This deck was presented at an ABM event in LA. The deck is intended to teach how to plan for a website relaunch. If you are interested in making sure your website development project is a success, make sure to check out this deck before getting started.

1. What’s expected of your website?
How to strategize and plan for your audience’s arrival
2nd Annual Presented By:
LA Regional Michael Weisfeld
November 2009
Program

2. Who is Michael Weisfeld?
Senior Web Strategist for BusinessOnLine
Building Websites & Strategies since 2002
Areas of Web Expertise:
Strategy
Social Media
Search Engine Marketing
Usability
Business Analyst
@mrweisfeld
Background in “Big 5” Management Consulting #abmla

3. Housekeeping … to get the slides
1 Request a 1-on-1 lab online
http://www.businessol.com/forms/labs
2 Give me your business card

4. Make this session interactive …
Follow the BusinessOnLine Social
Media team on Twitter at:
@BOLSocial
if Tweetting about this session,
please use this hashtag:
#abmla

5. Agenda
Review: Marketing Landscape Trends
Explore: Insights About Why Strategies Fail
Present: Strategy Development Process
Conclusion: How Everything Comes Together
Examples: Gallery Of Deliverables
Q&A - please hold until the end of the presentation

6. What is the cost of frustrating your customers with a
poorly organized website?

7. How much extra time
and money is spent on
customer support
because your customers
can’t find the
information they seek?

8. What does it cost to train your team
on complex systems?
How much could you save if it wasn’t
so complicated in the first place?

9. If customers can’t find
what they’re looking
for, what does
that say about
your brand?

10. Jakob Nielson states:
“ The cost of poor navigation and lack of design
standards is….at least ten million dollars per year
in lost employee productivity for a company with
10,000 employees.
Source: Jakob Nielsen's Intranet Portals: The Corporate Information Infrastructure

11. Developing A Strategy
Learnings from a famous Psychophysicist

12. Pasta Sauce Strategy Decades Ago

13. Psychophysics applied to Prego ????
Howard Moskowitz is President
and CEO of Moskowitz Jacobs Inc.
well-known experimental psychologist in the
field of psychophysics and an inventor of
world-class market research technology.

14. Pasta Sauce Strategy Now
Marketing Insight:
It turns out that
people's preferences
fell into one of three
broad groups:
Plain
Spicy
Extra-chunky

15. Food Industry Revolution?
70
60
50
40
30
20
“Prego spaghetti sauces 10
eventually become the
number one best selling 0
new dry grocery product
85
90
95
00
05
08
of the decade”
19
19
19
20
20
20
Prego
Not actual data (dramatization purposes only)

16. Marketing Success!

17. Marketing Landscape Trends
Key statistics that impact your website strategy

18. Key Trend #1
More People Online

19. Key Trend #2
More Time Spent Online

20. 74%
Of the North American population
use the internet
17%
Of the world’s internet users come
from North America
26%
Of the world’s internet users come
from Europe
40%
Of the world’s internet users come
from Asia
Internet Usage and World Population Statistics are for June 30, 2008

21. of a typical US adult’s time
spent on all media is spent
online (TV, radio, newspapers,
%
magazines, online)
Source: eMarketer

22. Ad Spending as % of Total Marketing Spend
TV
1997 = 22% 35.0%
2010 = 14%
-8%
30.0%
Newspapers
1997 = 30% 25.0%
2010 = 20% TV
-10% 20.0% Newspapers
Radio
Radio
15.0% Magazines
1997 = 8.7%
Internet
2010 = 8.5%
-.2% 10.0%
Magazines 5.0%
1997 = 14%
2010 = 8% 0.0%
-6%
Internet
1997 = 0.5%
2010 = 8.6% Forrester: Interactive Marketing Channels To Watch -Shar VanBoskirk
+8.1%

23. Overall interactive advertising spend will grow an
estimated 10% over the next six years

24. Budgets by Industry

25. 93%
of Americans expect
Source: Cone, Inc.
companies to have a
presence in
Social Media

