1. COSTAL COUNSELING
Website Analysis
PREPARED FOR:
Chris and Kelly Roberts of Costal Counseling
MIS 4153-601
Web Application Development for Business
WRITTEN BY:
Stephanie Maynard
October 18, 2016
2. Table of Contents
Executive Summary........................................................................................................................4
Recommendation One...................................................................................................................6
Recommendation Two.................................................................................................................10
Recommendation Three..............................................................................................................12
Appendices...................................................................................................................................15
Business Goals Analysis ..............................................................................................................16
Business Overview....................................................................................................................16
Industry Analysis......................................................................................................................16
Business Objectives..................................................................................................................20
Website Goals ...........................................................................................................................20
Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPI)..............................................................................21
Target KPI..................................................................................................................................22
Segmentation............................................................................................................................22
Current Key Performance Metrics (KPM).................................................................................23
Marketing and Promotion Analysis ............................................................................................23
Online Marketing tools ............................................................................................................24
Marketing Behavior ..................................................................................................................24
In-bound link analysis .............................................................................................................25
SEO analysis..............................................................................................................................25
Social Media Analysis...............................................................................................................26
User Experience Analysis ............................................................................................................27
User Profile and goals..............................................................................................................27
User Technology alignment.....................................................................................................28
User Experience........................................................................................................................28
Cross-platform Analysis..........................................................................................................30
Link analysis .............................................................................................................................34
Platform and Architecture Analysis............................................................................................34
Website Goals ...........................................................................................................................35
Server Analysis..........................................................................................................................35
4. Executive Summary
Completing this project has given me a good look into the usage of web tools
by small businesses and has given me ideas of possible career paths in the
future. Completing the project for my chosen business as well as viewing the
work of others in the class gave me a great new perspective on the use of and
attitudes toward e-commerce. My hope is that Costal Counselling finds this
report and the recommendations useful and considers implementing them in
their live site.
Completion of this project required analysis of the website for Coastal
Counseling from numerous perspectives to make recommendations to grow the
business and improve the website for people seeking mental health and DWI
services. Cultivation of recommendations for this business was not an easy task
due to the nature of this business; Coastal Counseling provides medical and
legal services so the online operations are not quite like many other business
and while ecommerce is not being conducted the website can still become a
valuable tool for the business.
Upon review of the website there were three recommendations:
1) Add additional content and update regularly
2) Increase offering of online services and tools
3) Create and use website metrics
Outside of some short comings with the website it must be stated that the
website is very good compared to other websites for similar businesses; the
design and the fact that it exists. The website had a pleasant design, contained
useful information and was complete while many similar businesses had not
website at all or had an incomplete website.
5.
6. Recommendation One
Add Additional Content and Update Regularly
Why? Users visit websites to accomplish goals and/or find information so
an effective website helps users accomplish these two things and increase
traffic to the website and maintain that increased rate of traffic the website . To
maintain the increased traffic the website must give users a reason to return to
both the website and the practice for as long as necessary (some patients will
only require short term treatment or services but some could require years of
treatment) and recommend the site (since the sponsors states word of mouth is
the main source of advertisement). Since Coastal Counseling does not offer a
service that can be provided online other types of content should be provided
on the site and updated regularly. This type of content can include:
-Blogs - to educate people seeking services as well as the family of people
seeking these services and the generalpublic. There is often a level of stigma
attached to mental health issues and a blog maintained by professionals in the
field could serve as a source of education for people to help lift the stigmas
that are very strong in many minority communities as well as less affluent and
poorly educated communities. People who are well educated on mental health
are more likely to seek treatment and provide support to others seeking
treatment if it is seen as an actual illness and not the blues that can be
overcome alone. Below are some social statistics taken directly from the
national alliance on mental illness that illustrate the need to open
communication regarding mental health:
Social Stats
An estimated 26% of homeless adults staying in shelters live with serious
mental illness and an estimated 46% live with severe mental illness
and/or substance use disorders.9
Approximately 20% of state prisoners and 21% of local jail prisoners have
“a recent history” of a mental health condition.10
70% of youth in juvenile justice systems have at least one mental health
condition and at least 20% live with a serious mental illness.11
7. Only 41% of adults in the U.S. with a mental health condition received
mental health services in the past year. Among adults with a serious
mental illness, 62.9% received mental health services in the past year.8
Just over half (50.6%) of children aged 8-15 received mental health
services in the previous year.12
African Americans and Hispanic Americans used mental health services at
about one-half the rate of Caucasian Americans in the past year and
Asian Americans at about one-third the rate.13
Half of all chronic mental illness begins by age 14; three-quarters by age
24. Despite effective treatment, there are long delays—sometimes
decades—between the first appearance of symptoms and when people
get help.14
-Articles - articles can serve a similar purpose to blogs; educating people on
mental health issues. While the primary goal is to get patients in the door but
there are barriers to people seeking treatment for mental health issues and
sometimes they don’t understand that they should.
-Other interactive items (such as polls or quizzes) - interactive items can serve
a purpose beyond encouraging traffic by encouraging users to interact with the
site and provide information about themselves. While users coming to this site
are not looking for fun entertaining quizzes, questionnaires can provide insight
and help the decision making process as well as provide demographic
information for the business and an insight into the community. A simple poll
could be a question regarding views on mental health and use of substances.
An example of a poll could be a single question like “how old were you when
you started using alcohol?” to determine attitudes and opinions. Gathering this
kind of information as well as helping people determine if they should seek
help is important due to the prevalence of mental illness.
Prevalence of Mental Illness (taken directly from national alliance on mental
health)
Approximately 1 in 5 adults in the U.S.—43.8 million, or 18.5%—
experiences mental illness in a given year.1
8. Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S.—10 million, or 4.2%—
experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially
interferes with or limits one or more major life activities.2
Approximately 1 in 5 youth aged 13–18 (21.4%) experiences a severe
mental disorder at some point during their life. For children aged 8–15,
the estimate is 13%.3
1.1% of adults in the U.S. live with schizophrenia.4
2.6% of adults in the U.S. live with bipolar disorder.5
6.9% of adults in the U.S.—16 million—had at least one major depressive
episode in the past year.6
18.1% of adults in the U.S. experienced an anxiety disorder such as
posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and
specific phobias.7
Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance
use disorder, 50.5%—10.2 million adults—had a co-occurring mental
illness.
An example of questionnaires with the types of questions that could compose
polls and quizzes can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/GSHS/questionnaire/ .
-Up to date social media - While there is a social media page that is updated
the updates are sporadic and infrequent. Not only that, social media should
show snippets of things happening with the business and encourage traffic to
the website by providing links for full stories or articles. The reason this would
benefit the business is it would bring awareness not only the business itself but
to mental health and the services offered by the business. Mental health
education in general is lacking and there are stigmas associated with it.
Becoming a source of education for the community could be a noble cause as
well as help people determine if they actually need the services offered by
Coastal Counseling and encourage them to make contact.
Below are some reasons to consider becoming a source of information in
addition to a business to provide treatment, taken directly from the national
alliance on mental health:
Consequences of Lack of Treatment
9. Serious mental illness costs America $193.2 billion in lost earnings per
year.15
Mood disorders, including major depression, dysthymic disorder and
bipolar disorder, are the third most common cause of hospitalization in
the U.S. for both youth and adults aged 18–44.16
Individuals living with serious mental illness face an increased risk of
having chronic medical conditions.17 Adults in the U.S. living with serious
mental illness die on average 25 years earlier than others, largely due to
treatable medical conditions.18
Over one-third (37%) of students with a mental health condition age 14–
21 and older who are served by special education drop out—the highest
dropout rate of any disability group.19
Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the U.S.,20 the 3rd leading
cause of death for people aged 10–2421 and the 2nd leading cause of
death for people aged 15–24.22
More than 90% of children who die by suicide have a mental health
condition.23
Each day an estimated 18-22 veterans die by suicide.24
How? There are four steps to put this recommendation into practice. They
are detailed below:
1) Decide on the type of content – before beginning the process of
adding content to the website the type of content should be
determined. I recommend the following:
A collection of mental health concerns, conditions, and treatments
with details, sort of like a small encyclopedia specifically for mental
health information. While it should be explicitly stated that this
website is not intended to replace medical help this could help
patients form questions for the doctor or find answers to questions
they forgot to ask
A blog written by the providers to offer insight and knowledge from
the providers
A collection of useful articles regarding relevant materials
10. Feeds from social media
Interactive content
These items can help patients get to know the providers as well as
showcase their knowledge; anonymous polls can help users see that
they aren’t alone in dealing with specific issues as well as help the
providers collect information; interactive quizzes can help users
decide if they should seek help as sometimes when you have a mental
health issue it is hard to see it and know when to seek help.
2) Create a plan to maintain and update content – before putting this
recommendation into play a plan to maintain this should be created.
Decide on who will maintain what sections and when content will be
updated to keep the site current and interesting so users will return.
3) Prepare the website to host the content – in order to add content
additional webpages will need to be added to the site where the
information will go. The structure of the site will have to be updated.
4) Add the content – the final step is to add initial content. Considering a
large amount of content will be added and some should be updated
over time, initial information should be added but all content does not
have to be added at the start of this process.
The process of implementing this recommendation should take one to two
months to allow time for structural changes to the website as well as starter
content to be written and posted. The purpose of this recommendation is to
keep things fresh on the website and encourage people to visit for information
so initially the bulk of the information should not be added.
Recommendation Two
Increase Online Services and Tools
Why? Today the internet plays a huge role in the everyday life of most
people. From shopping, to ordering food, to banking and even some medical
care/advice, the worldwide web is truly worldwide. Many people often look for
business to offer some services online to simplify their interactions. As stated
11. above in the previous section, Coastal Counseling does not offer a good or
service that can be offered online but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some
online tools and services that can be offered. Some online tools frequently
offered by medical offices include: Access to printable forms; the option to
complete and submit forms online; the ability to schedule, change, and cancel
appointments; a secure way to message providers for non-emergency
situations; options to make payments; and view test results and summaries of
care. While some of these options can require monetary investments such as
added security for health information, a patient portal service, or transaction
processing service some options are free such as links to email the business
and providers as well as necessary forms that can be completed and printed.
My suggestion for Coastal Counseling would be to go with printable forms to
save patients time when arriving to the office and adding a contact form to
allow patients to easily send non-emergency questions and messages to the
office. These two options add some value to the website and allow it to become
a tool for patients while requiring the least investment from Costal Counseling.
Other more complex tools that require more of an investment can be added
later if desired.
How? The four steps to implement this recommendation are as follows:
1) Decide on the type of content and tools to be offered – Decide if paid
services, such as transaction processing and patient portal services
will be used or if simple static resources such as printable forms will
be offered. The recommendation is to start with simple resources like
basic intake forms (pretty similar and used by most doctors’ offices)
and a contact form that allows users to easily contact the practice
directly from the website for non-emergency communications. If
some of the more complex paid services will be used select a provider
and set up necessary accounts and memberships. If only forms will be
offered create forms in formats that can be opened by common
software and prepare them to be added to the website. Create email
addresses to be listed on the site to allow users to contact the
business and providers with a simple click.
12. 2) Create a plan to maintain and update content – before putting this
recommendation into action a plan should be created to maintain and
update content offered. All forms on the website should match the
paper forms available in the office and if the forms in the office
change the online forms should also change. This applies to all
content offered on the website.
3) Prepare the website to host the content – update the structure of the
website to support the new content. Add necessary new pages and
links.
4) Add the content – The final step is to add the content. All content does
not have to be added at once just as any services to be offered do not
have to be launched at the same time.
If the suggested recommendations are used (printable forms and contact
options) I suggest one to two months to create the extra webpages on the site
to host the content, to type the forms and upload them to the site and set up
an email account to be used for the contact form.
Recommendation Three
Create and Use Website Metrics
Why? In order to know if an operation is successful there must be
guidelines to compare and to achieve success and improve there must be goals
to work toward. Regardless of the purpose of a website there are metrics that
can be measured and goals that can be set so despite Costal Counseling not
selling a product or service the success of the site can be measured in ways
other than conventional sales metrics. At the time of this report there were no
defined metrics and no information regarding website metrics such as traffic or
clicks per visit so currently the sponsor has no idea how useful the website is.
Considering the other recommendations in this report require work and
possibly monetary investment it would a good idea to set goals and to measure
the effects of any changes made.
How?
13. In order to determine valid metrics, the intended goals for the website and the
business must be specified. According to Business Goals Analysis worksheet the
goals for the business and website are as follows:
Grow the business
Grow web presence
Increase the offering of online services
Increasing client education
Optimize search engine results
Online advertising
After determining the intended goals a method to measure progress toward
these goals must be created, this is the process of creating key performance
indicators (KPIs). Valid KPIs that could be used as metrics to monitor progress
toward intended goals include the following:
Number of site visits – this can indicate growth in web presence. As the
website becomes more prominent online we would expect an increase in
traffic. This metric can also determine if search engine optimization has
been successful and is one measure of advertisement success.
People using online services and tools – The percentage of people who
are using online services and tools offered versus the percentage using in
office options (for example online forms versus paper forms) can
determine if these tools are useful and reaching a large number of
people. This can be determined by examining what number of forms are
completed in the office verses the number completed or printed from the
website. Online forms divided by total forms would give the percentage
of online forms. For example 50 online forms divided by 100 total forms
would be 50%. A similar formula could be used for all online tools offered
that have an in office or alternate method. A higher percentage of online
tool usage signifies that the tools are effective and reaching a large
number of users and thus a good idea to expand on.
Web traffic/time spent on blogs, articles and interactive content - this
metric can help determine if resources and educational materials are
being used by visitors to the site to determine if the goal of educating
users is being met and if this is an effort worth continuing to invest in.
14. The number of views and time spend on these specific pages can be
compared to time spent on other pages (the home page or contact page
for example) to determine if people are really viewing and using these
materials.
Advertisement clicks – this metric is useful in determining if online
advertisements are useful and are being seen by the intended audience
Because there are currently no metrics in place the first step to establish
specific metrics is to gather information before making any changes to the site.
I would suggest that during the one to two month planning period required to
implement the other recommendations (before any changes are made) to begin
becoming familiar with the tools provided to monitor metrics and establish a
baseline so that changes can be accurately determined. Once valid key
performance indicator baselines have been determined website analytic tools
(usually included with webs hosting services or available for a fee) would be
used to monitor progress.
15. Appendices
The following sections contain the documents used to gather data on the
Coastal Counseling website in order to gain insight into the website operation
and to formulate recommendations. There is a business analysis, marketing
analysis, user analysis, and IT platform analysis and there worksheets contain
the data used for the report.
16. Business Goals Analysis
With this analysis, try to view the website from the perspective of an executive
or business owner. The purpose of this analysis is to determine “Does the
website help the business achieve its goals?” To accomplish this, you must
identify the industry the business is in, the business goals, and the web site’s
role in accomplishing those goals. Furthermore, identify what measure(s)
would help determine if the website is a success in achieving those goals.
Analyze how the website effectively achieves those goals by how the site
transforms visitors into paying or prospective customers (if selling product),
engaged users (if community based), or other major goals.
Business
name
Costal
Counseling
Analysis
date:
9/6/20169/6/20169/6/20169/6/2016 –
12/1/201612/1/201612/1/201612/1/2016
Sponsor’s
name
Chris and
Kelly Roberts
Your
name:
Stephanie Maynard
Business Overview
Describe the company or organization. Include specific business and revenue
models in the discussion.
Costal Counseling is a small private practice that provides mental health
services to all ages and DWI services and is located in Manteo NC. This business
uses the Business to Consumer (B2C) model as it offers a service directly to
consumers and offers services that follow a recurring revenue model as most
counseling and substance abuse programs require multiple sessions so
multiple visits by the client will occur and multiple payments will be made at set
increments of time.
Industry Analysis
Identify and describe the industry of this company or organization. Then
identify 5 websites of competitors in the same industry, preferably the top
17. companies/organizations in the industry. Write a comparison between this site
and the 5 competitors.
This business in in the health care industry providing mental health and
substance abuse counseling services. This industry is growing as people are
beginning to understand the importance of mental health care and the impact
that mental health has on society. More insurance carriers are beginning to
cover mental health costs and more people have health insurance and are able
to seek mental health care. This growth of the industry is slowed by a few
factors including: over saturation of nonprofit providers, high fragmentation,
educational requirements, licensure requirements, and other legal barriers
intended to limit the number of providers in an area.
Five competitors for Costal Counseling and website comparisons:
In generalI found that there were not many mental health facilities that
had websites. I used a general search phrase, “mental health services in Manteo
NC,” to find a listing of mental health providers in the same geographical area
as Costal Counseling. The reason that specific search term was used is because
often times facilities that provide mental health services include treatment for
substance abuse and usually a DUI (or even a failed drug test on a job in some
instances) result in treatment for substance abuse. A google search for “DUI
services in Manteo NC” generated results that were mostly general
counseling/mental health providers.
18. Upon searching for “mental health services in Manteo NC” I was directed to a
site called “Beach Book” which appeared to be a listing of business near the
coast. I performed a google search of the first five business names to pop up
and the only mental health center other than Costal Counseling to have a
website was Albemarle Psychological Services. This was surprising because all
business can benefit from a web presence but this helpful for Costal Counse ling
as they are ahead of other business in this aspect. The lack of websites for
similar businesses made this comparison very hard but there were a few
reasons to go with these search results instead of expanding the geographic
area or type of practice, and those reasons were as follows:
Typically mental health or substance abuse treatment requires more than
one visit. A typical user and patient of Costal Counseling would likely
look for local businesses and it made sense to search in the same fashion
as a real user.
Other businesses (outside of the area) that had websites were not exactly
comparable. It didn’t seem fair to compare a small private practice to a
hospital or large practice with stakeholders. These businesses have more
resources for web services than a small business.
19. -Albemarle Mental Health Center- http://www.beachbook.com/b/kitty-hawk-
nc/albemarle-mental-health-center-4 (no website found with google search)
-Children & Family Counseling Services- http://www.beachbook.com/b/nags-
head-nc/children-and-family-counseling-services-2 (No website found with
google search)
-East Carolina Behavioral Health- http://www.beachbook.com/b/nags-head-
nc/east-carolina-behavioral-health-10 (No website found with google search)
-Recovery Innovations- http://www.beachbook.com/b/kill-devil-hills-
nc/recovery-innovations-2 (No website found with google search)
-Albemarle Psychological Services- http://www.beachbook.com/b/kill-devil-
hills-nc/5454ca7ae4b0ae3aa2ba3688 (
http://www.albemarlepsychological.com/ )
The first thing I noticed about this website is the graphical design, its
lacking. It is not appealing to the eye and while one wouldn’t expect to see
lively images and bright colors for such a somber business the website could
benefit from some graphical interest. Although this website isn’t very visually
appealing it does provide quite a bit of helpful information that Costal
Counseling is missing. The first thing I notice is biographical information on the
doctors. During the recorded interview, Chris mentioned wanting patients to
feel at home in the practice and comfortable. Providing biographical
information can help prospective patients get a feel for the providers, their
interests, experience level, passion, and reasons for doing this etcetera. This
information is hidden under the “Counseling” tab on Costal Counseling’s
website which leads to the next point. This website does a good job of
compartmentalizing information using tabs. This is important due to the nature
of the business as some mental health disorders can make it difficult to focus
on information. The final useful link I see on this website that Costal
Counseling does not have is a link for “Forms.” This tab does not actually
contain any information but it is a good idea that Costal Counseling could
consider. Providing the forms necessary for patients to fill out or request
necessary information (like driving records and tickets) helps the patient have
everything they need in one place instead of visiting multiple places and
20. searching the web for forms. It also saves time as the patient walks into the
office with forms filled out and ready for their appointment.
Business Objectives
What are the business objectives? Identify the broad business objectives.
The business objective is to grow the business and the web presence as
well as increase the offering of online services like DWI education and
mental health education in general. The business owners would like to
optimize search engine results and some online advertising wouldn’t be a
bad idea.
Website Goals
For each business objective, identify specific website goals that will help
achieve the objectives.
-Grow the business- in order to grow the business more services must be
provided to more clients, increase the amount of business will increase
revenue.
-Grow web presence- Currently this industry is not about having a large web
presence which is good for Costal Counseling as this gives them a way to have
an advantage. Improving the website and making it more useful as well as
speaking on accomplishments and telling potential clients why they should
choose this provider is a great start. Also making sure all information is
presented in a clear manner is very important.
-Increase the offering of online services- While this isn’t really a service that
can be provided online things like alcohol education and traffic school can be
offered online and could possibly be offered on this site depending on legal
requirements. Forms and registration could be offered online to save time when
the patient visits the office and to save time when it comes to entering data
from the forms into the system in the office.
-Increasing client education-educating clients about DWI and mental health
issues could be done through a blog maintained by the providers in which they
periodically write articled relating to mental health. Personality assessments
could be offered just as a guideline to help potential clients decide if they need
services as sometime it can be hard to decide if what you are feeling is normal.
21. -Optimize search engine results- currently when searching for mental health
providers in Manteo NC Costal Counseling does not appear in the results.
Keywords need to be added so this business is easy to find. While word of
mouth is the primary method of advertising more and more people are using
the internet to find what they need. Also, mental health care still carries a
stigma so allowing people to find providers and make choices privately is
important.
-Online advertising- as mentioned above, word of mouth is the primary
method of advertisement but as more people use the internet for services
online advertisement becomes more important. Offering an advertisement on a
related website would help increase traffic.
Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPI)
Key performance indicators represent the metrics that will be used in the
analysis. They could include things like # downloads, conversions, visitor
loyalty, etc. Be sure each website goal has at least one KPI and every KPI is
measures a website goal.
-Growing the web presence could be measured by the number of site visits. As
the website becomes more visible online we would expect the number of site
visits to increase. Currently a specific measure to achieve can’t be accurately
stated as there is not established baseline to compare.
-Increasing the offering of online services would be measured by the number of
people using those services for example how many people are signing up to
take online classes, how many registration forms are submitted online versus
on paper in the office. All of these metrics essentially assess the same goal and
are just different items being used on the site.
-Increasing client education- this could be measured by the number of blog or
educational material views compared to the number of new clients. If the
educational materials receive high traffic and there is an increase in clients it
may be due to being educated and realizing the need for services as people
who educated on mental health and understand that they need it are likely to
come. To avoid making assumptions there could be a “how did you hear about
us?” or “what made you choose our practice?” question on intake paperwork to
further verify if the materials are useful.
22. -Optimized search engine results would be measured by traffic to the website
as people who are searching for this service are likely to visit the website if they
see it.
-Online advertising could be measured by the number of clicks on an ad as well
as analyzing traffic generated by specific ads in specific locations
Target KPI
Research what would be a good target number for each KPI identified above. If
data exists, targets should represent an improvement in some manner. It may
be useful to look at industry averages for comparison.
KPI data for this industry does not exist as in general web presence is not very
strong for this industry. Small practices do not have much web presence. Large
chain treatment centers and hospitals have the biggest web presence with
regards to this type of service. Target data could be set by the owners coming
up with a percentage of growth they’d like to see. There are no industry
averages as mental health seems to have a small presence online.
Segmentation
What groups of visitors are important? What visitor behavior is important?
What traffic sources are important? For each website goal above, identify any
segmentation of the data to get a better idea of how certain types of people
match up with KPIs.
-Grow the business- for this website goal, there is no segmentation outside of
clients that need the services offered. The only people who would seek out this
business are people who need mental health services but that group can
include people of all ages, backgrounds, and demographic groups.
Grow the web presence- Younger clients and members of the African American
community are more likely to impact this website goal. Younger people use the
internet more frequently that older people and mental health carries a heavy
stigma in the African American community so they are more likely to try to keep
as much of this process private as possible. While this information would be
kept private it would likely be gathered in the necessary demographic
information collected on intake information. That could be combined with a
23. question such as “how did you hear about us?” to help determine what
demographic groups the website is reaching. While this information is not
provided to the public and is confidential it can be used to analyze trends in the
business and the community to assist in providing better service.
-Increasing online services- as with the goal of growing web presence, offering
of online services is likely to be impacted by younger more tech savvy users and
members of demographic groups who encounter strong stigmas related to
mental healthcare.
-Optimized search engine results- This is also likely to be impacted by younger
clients and clients who face stigma related to mental healthcare.
-Online advertising would be impacted by younger clients that spend more time
browsing the internet and would see the ads.
Current Key Performance Metrics (KPM)
If current data is available, compare target KPI with current KPM. Every KPI
should have a KPM.
Currently KPI data is not available for this industry/website.
Marketing and Promotion Analysis
With this analysis, try to view the online presence from the perspective of a
marketing manager promoting the website and brands there-in. The major
question is “How effectively do we market the company and its
products/services through online tools?” To answer this question, you need to
identify all promotion techniques and technologies as well as the effectiveness
in changing the users’ behavior.
Business
name
Costal
Counseling
Analysis
data:
9/22/20169/22/20169/22/20169/22/2016
–
9/27/20169/27/20169/27/20169/27/2016
Sponsor
name
Chris and
Kelly Roberts
Your
name:
Stephanie Maynard
24. Online Marketing tools
Itemize all of the web marketing tools used for the business. Can include
website, online ads, email lists, social media, CRM, third party platforms, etc.
The web marketing tools used by this business are the website and
Facebook.
Marketing Behavior
In as much detail as possible, describe the sales funnel (or behavioral change
desired) that the site utilizes along with the expected consumer behavior at
each step. First, fill out the matrix with technologies identified above. Then
describe the process on narrative form. Also, identify any possible alternative
consumer behaviors.
Matrix
Promotion
(communication)
Location of message
Acquisition
1)One-time
drivers
2) Regular
drivers
3) Search drivers
Social media
Local Business
Directories
Search engines
2)User searches for
counseling services in
the Manteo area
Conversion
1)Landing pages
2) Email
campaigns
Home Page
Contact us
1)User lands on the
home page of the
business
Retention
1)Customer
service
None
This company uses very little online marketing tools and while this is not a
typical consumer service I do think they could utilize more. The only online
marketing tools utilized by coastal counseling are local business directories like
google maps and their website which doesn’t include any specific marketing.
The landing page of the website is simply the home page and the search engine
optimization is not strong as it is rather hard to find this business when
searching google for counseling services in the eastern North Carolina area.
25. In-bound link analysis
Review the site metrics (if available) to determine top 10 in-bound links.
