The document outlines essential steps for defining website requirements to achieve clear business objectives and target audience understanding. It emphasizes the importance of developing a content strategy, defining functionality, and adopting a customer-centric approach through workshops and research. Additionally, it suggests organizing a web proposal that incorporates key points from the guidelines provided.

1. Online Design, Marketing and Sales Keith Feighery Defining Website Requirements

2. Web Strategy Have a clear and defined business objective for your web presence Sales, Information, Lead Gen, Build Awareness, Customer Retention Know exactly who your audience is – and where they reside digitally Develop a content strategy for your site Optimise and promote consistent across digital channels

3. Required Functionality What type of functionality do you want on the site BrochureWare, eCommerce, DemandGen, LeagGen, Community Stock control, optimisable & customisable content, SEO, blogs, forums, integrated social profiles, newsletters, etc… Write all of this down and present to designer – puts you in charge Web designers want to do as little work as possible for most amount of money

4. Site Content Start defining what content you want and how users will interact Adopt a real users perspective Define Information Architecture Walk through Functional Flows – try and determine blockages Define Calls to Actions What words you want to describe each page on site (Search Engines, Taxonomy) Digital Media – photos, videos, podcasts, social profiles

5. Customers Define your customers – B2B, B2C Demographics, Socialgraphics, Behaviours, Psychographics What specifically do they want from you Describe channels to market Integrated offline and online (Mobile?) Understand where and how customers use online resources Technophobes or Technophiles Do they use social channels - if so, which channels Start researching NOW

6. Week 1: Research Start noting what sites you like and don’t like (and why?) Be aware of functionality that works and what doesn’t Start obsessively analysing your customers All business and marketing needs to be “customer-centric” Draw out by hand the functional flow of site Capture some key Calls to Actions

7. Group Workshop Purpose and business objective of site Who is your target audience Who are your direct competitors What is your key selling point 10 words/phrases that describe your business What functionality do you want to incorporate in the site Do you have an identity/design collateral to date? What tone, image, intent, signals, impression do you want to project

8. Workshop (cont.) Segment your customers Ideal, good, average, poor What do you do to reward top customers and prevent customer decay What are the characteristics you use to value them Monetary value, frequency, word of mouth marketing, what channel they come from Define customer lifecycle and lifetime value Estimates cost of customer acquisitions What are most efficient marketing channels

9. Exercise for next week Start working on your web proposal Use the key points recommended in the document “Defining Website Requirements” Cross-reference with “Key Questions that a designer will want to ask a client” Break document down into: Background, scope, timeline, business objectives, audience, customer characteristics, design and functional requirements, maintenance & budget