26. People are spending more time on
Social Media platforms
3 million tweets
The average number of Tweets per day on Twitter.com alone
Source: MarketingProfs, LLC
5 billion minutes
Spent on Facebook each day (worldwide)
Source: facebook.com
13 hours every minute
Hours of video is uploaded to YouTube
Source: youtube.com

27. Why Strategies & Websites Fail
Lessons Learned Review

28. Problem: Why do some website strategies fail?
Obvious:
Insufficient pre-planning
Skipping rigorous analysis
No implementation road map
Dodging strategy review meetings
Not enough resources (budget and people)
No consensus from execs / stakeholders
Not realistic scope
Believing strategy can be built in a day
Failing to link strategic planning with strategic execution

29. The view from Inside …
Not Obvious Reason:
“Inside In” approach
Rely heavily on:
Business first mindset
Internal resources that maintain old school perspectives
Not objective enough - think like a user
Marketing Insight:
It's Hard to Read the Label When
You're Inside the Bottle!

30. Creating Engaging Websites
User Centered Design

31. Marketing Landscape: Online & Offline
Offline Marketing Online Marketing
traffic
traffic
Website

32. Understand the User Scenarios
What content are online visitors expecting from your
website when they arrive?
What information is valuable to your users and supports
your business objectives?
What is your audience doing online when then are not
visiting my website?

33. What Is Expected Of Your Website?
How to strategize and plan for your audience’s arrival?
1. Optimize Pull Marketing Initiatives-
Present product/service information when & where
users are actively looking for it. (example: search
engine marketing)
2. Employ User Centered Design-
Build the website so users have an engaging
experience and can easily accomplish this goals.

34. Definition: User Centered Design (UCD)
Insert with graphic An approach to design that
grounds the process in
information about the
people who will
use the product.
Focus on users through the
planning, design and
development of a website.
*http://www.upassoc.org/usability_resources/about_usability/what_is_ucd.html

35. Proof: User Centered Design Statistics
Following a usability redesign, websites increase desired
metrics by 135% on average – Jakob Nielsen
46% of users abandon their online transaction as a result of
experiencing website problems. – Survey of Online Consumer Behaviour by
Tealeaf/Harris (2009)
40% of users who experience problems on a website say they
would switch to an online or offline competitor – Survey of Online
Consumer Behaviour by Tealeaf/Harris (2009)
$25 billion is lost every year due to web site usability issues.
– Zona Research

36. Beyond the stats …
Word of Mouth:
People share
information, ideas and
make recommendations
all the time.
High level of trust

37. Word of Mouth – is now ONLINE!!!
Creators Critics Collectors Joiners Spectators Inactives
Internal Brand
Detractors Influencers
Evangelists

38. Proof: Social Technographics Stats
Source: http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/profile_tool.html

39. Website Strategy Phases
Building the plan

40. Five Major Strategy Phases
Final
Strategy
Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
5
Research 4
Discovery 3
Education
2
1

41. Website Strategy Development Final
Strategy
EDUCATION Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

42. Understand Current State of Your Website
How are resources being allocated across the marketing mix?
What resources are devoted to the website?
Website
People Process Technology
Content
Availability Skills Method Metrics Integration
Management

43. Understand Your Online Trends and Patterns
Trends in:
Participation
Consumption
Adoption
Patterns:
Seasonality
Critical Mass of Audience
Validate Influential Individuals:
“Follow” these individuals on Twitter
Subscribe to their RSS Feeds

44. Understand Your
Social Media Landscape
Where is your audience
QUESTIONS
participating?
How are you allowing your
audience to participate and
interact within your domain
and what are they saying?
How is your audience
participating and
interacting outside of your
domain and what are they
saying?
How is your company
participating outside your
domain?