Identify all trends that you observe. Based on these observations, what would
you recommend?
There are no site metrics available.
SEO analysis
Identify the top 3-5 words/phrases visitors/customers will most likely type to
solve the problem this site will help fix. Determine the search rankings for each
of words/phrase in top search engines. Identify what specific things the site
can do better to target those keywords.
-DWI- Users have searched for this term an average of 18100 times per month
over the past 12 months
-Anxiety-Users have searched for this term an average of 301000 times per
month over the last 12 months
-Depression-Users have searched for this term an average of 301000 times per
month over the last 12 months
-Substance abuse-Users have searched for this term an average of 14800 times
per month over the last 12 months
26. This site can add more content to receive more hits when users are searching
for terms that relate to the services this business offers. Adding an informative
aspect such as a blog or articles would increase search engine hits as well as
adding some emphasis to other services offered by the business. Costal
counseling focuses heavily on DWI treatment and help but they offer help for
other mental health issues and some of those issues receive more attention on
search engines.
Social Media Analysis
Review the use of social media. Describe the types of
posts/tweets/announcements used on their social media accounts. On average,
how effective are the posts at engaging the users (likes, shares, and
27. comments). Are the posts with the most engagement in alignment with the
company and marketing goals? Do they align with the user goals?
The only social media this business uses is Facebook and I immediately
feel that they could benefit by adding other forms as people frequently use
many other social media platforms. This is not a business in which most people
would share details but a blog and a twitter account to notify people of new
updates could be useful. That aside, the current use of social media doesn’t
seem very effective. The last update was months ago (July) and usually there
aren’t a lot of likes and commentary on posts. The goals of the posts are
related to services offered by Costal Counseling (substance abuse) they aren’t
varied and aren’t specific, they could be more engaging and more in line with
user goals.
User Experience Analysis
With this analysis, try to view the website from the perspective of a user. The
primary question is “Are the users able to fully accomplish their goals in a
pleasant manner?” To determine this answer, you need to identify the profile of
typical user and their expectations. Analyze the user experiences the website
in a variety of contexts from device, browser, and user goal.
Business
name
Costal
Counseling
Analysis
data:
9/9/20169/9/20169/9/20169/9/2016 –
12/1/201612/1/201612/1/201612/1/2016
Sponsor
name
Chris and
Kelly Roberts
Your
name:
Stephanie Maynard
User Profile and goals
Describe the typical user of this website in as much detail as possible. Try to
put yourself in their shoes and identify what their primary life, end, and
experience goals would be in coming to this site.
Specific users for the website are people needing help with mental health
uses or DWI counseling. Mental health problems can affect people of all
28. demographics as can DWI convictions; noted in the interview with the sponsors
DWIs can happen to anyone easily.
When users come to this website there are two primary goals: To receive
mental healthcare or DUI services. The primary life goals of users seeking
mental healthcare are to overcome mental health issues that may be causing
problem in their lives and/or the lives of others around them, work through
issue that are causing mental distress, and come out as better people and the
end goals of users seeking DUI services are to receive treatment and/or
complete legal requirements for DWI offenses, and find information. The
experience goals of the user are to feel comfortable, encouraged, and have a
better quality of life regardless of this involves overcoming legal issues due to
DUI or other problem requiring the services of Costal Counseling.
User Technology alignment
Based on the typical user described above, what types of online technologies do
they regularly use or prefer to use? This may require some research to justify
varies technologies.
The typical user for mental health services could be literally anyone, a
member of any demographic group therefore they may use any and all
technology available in both their personal and professional lives. This question
cannot be answered specifically as the services this business offers is applicable
to all people.
User Experience
Walkthrough the website and identify any problems with the experience. Does
the site make it easy for a user to accomplish those goals? Pay attention to your
first impressions and its impact on your perceptions of the site. Also, look for
any mistakes, oddities, difficult to read sections, or difficult to find sections.
Refer to the 5 planes of user experience to help guide your discussion.
Strategy is how all the parts of the website fit together to help the user
accomplish their end goal. There are no issues with user experience
related to strategy. The purpose of the website is very clear; to help users
obtain DUI services, mental health services, and information. Navigating
29. around the site I was able to effectively find contact information and
enough information to determine if Costal Counseling was a business
that could provide what I may be looking for. The components of the
website were wellput together and related to the goals of the user.
Scope determines if the website contains the necessary information and
functions to allow the user to accomplish the desired goals. The function
of the website was adequate. While there were no real applications all
links worked and social media was present and the website behaved as it
should have. As far as content there is enough content to make the site
useful but more information could add even more value to the site.
Structure consists of the flow and layout of the website and its data.
There were no problems with the major layout of the site. The
organization of the content was logical and well organized the correct
information was on the correct pages and there were no blank or
obviously incomplete pages.
Skeleton describes the figurative framework of the content on the
individual pages and how well design and organization elements are used
to arrange the content in a functional way. The content is laid out in a
very user friendly way that makes sense and is uniform throughout the
entire site. When looking at the pages of the website there is no feeling
that something should be elsewhere or that it is just wrong and
navigation is intuitive. Pleasant, easy to use site.
Surface describes the general style of the website: colors, images, and
style elements. The surface of the site is pleasant to look at; a very
soothing color palette and background image was chosen as well as an
easy to read font and the site is aesthetically pleasing and uniform.
The site does make it easy for the user to meet the end goals by providing
information on DWI processes as well as how to schedule an appointment to get
started with Costal Counseling. The first impression of the website is good
despite the fact that it could be a bit more robust (more information). It is
lacking in the amount of content but the website, while simple, looks well
thought out and has an easy to use layout and pleasant aesthetic. Aesthetics
are very important in the design of a website and the soothing watery
30. background is a nice touch as the experience goal of this business is to make
the user feel at ease.
Cross-platform Analysis
View this site in a variety of different technologicalplatforms - different
browsers, different operating systems, and different screen sizes. Take screen
shots of each. Identify any problems with the viewing experience.
Fire Fox
Chrome
34. Safari (iOS)
Link analysis
Systematically check each link on the website (there are tools that can automate
this check). Identify any links that do not go to their expected page/site.
All links on this website work correctly
Platform and Architecture Analysis
With this analysis, try to view the website from the perspective of the web
master, web developer, or IT professional. The primary focus should be on
answering “How well does the web platform/architecture support the
administration, maintenance, and enhancement of the website?” To answer
this, you need to identity key web platform and architectural elements. Analyze
the web platform and/or architecture (if any) used for constructing and
maintaining the site. Look for elements that cause struggles or alleviate pains.
35. Business nameCoastal Counseling Analysis data: [Start date][Start
date][Start date][Start
date] – [End date][End
date][End date][End date]
Sponsor name Chris and Kelly Roberts Your name: Stephanie Maynard
Website Goals
Are there any relevant website goals associated with management of the web
server? Write them below.
There were no server management goals discussed. The user uses blue host, a
hosting service that offers different packages and levels of service but the
sponsor did not mention any specifics.
Server Analysis
Describe the hardware and/or hosting used by the website. Identify what, if
any, databases are used. Identify server storage space limitations. Compare
with current storage usage. Identify the current bandwidth limitations.
Compare with current average and peak bandwidth utilized by website.
No hardware was mentioned but the sponsor stated that the website I hosted
on blue host. No databases were mentioned as customer data of this nature
(health information) is not stored on the website.
Platform analysis
Identify what version of HTML is used on the website. Describe the
programming languages, software, frameworks, and/or platforms used to
develop and manage the website and other Internet activities. If applicable,
compare the current platform with alternative platforms.
XHTML 1.0 Transitional is the version of HTML used on the website as well as
CSS and JavaScript. WordPress was used to develop and manage this website.
BlueHost and Google offer some analytic tools but the sponsor does not use
them. WordPress is a widely used platform that can be easier for less technical
people to use so I don’t think it’s a bad choice.
36. Security analysis
Identify the major security issues with the software, frameworks, and/or
platforms used above. If processes are in place to minimize these security
issues, identify them as well. Do they have a disaster recovery plan? If so,
describe it. Are there opportunities for improvement?
The website could be compromised if the sponsor loses his WordPress account
password. In order to minimize security issues the WordPress password should
be changed periodically and the plugins kept up to date. There was no disaster
recovery plan mentioned but the sponsor could at least save the code used to
build the website so if for any reason its lost it can easily be rebuilt.
Management and Administration Analysis
Describe the current management and administrative processes utilized for the
website. This can include processes for website changes, reviewing website
metrics, and reviewing user comments. Describe how the platform facilitates
this process. Identify any opportunities for improving these processes.
There is not currently a process to manage the website. The sponsor (owner of
the website and its content as well as the business) logs into WordPress and
Facebook and makes necessary updates. The sponsor does not currently check
metrics. The user could start a blog and use the scheduled posts feature of
WordPress and could monitor website metrics to see if new content is helping.
37. Works Cited
NAMI. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2016, from http://www.nami.org/Learn-
More/Mental-Health-By-the-Numbers