digital & social media dev. plan (own website)

DESIGN TO IMPRESSLeave a strong, positive impression in the world

HULT Business School

Module A

Digital Marketing & Social Media

Website Design Individual Assignment Matt Housden

Andreia da Silva Miragaia 12 November, 2015

1096 words www.impression-am.com

Web design isn’t art. It involves a whole collection of different skills — from

copywriting and typography to layout and art — all fused together to create

an interface that not only features a pleasant aesthetic but that

communicates function and facilitates easy access to its content

“ “www.impression-am.com

CONTENTS PAGE

www.impression-am.com

04 Executive Summary

06 Establish Goals

08

Communicate the Website

10

Appendices

14

Bibliography

17

19

Identify the Audience

Website Structure & Content

Tracking the Website

26

03

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

04www.impression-am.com

There are currently more than 1 billion websites on the Internet. It is the ultimate tool to influence consumer’s decisions - is the display window to what we do and, like any display, if consumers don’t like it, they simply bounce and don’t come back. Fortunately, in the digital era, having an appealing website is increasingly easier, but making one that looks credible and that engages an online presence, there lies the hardest part. It requires both work and patience. A good website is the one that is able to immediately grab our attention, that wakes emotions, and that very easily gives viewers exactly what they need. This seems like a simple, immediate equation, but it’s not an exact science. To try and reach success, I relied on what Experts wrote in this matter and tried to apply it into my own website (see Timeline of Activities, page 19).

To frame my Website choice - it would only make sense to do it on something that meant something to me and so, I came up with impressions-am.com, a compilation of my interests such as design, marketing techniques and creativity.

How to start the project? Begin by setting the Website’s objectives to further understand who your content consumers will be. It is all about being able to clearly answer the questions ‘What do I do?’ and ‘What am I providing the viewer with?’, to create a website and content that resonates with the targeted audience. One needs to be able to speak in their language and to provide them with content that suits them. The Macro Goal of my Website is to inform and entertain marketers, designers and general creative on topics such as marketing, packaging or campaigns. From here, coming up with a structure and content that suited my audience became easier. There some steps Experts suggest that I applied into my own Website like focusing on readability and usability.

Once the Website is idealised, structured and conceived, one cannot just assume that it will generate traffic and interest by itself. Strategies like SEO, Social Media or PR are techniques that are both essential and critical. One cannot rely on one traffic channel only, and some of them simultaneously requires both time, endeavour and patience. There was more I could have done in this matter, but amongst the techniques I used were to the Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find strategic key words and social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Testing the website is the last step on a Website Project. It is imperative and should not be devalued. Until we test how well the website performed, we will never be sure if we were effective in the choices we made for it (both in terms of structure, content and marketing strategies). The science behind analytics is to find patterns, make changes, measure it, and repeat this all over until we can get it right.

In the following pages I will display the steps suggested by Experts and explain in which ways I tried to apply them on my Website and what I could have done differently.

http://impressions-am.com

Best Practices for websites.

How to do it?

www.impression-am.com 05

01. ESTABLISH GOALS


ESTABLISH GOALSSetting goals for the website

The first step when starting to work on a Web Design Project is to be clear on what we want to achieve with it and what is its purpose. Customer’s will only have a great website experience if it is built based on concrete goals. The goals set for a website should be as specific, as measurable, as attainable, as relevant and as time-based as possible (SMART Goals).

The Macro Goal of my website is to deliver informational and entertaining content in the areas of branding, marketing and design and the Micro Goals (the achievements to encourage viewers towards completing the macro goal) are the following:

My Primary Goal is to capture viewers’ attention and interest: having viewers viewing on average 3 pages per session

My Secondary Goal is to get them further involved, having them contacting me through the contact page: having 10 engagement activities in one month

S M A R T

Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time Based


02. IDENTIFY THE AUDIENCE



IDENTIFY THE AUDIENCEFor whom is the Website?

The second step on designing a website is to determine who the target audience is, what they care about and what matters to them. After knowing our audience, we will be able to ‘custom-tailor’ the information to fit their preferences.

