The first step for setting up a website is committing to the business idea or a mission/vision and believing that it can be done with internet technology. Identify the main stakeholder, the one that funds the project and wants something in return. This stakeholder's return will be the top goal of the site, and  does not have to be expressed in a contribution to the mission, but can be expressed in a profit (for example ROI) which garantuees continuity for the organization, or aquired knowledge about new technogly which will open up new possibilities in the future.

It's necessary to write this future view on paper, sothat it can serve as a focal point in what we are trying to achieve.

There may also be more than one goal to be reached for this stakeholder (for example ROI and marketshare). In identifying the stakeholder and defining the desired return, you have youranswer on the question, when is the website a success? Quantifying this goal in numbers over a period in time (reach a ROI of 25% in three years) with the stakeholder is the final step that is needed before we can continue. The values can be working values but should be agreed upon, as they will serve as a bases for our assumptions in the website for other goals like  for example required number of visitors.

Next to the stakeholder goal(s) the mission or idea should be translated in a boundary for the website to be created. If the mission is to feed the world we cannot start a housing site for this organisation.

Knowing our website goal(s), we can start thinking about strategies. How will we reach the longterm mission and stakeholder goals within the boundaries set by the organization?

First thing we must decide upon, when having a monetairy goal, is the business model. How will we convert visits into money?

Then we'll have to define our target audience, our customers and check if the businessmodel will work for this group.

We also must define the unique value proposition what is it exactly that we want to offer our customers and will the target audience like this proposition? it's a good idea to validate the proposition idea against current customer trends.

We'll have to check our own internal resources competences and processes to have an idea what is possible and what is not.

At last we will check out the competition and environmental factors for possible idea's and barriers that may have an influence on our strategy.

 Having done all this, we will know our current situation, and understand where we want to go. This is necessary for creating a strategy.

On the web use strategy
to be faster than the rest