With the explosion of online channels, you need to take a more holistic view of your online presence: it's what happens on your site, your internal activity and all other sites connected to yours. The key is to do what works best rather than doing everything.

Of course, everyone needs to start somewhere. So, whether you are reviewing your current strategy or creating a brand new one, here are five things to consider:

1. Start with the four Cs – Content, Community, Communication and Commerce

Have a clear picture of what you are trying to achieve and how you'll measure it.

2. Align your business with your customers

What are your users doing online? What are they interested in? What's keeping them awake at night? Crucially, how can you make their lives a little bit easier? And how does your business profit when you help them.

3. Model success

Look outside your business and industry. Find examples of organizations that excel in each of the four Cs and see what you can learn from their approach.

4. Start small, scale fast

No one has all the answers – certainly not ones that will work for every company. So it's important  that you experiment. Most of the latest developments can be tried out on a small scale for little cost. Try them. If they work, keep going and develop them further. If not, move on.

5. Ensure you have the right infrastructure in place

Unsurprisingly, we'd suggest any platforms you choose to use should have the power and flexibility to deal with the ever-changing online demands. So it pays to ensure you get the right foundations in place right from the start.

Download our whitepaper "The holistic web - developing a 360˚ online strategy"