For my website, I targeted a niche segment: marketers, designers and general creative. To understand how to orientate my website, I created three representative personas (see Website Personas’ Diagram, page 20), to comprehend their characteristics and interests. I realised that the attributes they all had in common were: creativity, the fact that they are content consumers, and the passion for their jobs.

MIKE

Marketer

Sarah

Designer

JAMES

Creative

09

03. WEBSITE STRUCTURE &

CONTENT

10

WEBSITE STRUCTURE & CONTENTAppearance, Content, Functionality & Usability


After establishing goals and defining the targeted audience, the next step is to decide on content, structure and design. According to Website Experts, a good website should be:

- Well organised and easy (take into consideration navigation and usability); - Provide credible and original content; - Provide valuable and timely information rather than filling it up with tons of information; - Update the website regularly with fresh content; - Be interactive to engage viewers and make the website memorable.

Since my website focuses both on entertainment and on information consumption, I had to balance structure and aesthetic. To focus on viewers experiences I used images, videos and entertaining headlines; and to focus on usability and readability I created an interface that is clean, that doesn't distract users from accessing the content, that has a simple and intuitive structure (see Website Map, page 21), and that has readable and valuable information. To further optimise the content, I should have focussed on updating the website more regularly and coming up with original content. To further illustrate what I mean, see Website screenshots on the net page.

11

Website Screenshots

HOMEPAGE TOPIC CONTENT PAGE



Website Screenshots

ARTICLE PAGE CONTACT PAGE



04. COMMUNICATE THE WEBSITE


COMMUNICATE THE WEBSITEHow can I drive traffic to my website?

Coming up with a website serves no good if people don’t know about it. The key question in this fourth step is to understand which marketing techniques should be used to attract viewers and drive traffic. We can use SEO, Social Media and PR techniques:

SEO: - Use Google Adwords Keyword Planner to search for strategic keywords that are highly searched on search engines and use

them on the website. I did this to choose my article’s category names and to order them, and I also used this to find some strategic keywords to use on the website’s home page description (see Keyword Search, page 22). For further SEO optimisation, I should find strategic keywords for each blog post and incorporate it into the title of the post, the body text at least two times and on its image description.

- Have links of the website in other high-ranked websites (it tells the search engines that the website can be trusted). This is something I could apply in the future when I have generated enough traffic to make my website relevant enough. I could look for similar blogs and reach out to them to see if they would be interested in sharing my website.

- Make it Mobile Adaptive. My website is currently mobile adaptive. - Guest-posting. In the future I could connect with other websites in the industry and invite guest blog posts for a link back to

my website. This would bring high-quality and highly relevant viewers.


Social Media & PR:- Use Google Adwords for paid ads on Search Engines. - Add social media buttons. On my website I only added the Facebook share button, I should have added other social

media share buttons. - Go to Industry-Relevant Events and talk about the website. In the future I could go to marketing and design events to

disclose the website to an audience that could have real interest on it. - Share on personal social media platforms. I did this, but it may not be totally effective because my connections may not

have an interest on my Website’s topic. - Create a website dedicated social media profile page (Facebook page for Impressions for example): it makes it easier to

spread the word about the website, to target specific audiences, to engage and interact with viewers and to update on new content.

- Find social networking power users relevant to the industry and create a relation with them. In the future, I could build a natural relationship with people who are relevant, for further eventual share request.

COMMUNICATING THE WEBSITEHow can I drive traffic to my website?

NOW recommendations to drive more traffic to website what i did when i launched the website

Share website on personal social media platforms

(Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest)

Strategic Keywords on

article’s topics and homepage

Mobile Adaptive

Social Media Button on articles

(FB only)

Add other social media buttons on

the website

Create Website own profile page on social media

Guest Blogging

Google Adwords Campaign

Use keywords for future posts

Social Networking Power Users


05. MEASURE WEBSITE SUCCESS


TRACKING THE WEBSITE Measure traffic and Marketing efficiency

Once the website is planned, designed and deployed, measuring the success is both essential and critical. Until we test how well the website performed, we will never be sure if we were effective in the choices we made. The science behind analytics is to find patterns, make changes, measure it and repeat it all over. Through the analytics of my website, I could infer a few important notes:

- I achieved my primary goal of having an av. of 3 pages seen per session (see Goal 1, page 23).

