I promise, bigger than that (aren't they all?). I use the term "online services." One might say "what's that about - I am just doing a web site." We very deliberately us terms that imply a larger focus that a public web site. It is easy to get caught up in your public web site as you entire internet presence, when, in fact, it ought to be a piece. You should also be thinking about e-mail services, extranets, an intranet, third-party online services (look at the rush to Facebook), and, perhaps, services for other internet enabled media like mobile devices. Doing a strategy for a web site can leave you blind to these other opportunities that may, all things considered, be more valuable. This we use "online strategy" or "internet strategy" and "online services" or "internet services." I recommend adopting this convention when talking to stakeholders and peers.

Defining the services and their benefits
Determining the right mix of online services is really about doing an old-fashion cost-benefit analysis. In talking about audiences and organizational dynamics in the last two posts, I implied that the right services grow out of these two inputs, and that is initially the case:

• You ended your audience work by creating a list, for each audience of implications for online services. This list was based on a) giving audiences services that they want (attractor services) and b) introducing them to services that help them or entice them to do what you want them to do (motivator services). The ideal service does both, but sometimes you need to do a little of each.
  
• You also used the organizational dynamics analysis to develop another set of online services implications. This list drew up assets to leverage and weaknesses to navigate - or overcome. For this part, the ideal service leverages an asset and runs up against no weakness. A valuable service may also, however, help navigate or overcome a weakness. A service that help catalog and distribute internal knowledge could be important to an organization that needs to break through organizational silos in order to have greater overall impact. In some cases this may be more valuable than any external service.
  

It is pretty easy to take these lists of implications and create a list of actual services that might fit. A good plan is the following:

1. Consolidate the audience implications lists across all audiences. Note those ideas which overlap multiple audiences.
   
2. Turn the implications into actual services. An implication might, for example, be "make it easy to find key training materials relevant to a particular need." The service might be "a training materials library with topical filters. At the end you should have one list of services that grew out of all the different audience implications. Keep track of which match to which audience(s).
   
3. Make sure your list is complete. The best way to do this is to let yourself fly free of the here and now. Do a "blue sky" exercise, where you learn about highly innovative or unique online services that others are offering. Go beyond your sector and into the corporate world, absorbing all the wild "Web X.0" ideas you can find. Set no limitations other than the idea must be "cool." Let the list percolate.
   
4. Return to the here-and-now and review the wild ideas you found. Think about whether any have applicability. Maybe none do - you certainly shouldn't feel compelled to add three just for the sake of doing them. Some, however, may lead you you to a new idea that fits the criteria for consideration. This exercise should help expand your boundaries and foster creative thinking.
   
5. Note services on this new list that leverage organizational assets. It is possible that there will be assets that have no matching audience-focused service. These ought to provoke some thought. Is there an audience-facing opportunity you missed? This is where "out of the box" ideas originate. Don't force something in - make sure you don't add a service that has no value for audience interaction. Does the asset of no online value but does have offline value? If so, leave it be and move on.
   
6. Look carefully at the list of services implications from your organizational weaknesses. Develop a list of services - or note services on the list above - which help overcome weaknesses.
   

With this list you can now rate the benefit of each service (1-5 or H-M-L is fine). Again, a service is most beneficial if it reaches multiple audiences as both an attractor or motivator or if it helps navigate critical organizational dynamics. Weigh these factors and also the value of particular audiences. It is, of course, better to focus on the highest value audiences. When done you should have a rating of the benefit side of the equation for each of the service ideas. Time to think about costs.

Thinking about costs
You can address costs along for dimensions:

1. Note on the consolidated service list any services that might be made more difficult because of organizational weaknesses. Making these services work will involve organizational change, and that will be extremely costly. Check the benefit ratings for these services - unless the benefit ratings are high, you should probably just drop the services to the bottom of your list right now; if the benefit ratings are low, no harm in sending them straight to the cutting room floor.
   
2. Work with knowledgeable people to determine the technical complexity of implementing each service (again, 1-5 or H-M-L orders of magnitude are fine). This is the basic cost range to design the service and do the programming.
   
3. Think about the content you need to support each new service and rate each service idea for content complexity. The more you need to create content you don't have, the more complex the dimension.
   
4. Give a rating to each service for resource complexity - basically how much time it will take staff to manage the service outside of creating content for it. Does the service, for example, require moderation or management of user accounts? Those are more complex.
   

By tallying the combined complexity dimensions for each service, you can now compare benefits to costs. That cool but medium value idea the V.P. had? Highly complex technically - does it still seem so necessary? That interesting but low-value idea? Its cheap and easy to manage - why not? So here's the punch line: your priority services are those that have a benefit level that justifies all their costs. Note that this doesn't mean only do low cost ones; it means do high cost ones if the benefit is high (and their aren't equally high benefit ones that have lower costs).

As a final step, work with your technical experts to determine how to break the ideas into reasonable technical releases. Assume that you will only do high priority items in the near term and accept that low priority items may be best left for dead (if and until the cost-benefit equation changes for some reason at a later date).

So are you now done? NO!!!! You have only created a strategy - now you need to make it work. Yes, the fun is just beginning...