Assessing Your Online Revenue Strategy

Are you maximizing your online revenue efforts? Here's a checklist designed to make sure that your company is on target.

* Is the corporate Interactive VP well-versed in online sales and revenue models, or are they primarily focused on building websites and driving user and streaming numbers ... then telling you to "go sell it?"

* Are your websites advertiser-friendly (IAB compliant), and can the advertiser have an impactful presence on your site?

* Are your sites offering behavioral and/or geo-targeted capabilities? Are you helping your clients have their websites and content optimized for search?

* Is your site search engine optimized? Are the individual pages/sections/content coded so that Google can find them? Are your sites using SEM, social networking, blogging, RSS, and aggregator tactics to grow and leverage the audience?

* Are your websites user-friendly ... or is it a train wreck full of marketing and programming content? Is your site full of non-proprietary content that users can easily get on any other online properties? How much high value, advertiser-friendly, proprietary content is on your site?

* Are you doing more than just selling banners and streaming spots? Do you know that video, search, e-mail and directories are some of the fasting growing revenue streams in 2009 and beyond? Do you have a plan to go after these growing budgets?

* Does each seller and manager have a mandatory Web budget, as well as penalties for not hitting it? Is your Web commission structure similar or better than your new biz commission? Are you sure the sales reps are not just moving spot dollars to the Web line?

* Can your sales staff comfortably sell Web and overcome common objections? Do you know what these common objections are?

* What kind of training are you providing to your staff? Is it ongoing? Is your staff being trained by someone with proven online sales experience? Does this trainer have a background in selling against newspapers, search, and online-only businesses?

* Do your managers have a strong grasp of Web and the competitive online environment? If not, how will they effectively manage the effort? Is your Sales management team actively providing feedback in the site's layout, format and strategy?

* Do you know what your local, online revenue share is? Do you know how to find this out? Do you know which advertiser categories spend the most online in your market? Do you have a specific plan to go after them?

* Do you know what TV, newspaper and other sites are doing to take dollars from you? Do your reps know their clients' online strategy and budgets, as well as their TOTAL marketing budget? Example: How many of your clients are spending on Google or the local newspaper site?

* Is it OK for your on-air staff to have their own websites, MySpace, Facebook or YouTube channels? Do you include Web in talent contracts? Do you have a plan in place to monetize, monitor and encourage these efforts?