- The secondary goal was not achieved (see Goal 2, page 22). Perhaps adding space for comments inside the website would be a good initiative to encourage interaction and engagement.

- Marketing strategies should be carried throughout and not just at the beginning of the website (see Website Statistics for New Visitors, page 24).

- My Website had a reasonable number of viewers returning - it suggests interest (see Website Statistics for Returning Visitors, page 24).

- The % drop-off after the first page is quite low, meaning that people who are actually interested in the topic do stay and navigate through (see Website Statistics for User-flow, page 25).


Appendix 1 Timeline of Activities

IdeaSomething I like

GoalMacro & micro goals

PersonasWho are my website users?

Website CreationCreate website according to my goals and the personas

CommunicateWhich channels am I using?

MetricsAnalyse metrics against goals

AdaptMake changes on the website according to the metrics

TIMELINE


APPENDIX PAGE

Appendix 2

MIKE

Marketer

Characteristics: oral and written communication skills, extrovert, decision maker, creative, technology savvy, have global perspective and are information seekers, passionate

Interests: blogs and magazines, social media, advertisements, going out

Sarah

Designer

Characteristics: technology savvy, more introvert, design seeker, aesthetic sensitive, creative, passionate

Interests: tech, latest designing programs, latest designing trends, social media and blogs, cultural events

JAMES

Creative

Characteristics: curious, risk-taker, adventurous intellectual playfulness, impulsive, creative, innovative, passionate

Interests: broad interests in many areas, like to observe what’s around them


Website Representative Personas

Home Packaging Products Websites Ads Marketing TV Commercials Contact

• Images • Slogan • Description about

the website • Last added

content

• Page Title • Pictures for the different articles • Headline for each content/picture • Short description for each content/picture

For each article: • Headline title • Description/ Explanation • Designer/Company/Name of the product • Content link • Social Media Engagement buttons

For each video: • Page Title • Direct video • Title • Description • Company • Content link • Social Media

Engagement buttons

• Page Title • Description • Fill in form

www.impression-am.com Appendix 3 Website Sitemap


Appendix 4


Google Adwords Keyword Planner

Keyword Search for Article’s Categories

Keyword Search for Homepage Website Description

Appendix 5 Goal 1 (number of pages seen per session)

Average Pages seen per Session: 4.59

Appendix 6


Goal 2 (go to contact page and send e-mail)

Appendix 7 Website Statistics for New Visitors

New visitors % was high and volatile when Marketing strategies were launched, but then, the number of new visitors coming to the website gradually declined

Appendix 8 Statistics for Returning Visitors

On average, 20.3% of the viewers are returning users


Appendix 9 Website Statistics for User-flow

37% of the viewers who enter the website are dropping off after seeing the first page. From the 1st interaction, the drop off is between 2 and 4%.


BIBLIOGRAPHY PAGE

• Dmitry Fadeyev. "Strategic Design: 6 Steps For Building Successful Websites." Smashing Magazine. N.p., 5 Nov. 2008. Web. 9

Nov. 2015

• Sujan Patel. "10 SEO Techniques All Startups Should Be Using." Searchenginejournal. N.p., 11 July 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2015

• Abidemi Sanusi. "What Makes a Good Business Website?" Theguardian. KIA, 17 Sept. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2015

• Ilya Pozin. "5 Steps to a Great Website." Forbes. N.p., 27 Feb. 2012. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.



HULT Business School

Module A

Digital Marketing & Social Media

Website Design Individual Assignment Matt Housden

Andreia da Silva Miragaia 12 November, 2015

1096 words

digital & social media dev. plan (own website)

Documents