Archive for the ‘Web Design’ Category

31st December

10 Tips To Improve Your Web Site In 2010

2010 - Speedometer Reaching New Year

Happy New Year! Here are ten things you can do to improve your web site or blog in 2010:

1. Establish a clear purpose for your site

Why does your site exist? What’s the point? I started this site to share my knowledge about user experience, content development and web strategy. What’s the purpose of your site? Having a clear purpose will drive your overall strategy and help you make the most cost-effective design decisions.

2. Know your audience

Who visits your site, and why? Your users are the lifeblood of your web site. If they don’t visit, all you have is a dusty server somewhere on the interwebs. Have you ever asked your users what they like/don’t like about what you’re doing online? Now is a great time to ask.

3. Know your call to action

What do you want users to do on your site? Should they buy something, or signup for your monthly email newsletter? Do you communicate a clear call to action so users know specifically what to do?

4. Identify the competition

Who are your top 5-10 online competitors? Have you looked at their sites? What are they doing that you want to emulate? What are they doing that you should avoid? A competitive analysis is a great way to establish a benchmark across your market.

5. Create an editorial calendar

An editorial calendar is a must for a blog, but it’s still a good idea even if you have a static site. Monthly or quarterly updates to a static site will give users a good reason to come back.

6. Review your site traffic

Google Analytics is free and easy to install on any web page. If you only do one thing on this list, make this it. There’s no reason not to know your site stats anymore.

7. Perform a content audit

Do you still know what’s on your site and why? Things change over time, especially if multiple people/groups are updating a web site. That can sometimes mean outdated, conflicting or incorrect content. Take a close look at what you have, what you can delete, and what you may need.

8. Improve your SEO

Do you know how your site ranks on Google and other search engines? Do your page titles have keywords in them? What about  h1 tags? Google doesn’t really care about meta tags anymore. Make sure your site is optimized for SEO using the latest optimization techniques.

9. Plan for the future

What activities are happening in your business that will impact your blog or web site? For example, will you be offering a new product line in addition to consulting services, or vice versa? Do you need to integrate e-commerce into your existing site, or plan a complete site redesign? Any major changes to your business operations will likely impact your web presence. Take the time to think through these changes and plan accordingly.

10. Get help

All of these tips have two things in common – they don’t cost a dime, but they can take a lot of time. If you’re too busy to take it on yourself, there are plenty of web consultants out there who can conduct these activities for a reasonable cost. I’ll be happy to help too – just email me. :)

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy, safe and prosperous 2010!

Subscribe

Posted in Web Design | 1 Comment »

30th September

Tear Less Hair Out With A Content Delivery Plan

stressed

Tear Less Hair Out With A Content Delivery Plan
Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. Work is really busy lately, and that’s good. One of my current projects involves producing a large website for a very nice client. The only problem is their content is all over the place. They need a content delivery plan. Let’s figure out how to help them put it together.
Start With The Content Audit
Remember my last post about content audits? Here’s another great way to use them. Besides giving you info on what you have, don’t have, and what you need, your content audit can also give you a basic road map for actual content delivery later in the process. 
Simply re-name the audit document to “Content Delivery Plan” and make sure each entry has its own ID number. Use a simple, numerical outline format for each item (1.0, 1.1, 1.1.1, etc.). Entries should also account for any new content that needs to be created.
Now add some new columns, such as “site map”, “wireframe”, “copy”, “JPG”, “PSD”, “flash”, and so on. Make each column and include due dates for every content component you need to track. 
Why ID Numbers Are Key
Since every piece of content now has its own ID number, you now have the basis for a file naming convention. When it comes time to create each deliverable, you can base them on the ID numbers you created above. It’s also helpful to name the section of the site it applies to. For example, copy for the About Us section could be named “2.0_about.doc”. 
This literally gets everyone on the same page. Reference ID numbers on your site map, wireframes, PSDs, JPGS, everything. This helps ensure the team uses a shared vocabulary for all content. 
Keep It High Level For Copy Decks
For copy decks, deliverables should be in Microsoft Word and include as many sections as possible. You don’t want to have to sift through dozens of individual documents, especially on a large site. When developers flow in the copy later they’ll have to extract the text to get rid of any funky MS Word formatting, so you want to try and make their life easier if you can.
If you can’t submit your site copy as one large file, split it up by top level sections only. And please, please, make sure you have a version control system in place. We’ve all seen the “final final final, no this time it’s really final” version. PS – this will be the case for almost all your content deliverables.
Rein It In
Content is messy. It’s time consuming and it’s everywhere. Rein your content in with a content delivery plan. In the end you’ll help your team be more organized and keep more of your hair.
Over To You
How do you organize and wrangle your content? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
Sorry it’s been a while since my last post. Work is really busy lately, and that’s good. One of my current projects involves producing a large website for a very nice client. The only problem is their content is all over the place. They need a content delivery plan. Let’s figure out how to help them put it together.
 

Start With The Content Audit

Remember my last post about content audits? Here’s another great way to use them. Besides giving you info on what you have, don’t have, and what you need, your content audit can also give you a basic road map for actual content delivery later in the process. 

Simply re-name the audit document to “Content Delivery Plan” and make sure each entry has its own ID number. Use a simple, numerical outline format for each item (1.0, 1.1, 1.1.1, etc.). Entries should also account for any new content that needs to be created.
 
