Web Fundamentals

www.ebusinessblog.co.ukJames Cope

james_cope jamesccope

Website Fundamentals

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Website Fundamentals

• The Basics – domain names & hosting• DIY or Developer?• Beauty Is?• Design - Make them want to come back• Is it working? - Statistics• Resources

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

• Company Name or Search Term?• Variations - .co.uk & .com

– Cost approx £3.co.uk or £10.com• Registration

– Remember your name & address– Ex-directory in some circumstances

• Protect It– Check it is not an existing trademark – IPO– Consider trademarking company name and domain

• Packages– Sometimes cheaper with bundled hosting

The BasicsChoosing a domain name

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The BasicsChoosing Hosting

• How Much – from £3 per month• Compatibility

– Will site work• Contract

– Direct with host – not through developer• What is a Good Host?

– Check Service Availability Stats– Where Actually Hosted – UK or US– Support– Bandwidth

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DIY or Developer?• Objectives – core route to market or reference point?• Your own skills v Budget• Template Options

– Host solutions – GBBO, MS Office Live– Wordpress – my favourite - themes

• Developer & Design Budgets– Entry level - £250 upward– Average - £2k– Good - £5k– Ecommerce - £5k – £10k & upward

• SEO– £200 - £400 a month – plus PPC costs

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Question:

What was the best website you recently visited?

Why?

Beauty is?

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- Impressed!- Gave me confidence- I quickly / easily achieved my objectives- Enjoyed the experience!- Benefitted me

Beauty is? – usual response

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Beauty is? – Brand & Positioning

Put some good thinking into it!

What are you offering?- be clear- productise

services

Why should visitor stay? - reflect their issues- why are you

better

What next?- clear next steps

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Beauty is? – Brand & Positioning• A well designed site – but how do you decide?

• Look at competitors

“Most of your site visitors spend most of their time on other sites!”• Consider business goals

“What does the business need to achieve what does the customer want?”

• Ask the question

“Is it going to stand a reasonable chance at achieving results?”• Use 3 second rule!!!

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Marks Out of 10 Please

- in 3 seconds!

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0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

What do these businesses do?....

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Financial Services!

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Catering!

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Recruitment!

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Life Coach!

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Beauty is?

Whatever the customer thinks it is -

not necessarily what you think it is!!

Hmm OK, can you prove it??

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Is it working? – the proof

Stats / Analytics – our new friend - Visitor Levels- Bounce Rate- Traffic Sources

- Goals

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0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

Is it working?

Bounce Rate 20% brilliant30% average40% hmmm50% problem

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Is it working?

Conversion Rate

1% average – 100 visits = 1 sale/enquiry

2% good objective

3% doing well

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Design – Make them want to come back

• Does site engage visitors

• Core services / products promoted

• Well written content

• ‘Homepage’ is not an ‘About Us’ page

• Don’t make me think

• Clear calls to action – set up goals

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Design – Make them want to come back

Don’t be too differentWeb 2.0 elementsDon’t decorate communicate3D effects good – only to draw attention to content Reflects the brandReflects the business propositionConsistency

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Design – Strong focus elements

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Design - Navigation is important

• Can users easily find what they are looking for on your site?

• Think visitor journey

• Include hyperlinks in main text

• Good for SEO

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Design - Navigation

Primary Navigation• The main links to key sections / content• Less is more (keep it to 7 or less)• Position tends to be horizontally below top header

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Design - Navigation

Sub-Navigation– Links to items within a primary navigation section– Position tends to be either dynamically below

(dropdown) or left hand column below main nav

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Design – Good Content5 Step Strategy

1. What is your readers’ biggest headache? Feel their pain!

2. Why have others failed to solve this nagging problem?

3. Why is your solution different? Prove it works!4. Tell them how much better their lives will be with

your solution5. Calls to action – tell them what they need to do!

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Design – Good ContentTips

1. Use Bullets – more that 5 break them up2. Use Headlines – good for SEO (h1, h2)3. Think newspaper articles

Wow!

‘Mechanics’/“Good quote”

‘Details’/“Another quote”

‘Details’

Intro!

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Design - Footers

Footer- Fat footers can be used for less important links

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Design - Ecommerce

High level of exits / checkout abandonment Low sales? Low level of conversions? It’s likely that there is a problem with usability, such as lengthy / unclear processes.

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

Design – Live Chat

Registration / forms / loginsThis is a common source of frustration for customers

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Design - Speed

• Avoid Slow page load times

• Faster the Better

• Helps with SEO

• Don’t auto run video or music

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Design - Youtube & Google love• Improve conversion rates online and offline

• Compress the sales cycle

• Lower the cost of delivering the message

• Deliver the message more consistently

• Deliver the message to more people, quicker

• Involve customers in selling – testimonials

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Design – Great example

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Please them - Make them want to come back

• Relevant content (updated regularly) – Content is King!

• Good structure – visitor path• Interactivity• Calls to action (well placed)• Testimonials & Case Studies• Clear information / directions• Short forms• FUN!!!

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Expert Tips.....

What the webmaster says:

Be the same but different – try and become unique or an expert in their field.

- Write great articles about their area of expertise- Offer great tools that people will want to use- Create a unique and valuable community on the site- Be a major source of news and information in their

area of expertise

David Lakins – Key Multimedia

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Expert Tips.....

What the designers say:

5 top tips• Identify and understand the audience - design for

them not the business owner• Keep things simple - don't overload the user with

trivial information and functionality as it just gets in the way. The same is true for "eye candy" and the latest bells and whistles

• Design with consistency - colours, fonts, layout• Include good calls to action• Design for all of the major browsers, not one in

particular

Jonathan Elwood – Expert Web Designer

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Expert Tips.....

What the strategists say:

Be sure of what BUSINESS wants from the site.

- Targeted / simplified content- Calls to action above the fold- Big buttons- Contextual / Reduced Navigation)

Content: On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely. – Jakob N

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Summary

Design & usability play a central role in website success!

• Try to understand markets / customers

• Ensure site has a GREAT design

• Can you DIY? – be honest or have a go and see!

• Site delivers focused, valuable content

• Return on investment - £££££££££

0845 600 9 006 www.businesslink.gov.uk

Best Practice Top 10 Tips

1. DIY or Designer – be honest2. Install Google Analytics3. Build with Goals and Objectives In Mind4. Consider Competitors 5. Good Content6. Calls to Action7. Make Forms Easy8. Include Your Phone Number9. Conversion % - Review & Monitor10.Hot for 2010 - Video – online sales person

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Resources• Domain Names & Hosting

– http://www.123-reg.co.uk/– http://www.1and1.co.uk

• Protecting– http://www.ebusinessblog.co.uk/2009/09/10/copyr

ight-ip-for-websites/– http://www.ipo.gov.uk/types/tm/t-os.htm

• Design Options– http://wordpress.org/ - my favourite– http://www.gbbo.co.uk/ - vbasic but cheap– http://www.officelive.com

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Resources• Google Analytics

– http://www.google.co.uk/analytics/ - sign up– http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2007/02/g

oogle_analytics_video_tutoria_1.htm  - how to

– http://www.google.com/support/conversionuniversity/bin/static.py?hl=en&page=iq_learning_center.cs&rd=1Protecting - tutorials

• Design Tips– http://www.webpagesthatsuck.com/– http://boagworld.com/usability/steve-krug/

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Resources• Design Tips (continued)

– http://www.ebusinessblog.co.uk/2009/06/24/website-copywriting-how-to-get-it-right/ - copywriting

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James Copejames.cope@businesslinksoutheast.co.uk

james.c.cope@gmail.com

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