A lot of web design companies offer their services behind fog and mirrors.  They offer a spectacle of flashy lights, and use acronyms and technical jargon to sell their products.  What they fail to acknowledge is that when you purchase their services, you're really only purchasing a product that has been regurgitated over and over again.  After many times of doing this, websites tend to get very unoriginal in design and functionality, and the strategy behind them does not exist.  All this is, is inexperienced designers, advertising themselves as web developers.  They do not have the technical, or strategic knowledge to produce successful websites, they just know how to make them.  The truth of the matter is, many companies don't really care whether or not their websites are successful, because it's about volume. 

As web designers ourselves, it is almost appalling when we see so many people fall victim to these people who call themselves "reputable web design companies", simply because the products that they are offering, aren't producing results, and essentially aren't serving a purpose.  So why is strategy important with regards to websites?  If there is no strategy, what is the website really doing for you? Sure people might see it, but are those people getting the right impression of your company, biting for your products and services?  Typically not.

Strategy is determining an information architecture that will produce the results that satisfy your goals.  It's the design that compliments your company and acts as an extension or online identity.  Strategy is determining what type of website you need to make sure that it is giving your users the right instructions on what to do with your information. Without strategy, your website will simply not produce results. Without strategy, your website could be making you look really bad.

So what are the key areas to focus on when talking online strategy?

1) Goals:
What are the goals of my website?  How can I achieve those goals?

2) Target Market:
Who is my target market?  How old are they?  What are their tastes in current trends?

3)Type of Website
What type of website should I have that will best suit and realize my goals?

4)The Design
What colors and style should I design my website in, so that the people are reading it
right.

5) Quality of Design
What quality am I getting with my web designer?  Will my target market respond to this quality?  How will they respond?

6) Selling Points
If I'm selling my services, what are some of the selling points for my products?  For my target market what are some of the ways that they like to be sold to?

7) Information Architecture
How much information should I show? What type of Information should I provide?

The list goes on and on, but these are the key areas for which you would need to focus on when developing a successful website.  If you choose a good web design company when developing your website, they will help you with your strategy, and will likely offer a lot in terms of understanding your different options and methods to achieve your goals.

Why is this important?

Strategy is important because you don't want to be just another company with a generic website, and you want to make sure that your website is producing as much as possible without having to wonder if... 

How to spot the fakers.

Ask the company what they plan to do and how they expect to satisfy your goals in the online market. If the company just says they're going to make you a nice website and that'll do the trick, or something like that, run. Just because a website is nice, doesn't mean that it is susceptible or capable of turning over business.

Look at their work, if it all looks like duplicates or copies of one another, you know that it is regurgitated work, and they are an assembly-line company; meaning that your website will not get the attention that it deserves and that 9 times out of 10, they know nothing of strategy or how to implement it. 

Just because a company has been in business for 10 years, does not mean that they are the most experienced, it just means that they know how to persuade people to give them business. So be sure to look into the company who is going to be developing your website before you invest.  If you choose the right one, the return on your investment could be substantial.