Now add some new columns for each type of content-associated deliverable, such as “site map”, “wireframe”, “copy”, “JPG”, “PSD”, “flash”, and so on. Make each column and include due dates for every content component you need to track. 
 

Why ID Numbers Are Key

Since every piece of content now has its own ID number, you have the basis for a file naming convention. When it comes time to create each deliverable, you can base them on the ID numbers you created above. It’s also helpful to name the section of the site it applies to. For example, a .JPG for the About Us section could be named “2.0_about.jpg”. 

This literally gets everyone on the same page. Reference ID numbers on your site map, wireframes, PSDs, JPGS, everything. This helps ensure the team uses a shared vocabulary for all content.
 

Keep It High Level For Copy Decks

For copy decks, the deliverable should be one Microsoft Word file that includes all web site copy if possible. You don’t want to have to sift through dozens of individual documents, especially on a large site. When developers flow in the copy later they’ll have to extract the text to get rid of any funky MS Word formatting, so you want to try and make their life easier if you can.

If you can’t submit your site copy as one large file, split it up by top level sections only. And please, please, make sure you have a version control system in place. We’ve all seen the “final final final, no this time it’s really final” version. PS – this will be the case for almost all your content deliverables.
 

Rein It In

Content is messy. It’s time consuming and it’s everywhere. Rein in your content with a content delivery plan. In the end you’ll help your team be more organized and keep more of your hair.

Over To You

How do you organize and wrangle your content? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
 

Posted in Web Design | No Comments »

10th August

How To Create An Effective Web Site Strategy

puzzle
Web sites are so much more about people than technology. As UX designers, a big part of our job is helping everyone working on a web design project understand and agree about what needs to be built. That means involving all the right people and capturing the right information from the start. Creating an effective web site strategy gives design teams clear direction and focus. The best way to approach it is to 1) gather requirements, 2) review existing content, and 3) create a visual blueprint based on 1 and 2.

Requirements Gathering

The word “requirements” is a wonky, old-school IT term. But it’s useful because it reminds teams to focus only on what’s required to achieve site goals.  Capturing site requirements begins with a simple conversation.                 

  • “What does the site need to do for the business?”
  • “What does it need to do for the users?”
According to Jesse James Garrett, author of The Elements Of User Experience: User-Centered Design for the Web, answering these two fundamental questions will form the foundation of your website strategy. This exercise typically results in a preliminary “wish list” of desired features and functionality.
 

Stakeholder Interviews  

“Stakeholders” is another wonky term for 1) the people who pay you to build a website and 2) anyone associated with building the website. You have to talk to all of them to really nail the requirements. Often the biggest hurdle is identifying who needs to be included and then getting time on their schedules. These meetings don’t need to be formal – people are busy. The point is to make sure everyone who needs to be involved gets an opportunity to be heard.

Customer interviews and user surveys are also a key part of this process. But many businesses may not have the resources to implement these. At the very least, the team should create 3-4 personas (written descriptions of specific audience members) and how they will interact with your site.
 

Who’s The Competition?

Looking at your online competition will show you where your product or service fits in the overall competitive landscape. Ask clients to provide you with links to 4-5 competitor websites and a list of what they like and don’t like about them. While a full competitive analysis will reveal lots of details about the competition, it’s possible that a cursory website review will be enough to see what works and what doesn’t.
 

Content Review

If you’re doing a site redesign you’ll need to review all the existing content. Create a simple spreadsheet that lists all the navigation and content areas of your current site. Then ask yourself these questions:                        

  • What do you have now?
  • What should you keep?
  • What do you need to get rid of?
  • What new content do you need?

How Will You Measure Success?  

What are the success factors that will confirm you achieved your goals? Be sure to include some sort of success metrics. They can be as simple as increasing unique visitors and page views by 25%, or more complex, such as “signing up x number of new online sales leads in our prospect database”. Google Analytics gives you great analytics tools and it’s free. Simply sign up and copy and paste the tracking code into each page of your site.

How Will You Drive Traffic?

How will you get the word out when your site launches? To reach your market you’ll need a highly targeted promotional strategy to persuade people to visit your site. You’ll also need to give them a compelling reason to return. If site promotion is the responsibility of a separate team make sure they are aware of your activities and vice versa.

Documenting Requirements                   

Once all the research is done and stakeholders have put in their two cents, it’s time to officially get the requirements down on paper. The easiest way to do this is to create a more refined version of your original wish list, this time with all the features and functionality prioritized and described in more detail. This becomes your “requirements analysis document” and should be approved by all decision makers.

Information Architecture/UX Documents

The approved requirements can now be organized into a visual blueprint:

  • User Flows – short diagrams representing suggested user paths.
  • Sitemap – a high-level view of the overall site structure and navigation.
  • Wireframes – black and white diagrams of each page that show what content goes where.
These documents should go through a few rounds of revisions as the team becomes more familiar with what the final site will look like. Wireframes are especially valuable since changes are easy at this stage. They allow lots of room for design exploration and different layout choices. But it’s critical to get them approved before moving on to formal (e.g. more expensive) design. 
 

Ready For Design

Taking the time to create an effective website strategy will help you strike the greatest balance between business objectives and user needs. It will also reduce the likelihood of mistakes and re-work later in the project. This will make your design team much more efficient and help everyone keep things on track.
 
How do you create an effective website strategy? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
 

Tags:
Posted in Web Design | No Comments »

Enter your email address: