Creating & Building the Web Site

Creating & Building the Web Site Week 8

Objectives • Planning web site development • Initiation of the project • Analysis for web site development • Designing web site content • Site promotion • Success factors in developing web sites

Summary of Process of Web Site Development Select ISP Register domain name Analyze and design content Develop content Maintain site Test, review and revise content Publish content Promote site

Planning Web Site Development • Forward planning • Design of a site must occur before creation of web pages • Work the design around the needs of users • Structured plan is a must

Web Site Prototyping • Analysis – understanding the requirements of the audience of the site and the requirements of the business, defined by business and marketing strategy • Design – specifying different features of the site that will fulfill the requirements of the users and the business identified during analysis • Development – creation of the web pages and the dynamic content of the web site • Testing and review – structured checks are conducted to ensure that different aspects of the site meet the original requirements and work correctly

Four Stages of Web Site Prototyping Start Analysis Testing & review Design Development

Benefits of Prototyping • It prevents major design or functional errors being made during the construction of the web site • It involves the marketers responsible for the web site and ideally the potential audience of the web site in proactively shaping the web site • The iterative approach is intended to be rapid, and a site can be produced in a period of months or weeks

Initiation of the Web Site Project • Aims and objectives of the web site are reviewed to ensure: • There is management and staff commitment to the project • Objectives are clearly defined • The costs and benefits are reviewed in order that the appropriate amount of investment in the site occurs • The project will follow a structured path, with clearly identified responsibilities for different aspects such as project management, analysis, promotion and maintenance • The implementation phase will ensure that important aspects of the project such as testing and promotion are not skimped

Domain Name Registration • Register the domain name as early as possible • Register multiple domain names • Use the potential of non-company brand names to help promote a product • Avoid sitting your site on an ISP server that uses the name of the ISP such as: www.<isp_name>.com.lb/>company_name>

Who is Involved in a Web site Project • Site sponsors • Site owner • Project manager • Site design • Content developer • Webmaster • Stakeholders

Analysis for Web Site Development • What are the key audiences for the site • What should the content of site be • Which customer service capabilities will we provide for customers • How will the site be structured • How will navigation around the site occur

Methods of Finding Customer Needs • Interviews with marketing staff • Questionnaire to companies • Informal interview with key accounts • Focus groups • Reviewing competitors’ web sites

Ten Key reasons for Returning to Site

Designing Web Site Content Personalized Easy to find Relevant Information Timely Detailed Clear Up to date Accurate

Developing Customer Oriented Content • Familiarity of the customer with a product/company • Familiarity of the customer with the Internet • Familiarity of a customer with a company web site • Stage of the customer in the buying process • Type of customer

Information Cues • Performance (what does the product do?) • Components/content (what is the product made up of?) • Price/value • Implicit comparison • Availability • Quality • Special offers • Explicit comparisons

Site Structure • Decided early in the development stage • Storyboarding used to develop site structure • Map or diagram site structure • Links should be available to move from one branch to another • Ease of moving is dependent on the menu options available.

Web Site Map

Site Navigation • Navigation describes how easy it is to find move between different information on a web site. It is governed by menu arrangements, site structure and the layout of individual pages • Flow describes how easy it is for users of a site to move between the different pages of content of the site

Navigation Aspects • Consistency – one consistent user interface • Simplicity – limited number of options (max three levels of menu) • Context – use of signposts to indicate to users where they located within the site (reassuring users that they are not lost)

Menu Options • Test menus, buttons or images • Rollovers • Positioning • Frames • Number of levels • Number of options

Graphic Design – Constraints • The speed of downloading graphics • The screen resolutions of the computer • The number of colors on screen • The type of web browser used

Furthermore the site should be consistent with offline brand of web site and appropriate to different audiences in different countries – Brand identity and Localization are very important

Measuring Service Quality • Reliability – the ability to perform the service dependably and accurately • Responsiveness – a willingness to help customers and provide prompt service • Assurance – the knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to convey trust and confidence • Tangibles – the physical appearance of facilities and communications • Empathy – providing caring, individualized attention

Site Promotion • Online promotion • Offline promotion • Integrating online and offline techniques

Success Factors in Developing Web Sites • Management support necessary to promote project across company • Clearly defined strategy and objectives • Strong project management to ensure targets are achieved through effective planning and resourcing of the project • Good skills and experience amongst developers of the project • Co-operation amongst different parts of the business involved in the project and integration of information systems from different areas.

Reasons for failure • Lack of real executive support • A failure to identify the business goals of systems • A lack of communication between marketing and IT departments • Limited technical knowledge of developers of the system, either in-house or third-party companies • Lack of integration between the e-commerce system and other systems

Creating & Building the Web Site