45. Present Information to Stakeholders & Decision Makers
* size of website team may vary

46. Website Workshop: Topics to Cover
Goal is to ensure everyone is on the same page and can add-
value to the project
Process &
Facts
Resources
• Stats • Steps
• Research • Resources
• Industry Trends • Expected Budget
• Competitor Results • Expected ROI

47. Website Strategy Development Final
Strategy
DISCOVERY Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

48. Website Project: Discovery Discussion
Let the big wigs and stakeholders be heard via a workshop.
Extract:
Vision
Business model
Business goals
Internet Goals
Assessing Gaps
Technology
Supporting Processes
Pain/Fear :
General Understanding
Fear Competition
Fear Costs
Deficiencies

49. Ask the tough questions & Look beyond
the obvious…
How will you effectively market new products and services in an
“on demand” world? (Pull Marketing)
What is your strategy to effectively participate in online
conversation regarding your brand, products and/or services?
Are you publishing multimedia content to your website?
How are you managing Keyword conflict and effectively
measuring and maximizing SEM ROI?

50. Main question to ask is:
How do you really know
what your customers
want? Do you have the
data to back this up?
“Feedback Analytics”
Source: http://www.kampyle.com/

51. Website Strategy Development Final
Strategy
RESEARCH Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

52. Research Phase Overview
I. Understand your customers & potential customers
Persona Exploration - what is your target archetype user(s)?
User Testing - Qualitative / Quantitative results
II. Conduct SWOT Analysis
Competitive Research- where do you stack up?
III. Keywords and Content
Target keyword phrases
Relevant content available
Most popular content and topics

53. Understand your Customers
Conduct Persona Exploration Research to determine:
Who are your typical customers? What do they need and want?
Not based on one individual - but a conglomerate of data
Personas are not real people – they are templates
Role?
Personas
Calls to Content
Action? Focus?

54. Types of Persona Research
Quantitative Data Qualitative Data
Determine What Your Visitors Want

55. Quantitative Data: Demographics
Who are your Customers? … via business intelligence data
Male
36%
Female
64%

56. Quantitative Data: Feedback
What are your Customers saying? … via surveys
Ease of Use
Attractive
50.00% 50.00%
45.00%
40.00% 40.00%
Percentage
35.00%
Percentage
30.00% 30.00%
25.00%
20.00% 20.00%
15.00%
10.00% 10.00%
5.00%
0.00% 0.00%
1 2 3 4 5 1 2 3 4 5
Satisfaction Satisfaction
Students Parents Alumni, Employees, CBU Affiliates Students Parents Alumni, Employees, CBU Affiliates
Useful Efficient
50.00% 50.00%
40.00% 40.00%
Satisfaction
Percentage
30.00% 30.00%
20.00% 20.00%
10.00%
10.00%
0.00%
0.00%
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Percentage
Satisfaction
Students Parents Alumni, Employees, CBU Affiliates
Students Parents Alumni, Employees, CBU Affiliates

57. Qualitative Data: Interviews
What are your Customers saying? … via interviews

58. Conduct Competitive Landscape Research
Determine how your company stacks up…
SWOT analysis help to better understand competitive landscape
Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunity and Threats
Variables to consider & analyze:
Brand Awareness & Reputation
Gaps or Opportunities
Competitive Keywords
Web Site
Creative
Marketing Messaging
Viral Campaigns
Technology
Internet Marketing Campaigns: SEM, Media Buys, etc..

59. Research Keywords & Phrases
Identify popular & Search phrase: Web Hosting
related search terms
Assess competitive
landscape
Don’t forget
misspellings
Categories non-
branded terms
Industry-related
Example: keyword suggestion tool
Seasonal http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/tour-search.html

60. Identify Popular Content & Topic Trends
Website Analytics Topic Trends
Top on-site search terms New products
Common navigation paths News & Events
Highest rated Politics
Most commented Economy
Most controversial Renewable Energy (Green)
Top entry pages
Top exit pages
Most linked to

61. Website Strategy Development Final
Strategy
DIAGNOSTICS Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

62. Website Elements for Diagnosis
Website
Back-end Front-end
Technology User Centered Approach
CMS E-commerce
Platform Hosting Navigation Design Content
Platform

63. Usability Diagnostic …
After you know who your visitors are and what they want…
Perform a Usability Diagnostic –
Expert trained in the heuristics of Usability and Cogitative Science
will make recommendation to create the optimal user experience.
Minimum Standards, Best Practices and Learned Conventions
Human Factors International Certified
Results:
Do you need a complete website overhaul or just refinements?

