PAULINE RANDALL FLORIZEL MEDIA. Get Real Results From Your Website

Transcription

1 PAULINE RANDALL FLORIZEL MEDIA Get Real Results From Your Website

2 Housekeeping Course timing Fire alarms and fire exits Wi-fi access and phones (make sure it s on silent!) Break for tea/coffee/phones Toilets Downloading course slides

3 WHO ARE YOU? WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS? WHAT ARE YOU HOPING TO LEARN TODAY?

4 What We Are Covering Today What makes a website good or bad? Defining the purpose of your site Content Design Building your site Marketing and metrics Keep getting results

5 GOOD WEBSITE? BAD WEBSITE? What Makes It So?

6 Favourite Website? Most Hated Website? Why? WHAT S YOUR VIEW?

7 DON T DO THIS! Things That Drive Visitors Away From Your Site Poor navigation Poor look and feel Unreadable fonts - style and size Blinking and animation Bad colours/poor contrast Auto sound/video Pop-ups Hidden pricing ALL CAPS CONTENT! Out of date content Spelling and grammar Hype!!!!! Vague, unsubstantiated figures Fake reviews Walls of text Hidden contact details

8 WHAT IS YOUR WEBSITE FOR? Purpose

9 Why Do You Want a Website? What do you want your visitors to do? Buy something Book something Sign up Ask for more details Call you Learn something Have fun Get news

10 Buy Now! Add to Basket. Call Us on Book Here. Find Out More. Click To Play CALL TO ACTION

11 How Will You Know if You ve Succeeded? Goals Should Be Measurable

12 WHAT GOES INTO YOUR SITE Content

13 Legal Content Guide - the Small Print Depending on the personal information that you handle, you may have to register with the Information Commissioner under the Data Protection Act. GDPR Legislation - a guide The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations This covers the collection and storage of information and the use of cookies. The Disability and Discrimination Act your website must be accessible to visitors with disabilities Online and Distance Selling regulations - For a UK registered business, the website needs to display the Company Information i.e. the business name, place of registration, registered number, registered office address and if it is a member of a trade association. For sole traders and partnerships, the address of the principal place of business must be displayed.

14 Practical Content Guide Enough product/service information to be able to make a buying decision Range, price, colours, size, weight, availability, terms etc. Video and images Particularly important to have good images/video of your products Reviews and testimonials Especially important for ecommerce sites Added value Downloads, articles, resources, handbooks, frequently asked questions (FAQs), blog

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16 Practical Content Guide Clear calls to action Tell visitors what you want them to do next Contact information Give people a choice of contact methods Company notices Terms and conditions, privacy policy, cookie policy, business s legal status, VAT

17 DESIGN What It Looks Like and How It Works

18 Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works Steve Jobs

19 First Impressions It s important to look good A poorly designed site will reflect on your business If it looks messy then it conveys that your business might well be the same If it looks dated it can make visitors think that your business might be out-of-date The effect of these things may be subconscious the site just doesn't feel right

20 Functionality Clear navigation not everyone arrives at your home page Search facility, especially on larger sites Content ordered in a sensible way Works properly on mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) Is accessible by visitors who have disabilities A good guide to a great home page - blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/34006/15-examplesof-brilliant-homepage-design.aspx

21 Design for Communication Keep the most important content at the start of the page Use headings and sub headings to break up content Bulleted or numbered lists can make it easier to read Watch our for font styles some are not easy to read at small sizes Limit the number of different fonts on your site maximum three

22 Design for Communication Check your web page on different devices Colour can guide people through your site or confuse them Highlight key points with colour Be aware of contrast between foreground and background Don t try and fill every bit of space negative space makes it easier to see things

23 This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. Arial 20 pt Arial 36 pt Arial 16 pt This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. Bodoni 20 pt

24 This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four. All Arial 20 pt This stew is traditionally made with spinach and ground melon seed, but here I ve used seasonal chard and more readily available sunflower seeds. Be sure to buy quick-cook polenta for the dumplings. You ll need a food processor. Serves four.

25 Use Images To Communicate Images and video often convey more than just text Blocks of text without images are harder to read Try and use your own images rather than stock images Infographics and drawings can improve communication For sizing and adding text etc try

26 Accessibility Factors Consider they types of disability a visitor may have: Visual poor eyesight, colour blindness or total blindness Motor difficulty in using a keyboard, mouse or making precise movements Cognitive difficulty in understanding the language or the context of the information given Check guidelines - and accessibility checker

27 Technical Accessibility Accessibility may be made difficult by technology Small screens Slow connection Old software Old web browsers Check the technology being used by site visitors on your Google Analytics page under Audience/Technology

28 Building Your Site

29 If You Haven t Registered a Domain Name If someone already has the one you want, be careful about choosing something too close you may lose traffic to their site or have your business confused with theirs. Also consider hosting location - preferably UK

30 Check Your Domain Name See how your domain name reads when you take out all the spaces. An organisation in the US which lists celebrities, and who their representatives and agents are, is called Who Represents.

31 Creating Your Website Who does it You build it Template website (such as Wix) Website developer Associated Issues Do you need to learn new skills? Do you have the time? You can change it as much as you like and as often as you like Can set up a site quickly Don t need much technical expertise Difficult to customise to how you want it Difficult to differentiate from others using the same template Hard to optimise to get good search results Most expensive approach Can give you more professional results They may not always give you what you want The frameworks they use may not suit you They will charge for changes made to the site Make sure you can update content yourself Get recommendations from others and check their portfolios

32 Future Proofing Consider what you want your website to do today and also what you might want in 12 months time for example adding in the ability sell online or take bookings Do you need to integrate anything on your site with existing software? Sales to put data into your accounts package Newsletter signups to send contact data to your CRM (customer relationship management) software Bookings on your website to connect with your Eventbrite account

33 Usability Testing Once your design is underway, carry out some usability tests You can buy usability testing but it can be quite expensive Organise some of your own usability tests: Get people who don t know your website well Make sure they will tell you the truth, not just keep you happy! Give them specific tasks items to find, answers to questions Get them to go through the buying and/or process Find out how easily they accomplished the tasks Ask them what they found difficult and what they found easy Fix your site where necessary

34 IS IT WORKING? Marketing & Metrics

35 Marketing Your Website Online Online promotion Content Keywords Titles and descriptions Blogs Pay Per Click (PPC) Social media signature }Search Engine Optimisation

36 Marketing Your Website Offline Offline promotion Any printed materials Business cards Brochures Pop-up banners Print advertising

37 Measuring Success Statistics analytics packages (e.g. Google Analytics) Code/coupons used Ask customers how they found you (on forms or over the phone) Sales/enquiries Performance measures should lead back to your website purpose

38 KEEP GETTING SUCCESS In to the Future

39 Keep Getting Results Websites are never finished! Keep content updated Check for broken links external pages/sites may move or close Always check your position in search Regularly check out your competitor s websites Keep an eye on current trends but don t forget that your site should be accessible for your customers

40 What Next? Meet with a Business Adviser Attend other Business Gateway events event programmes are available Use the Business Gateway Information Service call Check out the Business Gateway Fife website at or find us on Facebook and Twitter. Keep in touch call us on