Paper for Intro to Web Publishing

1. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
Chef’d Popularity & Traffic Analysis
GeneralCompany Information
Chef’d became an idea sparked by a delicious recipe in 2013, only to rise to a global meal
kit company just one year later. Founded by Kyle Ransford in 2014, the start-up food company
specializes in non-subscription meal kits mailed to your door to be cooked and prepared in your
home. Their meal recipes are created by their own award-winning Chief Culinary Officer with
experience of 30 years as well as partnership companies like Atkins, Coca-Cola, Sun-Maid, etc.
With over 700 meals ranging from breakfast to dessert, Chef’d offers different options to fit the
lifestyle of the consumer like gluten-free for vegans and vegetarians. Financially, according to
owler.com, Chef’d is a private company that employs 245 people and has an estimated revenue of
$4.9 million per year. In recent news, Chef’d received $35 million in funding from Smithfield and
Campbell Soup. Overall, the “Meet Chef’d” page showed me a simple objective, to provide good
food to households of all kinds.
Product and Content Analysis
When looking at the Chef’d website, the first headline “Discover Something New Tonight”
is a pitch summed up for the meal kit market. Instead of going to the grocery store and buying
ingredients from an old family recipe you’ve had before, discover something new tonight from a
selection of 700 meals appealing to your lifestyle and it’s all mailed to your doorstep for you to
prepare at home tonight… Or three days later when it comes in the mail. The navigation bar is
connected with 8 tabs and 1 button: Home, Personalize, Featured, All Meals, Collections, Partners,
Chefs, Meal Plans, and a spyglass symbol as a search bar button. The home page is made to appeal
to the consumer whether it be Kim Kardashian or a vegan option and also answers frequently asked
questions like who do I know that eats this? Or where does the food come from? The tab
“Personalize” acts as a second home page but much simpler and straight to the point of the website
which is to navigate the consumer through a wide variety of products for a product that appeals to
them. After you’ve signed up, you’ll receive weekly meal catalogs in your email which is good for
keeping consumers informed and bringing the customer back to consume again. The “Featured”
tab includes a big game package for sports fans and new arrivals for new and old customers to
indulge in. Intertwined in the “Featured” page is “Collections” which works in bundling products
of Chef’d and products of proud sponsors together for one big purchase. The “All Meals” tab is
for viewing all products sold by Chef’d and sponsors. The consumer can filter their meal search in
10 different ways: meal type, cooking style, ingredients, cooking time, proteins, cuisine, category,
skill level, dietary lifestyle, and allergens. The category filter has options like “Family Friendly”
that appeals to families or “Quick and Easy” for people on the go. You can also sort by price,
name, best sellers, and new arrivals. The pricing ranges from $9 for “Fuji Apple Coleslaw” to $189
for “Celebration Cake with Vanilla Buttercream” while a meal for 2 is an average $32. The
“Collections” tab is simply a different platform for categorizing the meals that appeal to the

2. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
consumer based on the collection’s title. For example, “Milk and Cookies” is a collection made up
of 16 different cookie recipes from Chef’d and sponsors. This collection appeals to consumers who
like cookies or who have kids that like cookies. The “Partners” tab and “Chefs” tab work alike in
presenting a peace of mind to the consumer on where their food is coming from as well as who
created the recipe. It’s the partners and chefs that also provide publicity and popularity for the
company. The “Meal Plans” tab has weekly meal plan programs from partner companies like
Atkins and Weight Watchers. This page appeals to pro athletes, fitness training, weight loss, or
people with diabetes. Overall, the website highly appeals to: families of 4 or less, vegans,
vegetarians, healthy lifestyles, diabetics, young adults, and young couples.
Competing Site
Examining the competition, HelloFresh is an actual dream to change the way we eat versus
Chef’d’s sad excuse for a story. Founded by three minds, they spent their early days packing and
delivering groceries to nearby homes which shows a struggle different from Chef’d rising in just
a year of funding. HelloFresh’s goal is to provide households with local grown, home-cooked
meals without the hassle. This goal differs from Chef’d whereas Chef’d provides ingredients for
your meals from a partner. HelloFresh relies on local chefs and the community to make meals
while Chef’d relies on partners and famous chefs to supply the recipes for meals. Both HelloFresh
and Chef’d are global companies but HelloFresh leads in distributing fresh food at home.
Financially, according to owler.com, HelloFresh is a private subsidiary of Rocket Internet AG that
employs 133 less than Chef’d with 245 employees but has an estimated revenue that is $5.1 million
higher than that of Chef’d at $4.9 million. In recent news, HelloFresh was ranked as the fastest
growing company in Europe with an annual growth rate of 410%. Overall, the HelloFresh story
page provided a much more passionate idea than that of Chef’d.
Popularity Analysis
Link Analysis
To interpret this graph, Backlinks and Referring Domain need to be defined. A Backlink is an
incoming hyperlink from one web page to another website. A Referring Domain is the domain
that backlinks are coming from. Backlinks act as publicity for people to come to your site.
Total Backlinks No. of
Referring
Domain
Average No. of Backlinks /
Domain
Chefd.com 6,200 520 11.92
HelloFresh.com 31,100 2,700 11.51

3. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
When looking at the total number of backlinks for Chef’d compared to HelloFresh, you
can see that HelloFresh has five times more backlinks than Chef’d. This is because HelloFresh
also has five times more referring domains to publicize their website. The contrast here is
HelloFresh is a community company whereas Chef’d is a commercial company. Most likely, it is
HelloFresh’s impact in the community that gives them that huge boost over Chef’d but it’s the
business aspect of partnerships that has Chef’d a tad bit higher in average number of backlinks.
A good website for Chef’d may also have a hand in the slightly higher average. The connection
here is though the two websites are separated by a large sum, the average of the two are roughly
the same.
Analysis of Link Quality for Chef’d – Top 10 Referring Domains
The following sites are the top 10 referring domains for Chefd.com:
1. Nbcnews.com
NBC News is a world renowned broadcast television network dedicated to giving
you the latest headlines from around the globe. NBC News specializes in helpful
information and relaying to you that information and its relevance which is great
for a growing market like meal kits. Chef’d also receives recognition for
partnerships with big companies like Coca-Cola or Hershey’s.
2. Bbc.com
BBC is also a broadcast television network with a mission to brighten people’s
lives with programs and services that educate, inform, and entertain. The article
was titled “The Rising Popularity of Meal Kits” briefly describing the
introduction of meal kits into society, building a hype around the service only to
become a trend. The sense of trendiness cause more consumers to consume.
3. Diabetes.org
The American Diabetes Association is an organization comprised of over 1
million volunteers and has a strong following of 500,000 with Diabetes. An
organization is great for publicity as it shows a sentimental and caring side to
Chef’d as a company. As a partnership, Chef’d was able to open their gates to a
completely new focus group for meal kits for diabetics.

4. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
4. Techcrunch.com
TechCrunch is a website founded in 2005 that receives 37 million page views per
month. The TechCrunch team obsesses over start-up companies and even owns an
open database called Crunchbase that shares all the information they’ve collected
on start-ups to the public for free. 37 million page views per month and loads of
information on Chef’d in the database validate this website with knowledgeable
content to share to its readers.
5. Thekitchn.com
The Kitchn is a daily food magazine on the web with 17 million readers daily and
an additional 1 million followers on social media. The article was titled “I tried
meal kits from Chef’d and here’s what I thought.” You can’t solve the conclusion
by the title which is good for the viewers who have to read in and her review of
Chef’d is informative and positive.
6. Money.cnn.com
CNN is a broadcast television network that leads in the world of online news and
information delivery. The money side of CNN provides finances and financial
reports on companies all around the world. This works well with the branding side
of Chef’d where the company looks much bigger and more important when it’s
talked about alongside commercial giants. Integrity is key here.
7. Menshealth.com
Men’s Health is a proud sponsor of Chef’d and reaches 100 million globally via
multiple distribution channels, including books, mobile, direct-to-consumer, and
e-commerce. These distribution channels are the similar to Chef’d in direct-to-
consumer and mobile. With Men’s Health as a partner, Chef’d is able to reach
many people over the same platform that meal kits are provided by.
8. Bravotv.com
Bravo TV is a television network that airs Top Chef to its large amount of
viewers. As one of the network’s most popular shows, the viewers can qualify as
possible interests in our product. The article was related to a collection Chef’d had
done with pop singer Lance Bass and gave a reasonable review on each item.
Good feedback is good publicity!

5. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
9. Refinery29
Refinery29 is the leading global media company focused on young women and
built to empower the viewers through storytelling and experiences. The article
titled “Food Subscription Boxes – Best Meal Delivery Service” doesn’t quite fit
Chef’d.com branding but with Refinery29’s 500 million viewers across all
platforms, Chef’d is able to reach all types of women far and wide and possibly
appeal to their healthy lifestyle or family friendly household. Where youth dwells,
so does the future of tomorrow.
10. Motherjones.com
Mother Jones is a nonprofit new organization and winner of the American Society
of Magazine Editors’ 2017 Magazine of the Year Award. With 11 million viewers
monthly, Mother Jones supplies a surplus of possible customers for Chef’d meal
kits as well as a food tab for future articles about Chef’d. Mother Jones was
named after Mary Harris “Mother” Jones, a woman who fough against child
labor, and was sometimes referred to as “the most dangerous woman in America.”
Traffic Analysis
Visit Analysis
Chef’d HelloFresh
Average Monthly Visits
[According to Similar
Web]
156,667 2,720,000
Introduction and Definitions:
The chart above gives us the average monthly visits of Chef’d and competition
HelloFresh. A visit is defined as an interaction, by an individual, with a web site consisting of
one or more requests for an analyst-definable unit of content.

6. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
Chef’d Traffic and Trends Chart
Below are screenshots of Chef’d and HelloFresh’s Traffic and Trends Chart that outline the
amount of visits at the end of each month, over six months.
The traffic for Chef’d deviated up and down over the last six months of 2017. For example,
August to September was a declining month for Chef’d while September to October, Chef’d
receives a huge rising moment. This rise could be due to the fall season or it could have
something to do with the $35 million investment made by Smithfield and Campbell Soup in
August. Refinery29 posted an article on Dec. 11th advertising meal plan subscriptions which
could be the reason for the spike through December of 2017.
HelloFreshTraffic and Trends Chart
The traffic for HelloFresh flowed like an ocean over the last six months of 2017. Though the end
of December resulted in a decline, a value like 2.24 million to finish the year isn’t so bad.

7. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
However, the average monthly visits for HelloFresh.com was 480,000 views higher than the
month of December. The increase in visits during the month of September could be due to the
new season bringing a different variety of products. The decline in visits from the beginning of
September to December could be due to the increase in spending for the holidays.
Comparisons:
Both Chef’d and HelloFresh had declined in the month of July and October but never
rose in the same month. In the month of August, Chef’d decreased in monthly visits while
HelloFresh increased. Similarly, the opposite happened for the month of September. This speaks
competition at its finest and truly does show just how close of a match up Chef’d and
HelloFresh, yet Chef’d doesn’t make half of HelloFresh’s revenue nor can Chef’d equate to 2.72
million visits a month. On another note, Chef’d can compete with HelloFresh because of
partnerships while HelloFresh can thrive both globally and through local communities.
EngagementAnalysis
Chef’d HelloFresh Web Avg.
Bounce Rate % 27.63% 33.13% 40.50%
Page Views Per Visit 4.13 6.17 4.6
Average Visit Duration 3:15 minutes 3:26 minutes 190.4 seconds
Introduction and Definition:
The bounce rate is defined as the percentage of visitors to a particular website who
navigate away from the sight after only viewing one page. The page views per visit is related to
the number of pages you visit in a single visit to a specified website. The average visit duration
refers to the amount of time a user spent on the website during the visit.
Chef’d EngagementData
Chef’d has a bounce rate of 27.63%, or 1 out every 4 visitors. This could be due to the
quiz on the “Personalize” tab that forces you to sign up using your email before you receive your
results. The high bounce rate could also be due to some of the 6,200 backlinks on websites that
are unsuitable and don’t relate to Chef’d. Either way, the bounce rate is low enough to reflect
well on Chef’d as a company due to their rational flow of Chefd.com.

8. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
For example, the home page first makes you an offer.
You scroll down wondering why you should accept the offer to find “Why Choose Chef’d?”
Now that you have the answers, all you need is a little push to purchase.

9. 01-24-18 Introduction to Web Publishing Gabriel Piper
Chef’d has a strong 4.13 page views per visit seeing as you can’t navigate 3 pages without
finding product for sale. The only pages without product are the hard-to-find “About Us” section
and “View all Chefs” or “View all Sponsors.” With an average visit duration of 3:15 and 4 page
views per visit with only 27.63% bounce rate, Chef’d has satisfied itself as a well-functioning
website that can cause the customer to consume.
HelloFreshEngagementData
HelloFresh has a bounce rate of 33.13%, or 1 out of every 3 people. This reflects poorly
and could be due to their choice of target audience or color scheme. 6.17 page visits per view
during an average visit duration of 3:26 can occur because of the simplicity in direction
throughout the website. The 31,000 backlinks must be informative if they can get a customer in
and out in 3 minutes and 26 seconds. With 2 page visits per minute, Chef’d has satisfied itself as
a well-functioning website that can cause the customer to consume.
Comparisons
HelloFresh is simplistic in direction while Chef’d provides a complexed set of choices to
choose from. Chef’d and HelloFresh have very similar average visit durations with an average
between the two at 190.4 seconds or 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Hello Fresh was a slightly bit
higher than Chef’d on bounce rate with a difference of 5.5% and an average between the two at
40.5%. HelloFresh was better at keep customers on their site with 6.17 page views per visit while
Chef’d was just alright at 4.13 page views per visit for an average of the two at 4.6 page views
per visit. Both HelloFresh and Chef’d satisfy as websites while HelloFresh produces more
revenue than Chef’d.