DIY or Developer? how to position and design your business website

1. Website Fundamentals www.ebusinessblog.co.uk James Cope james_cope jamesccope

3. DIY or Developer?

4. Beauty Is?

5. Design - Make them want to come back

6. Is it working? - Statistics

9. Compatibility

10. Will site work

11. Contract

12. Direct with host – not through developer

13. What is a Good Host?

14. Check Service Availability Stats

15. Where Actually Hosted – UK or US

16. Support

18. Beauty is? Question: What was the best website you recently visited? Why?

20. Gave me confidence

21. I quickly / easily achieved my objectives

22. Enjoyed the experience!

32. What do these businesses do?....

34. Financial Services!

38. Catering!

40. Recruitment!

42. Life Coach!

43. Beauty is? Whatever the customer thinks it is - not necessarily what you think it is!!Hmm OK, can you prove it??

45. Bounce Rate

46. Traffic Sources

49. Is it working? Bounce Rate 20% brilliant 30% average 40% hmmm 50% problem

50. Is it working? Conversion Rate 1% average – 100 visits = 1 sale/enquiry 2% good objective 3% doing well

52. Core services / products promoted

53. Well written content

54. ‘Homepage’ is not an ‘About Us’ page

55. Don’t make me think

57. Design – Strong focus elements

58. 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

59. 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

60. 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

61. Design – Good Content 5 Step Strategy What is your readers’ biggest headache? Feel their pain! Why have others failed to solve this nagging problem? Why is your solution different? Prove it works! Tell them how much better their lives will be with your solution Calls to action – tell them what they need to do!

62. Design – Good Content Intro! Wow! ‘Mechanics’/“Good quote” ‘Details’/“Another quote” ‘Details’ Tips Use Bullets – more that 5 break them up Use Headlines – good for SEO (h1, h2) Think newspaper articles

63. Design - Footers Footer - Fat footers can be used for less important links

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

65. Design – Live Chat Registration / forms / loginsThis is a common source of frustration for customers

66. Design - Speed Avoid Slow page load times Faster the Better Helps with SEO Don’t auto run video or music

67. 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

68. Design – Great example

69. 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!!!

71. Offer great tools that people will want to use

72. Create a unique and valuable community on the site

73. Be a major source of news and information in their area of expertise David Lakins – Key Multimedia

74. 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

76. Calls to action above the fold

77. Big buttons

78. 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

79. 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 - £££££££££

80. Best Practice Top 10 Tips DIY or Designer – be honest Install Google Analytics Build with Goals and Objectives In Mind Consider Competitors Good Content Calls to Action Make Forms Easy Include Your Phone Number Conversion % - Review & Monitor Hot for 2010 - Video – online sales person 53

81. Resources Domain Names & Hosting http://www.123-reg.co.uk/ http://www.1and1.co.uk Protecting http://www.ebusinessblog.co.uk/2009/09/10/copyright-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 54

82. Resources Google Analytics http://www.google.co.uk/analytics/ - sign up http://www.conversationmarketing.com/2007/02/google_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/ 55

83. Resources Design Tips (continued) http://www.ebusinessblog.co.uk/2009/06/24/website-copywriting-how-to-get-it-right/ - copywriting 56

84. www.ebusinessblog.co.uk jamesccope James Cope james.cope@businesslinksoutheast.co.uk james.c.cope@gmail.com james_cope 57