64. Usability Diagnostic Example -
BREAKING LEARNED CONVENTIONS
The navigational structure used B
here breaks a few learned
C
conventions A
A Button-like objects have an affordance
for clicking, but are not clickable.
B Users read and use a page from left to
A C B
right, top to bottom.
C Content becomes blocked by the
appearing navigation..

65. Web Analytics Diagnostic: Traffic Audit
Is your current web analytics platform configured properly?
Can you segment and track specific campaigns? (PPC vs. Email vs. Print Ad)
Are you interpreting the data that is being captured?
Beyond the raw numbers/data: Analysis
Ask why? And what can I do?
This diagram is
a depiction of
how analytics
should be
Website integrated.

66. Web Analytics Diagnostic: Click Density Audit
Question:
How do I increase visits to the
upcoming events?
Solution:
Need to analyze “Click Density
Data”
Gain Insights:
Content highest on the page gets
most traffic. Re-arrange content
buckets.

67. Technology Diagnostic
Technical Audits & Technology/Platform Research
Can marketers easily and efficiently update content on the website
without needing the help of IT?
What limitations does the current solution impose?
What are the Pro/Cons & Level-of-Effort analysis?
TEMPLATES SEARCH/ PROFILING/
Display Layout INDEXING CUSTOMIZATION
Content
Entry
Text
Image
Photo Content Content Content ENDUSER
Generation Deploy Delivery
Audio
CONTENT CONTENT WEB
Video MANAGEMENT ARCHITECTURE
Applets
DB DB
Message
Board
Syndicated
Content
REPORTING
WORKFLOW
COMMERCE PERSONALIZATION
Business Rules

68. Content Diagnostic
What content is currently on your website?
What content do you wish could be on your website?

69. Social Media Diagnostic
Have a presence in the major platforms
Is the presence optimized?
TOOLS
Brand awareness & reputation:
Tools: google.com/alerts, blogscope.net, search.twitter.com,
co.mments.com, trendrr.com
Gaps or opportunities in the Social Media space:
Tools: yacktrack.com/home, alltop.com, dipity.com
Critical Mass of Audience:
Tools: boardtracker.com, technorati.com, alltop.com, touchgraph.com

70. Social Media Diagnostic: Facebook Audit
1
1 Tabbed page that focuses on KPIs
that determine the success of the
2 4
Facebook page
2 Rotating marketing messages that
explain the purpose of the page
3 Add specific call to action banners
that direct traffic to where you
want them. 3
4 Utilize status updates for
promotional marketing messages
exclusive for fans.

71. Website Strategy Development
ANALYSIS AND
Final
DOCUMENTATION Strategy
Analysis and
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

72. Approach to Analysis and Documentation
Several processes go into a comprehensive website
analysis and documentation:
Card Sorting
Online Surveys
Content Audits
One-On-One Interviews
Buzz Monitoring

73. Audience Research and Personas
Conduct interviews with
your users
Online user testing
Audience surveys
Record each session with
audio and or video.
Watch, list, and interact
Formulate personas based
off of your research

74. Card sorting & Labeling
Task users with grouping
information in a fashion that
makes the most sense to them
2 different types of card sorts:
Open and Closed
Results are analyzed and used
as a guide when creating the
website’s hierarchy

75. Use Case Diagrams
Describes the system from the
users point of view
Captures the behavioral
requirements by detailing the
scenario driven requests by
each persona
Useful for illustrating the
interaction between the
audience and the system and/or
website

76. Data Flow Diagrams
Graphical representation of the “flow
of data” through an information
system.
Data Flow diagrams can also be used
for the visualization of data
processing.*
*Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_flow_diagram

77. Classification Schemes
How Will the Content Be Organized?
Alphabetical
Audience
Date
Geographic
Tag-Based
Task
Topic

78. Keyword Analysis Report

79. High-Leveled Analytics Dashboard

80. Social Media Monitoring

81. Website Strategy Development
Final
FINAL STRATEGY Analysis and
Strategy
Documentation
Diagnostics
Research
Discovery
Education

82. Core Elements to the Final Strategy
Business Goals Resources
• Increased sales • Content
• Brand awareness • Technology
• Service customers • SMEs
• Budget
Users Goals Industry Trends
• Find Info • Web 2.0
• Get support • Competitive Landscape
• Buy Now • Increased spending
• Social Networking
Strategy

83. Plan for your Customer Lifecycle
Ensure engagement opportunities for all phases:
Awareness Interest Evaluation Commitment Referral
• Existing • Existing • Existing • Existing • Existing
• Email • Download • Information • Webinars • Testimonials
Marketing Whitepaper Kits • Class
• Branded • View Video • Download Registration • New
Terms • Request Info Trial • Downloads • Provide
(updates, Ratings &
• New • New user guides, Reviews
• Read Ratings etc.)
• Social
& Reviews Bookmarking • Forums
• Targeted • Streaming
Keywords Video

84. Increase assortment of content
Create a rich and engaging
website supported by numerous
types of content.

85. Social Media Inside Your Domain
1 Easily allow users to visit your
brand’s additional social profiles 1
2
2 Easily allow users to Retweet, Digg,
or Sphinn articles they enjoy
3 Provide the option for users to
share a post via ShareThis,
AddThis, etc
4 Enable comments and make
comment count visible to users at
the top of the article
3
4

86. Social Media Outside Your Domain
Search Engines
Social Networks
Review Sites

87. Content Strategy
Example Hierarchy
Graphic Source: http://www.briansolis.com/2009/06/state-of-pr-marketing-and/

88. http://www.junta42.com/content-marketing-playbook.aspx

89. Author a Website Playbook
Executive Summary
Business Challenge
SWOT Findings
Website
Opportunity Statement
Implementation Roadmap Plan
Playbook
Project Goals & Objectives
Project Approach & Scope
Project Work Plan & Staffing
Budget / Resource Planning
Key Success Factors
Return on Investment

90. Website Development Project
Example Deliverables

91. Website Development Lifecycle

92. Strategy Output: Roadmap / Phased Timeline

93. Strategy Output: Infrastructure Diagram

94. Strategy Output: Whiteboard Prototyping
Advantages:
Everything is erasable
Free of any technological
restrictions or software
learning curves
Marketing Insight:
Don’t “design” in front of
your computer.
-Donna Spencer (Mauer)

95. Strategy Output: Online Conversion Scale
Ensure you audience has multiple ways to interact with your website.

96. Strategy Output: Social Media Ecosystem
Be realistic- internal Communities Web Eco-system Phase 3: Mature
resources, technology, Awareness
Top Organic Listings for
critical keyword phrases
creative top notch content. in Search Engines
directing visitors to
highly ranked threads
CAT.com
Product pages contain
and front page special boxes with
dynamic links to
specific forum topics
that are happening
Participate in arenas outside CAT.com near real-time.
your domain to listen to the
“voice of the customer” Registration
Survey
Research
Community
Robust VOC Testing of new
collection community
features
Test - go small then big… Research /
marketing opt-ins Product surveys
VOC Projects
Community
Invitation
Invite email
asking person
to register and
use the Robust User Profile
community
Rich public profile
Evolve Mature Communities functionality
Advanced thread Usage stats
Inv
it
Registration atio
n-
structure
Survey on
ly User Profile Search
Minimal Co
registration
mm
un External Rich media embedding RSS Feed
it yA
requirements cc Sites Readers
es
s
Established community Google
Direct
leaders Reader,
referral to
Community
discussion iGoogle,
threads Yahoo, etc.
Communities
Basic thread
structure
User Profile
Low monitoring Minimal profile
functionality

97. Strategy Output: Beta Sitemap

98. Strategy Output: Low-Fi Wireframes

99. Elaboration Output: Sitemap
Deliverable: Sitemap - Organization and Navigation

100. Elaboration Output: Wireframes

101. Elaboration Output: Navigation Optimization
Are your targeted keywords
present within the architecture?
Are there any words that can be
changed which will not change the
context of the label?
Must strike the balance between
optimizing for search engines and
changing the meaning for the user
Example: Instead of just “Articles” what
type of articles are they? Could they be
labeled “B2B Articles.”

102. Elaboration Output: Wireframe Testing
Moderated and
Unmoderated testing
Users are assigned tasks to
complete
“Blocks of content” are
clickable to other
wireframes
Testing is recorded to
capture the subtleties
All qualitative data

104. Elaboration Output: Content Layout
Deliverable: Wireframes
“blue print” of the website architecture
Validated by user feedback!

105. Elaboration Output: Content Map
clearly illustrates the:
page type
page title
potential content
image file names
wireframe template
calls to action present
URL folder path
even a sign off column
from both author and
architect.

106. Elaboration Output: Design Direction
Deliverable: Design Exploration

107. Gallery: Wireframe to Design

114. Conclusion

115. Understand to be Understood
True innovation can occur when there is a deep mutual
understanding of both sides.
User
Needs
Synergy
Business
Needs

116. Employ UCD to ensure success
The logical approach is to develop a:
Detailed,
Well researched,
Well documented,
One step ahead of the competition- plan
What’s the secret?
Think of your users first.

117. Plan for ongoing optimization

118. Conclusion
Position the website as the epicenter for all marketing.
Think Users first.
Build the right strategy to ensure future success.
Test the approach iteratively throughout the
development process.

119. Results: Then (2006) and Now (2008)

120. Handout: Social Media Participation Matrix
Review
Determine
Discuss

121. Questions?
Michael Weisfeld
P 619.699.0767 x247
Michael.Weisfeld@BusinessOL.com
Twitter: @mrweisfeld
http://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelweisfeld

122. APPENDIX
Additional Information and Resources

123. Strategy & SM Newsletters and Blogs
Jeremiah Oywang (http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/)
SmartBrief Newsletter
(http://www.smartbrief.com/socialmedia/index.jsp?campaign=webIndustries)
Mashable (http://mashable.com/)
Chris Brogan (http://www.chrisbrogan.com/)
David Armano (http://darmano.typepad.com/)
Peter Kim (http://www.beingpeterkim.com/)
TechCrunch (http://www.techcrunch.com/)
MarketingCharts (http://www.marketingcharts.com/)
SocialMedia Insider
(http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Archives.showArchive&art_type=66)

124. Groundswell
"(The book) is not so much a manifesto
or a dissection of online culture as it is a
how-to manual for executives and mid-
level managers trying to navigate this
fast-changing and often confusing
environment."
— Ideas: Book Review, Financial Times
"A new book by two researchers
explains how companies' reputations
can be tarnished by the cacophony of
Internet commentary, and how they can
fight back.“
— Broadsided, The Boston Globe

125. Tools for Marketers
Free Tools Paid Tools
Google Alerts – blogs, news Buzzlogic
Technorati - blogs Radian6
Alltop – blogs, news TNS Cymfony
Backtype – blog comments Trackur
Yacktrack – social comments Brands Eye
BoardReader – forums BoardReader
Twitter Search – microblog Cision
Social Mention – all Nielsen
Filtrbox – filter results Sentiment Metrics

126. More Info: Social Media Webinar
Title: Is your Company Social? Planning a successful
social media program.
Release: December 2008
Click here to request the webinar:
http://www.businessol.com/news/main-
webinars/archives/default.html#session-2