BUYER'S GUIDE TO WEB DESIGN & NEW MEDIA MARKETINGOverview If you are creating your first web presence or updating an existing site, you need to select a designer carefully, perhaps first consulting with a company to work out a tailor-made strategy for your organisation's internet presence. The designer will be responsible for creating your organisation's identity on a public forum. A web strategy doesn't end with the building of a site. The next step is to market it to your target audience to boost traffic to the site. It takes an integrated approach using many marketing disciplines working together to achieve this and make the site sucessful. Index
YOUR SITE'S GOALSBefore you approach a web design agency or web site designer, it is a good idea to know what you envisage your site being and what purpose it will serve. For instance is it a site purely for information only, a marketing tool for clients to know more about your company? Or do you plan on a commercial e-commerce site selling products to the general public? Perhaps you want to build an extranet so that your business partners can access appropriate areas of your network or intranet? Do you intend to have certain options such as shopping carts, Flash animation or streaming media? Once you know what it is you are planning to build, including who your target audience is, it can also be a good idea to research other sites, noting which ones you particularly like or even disliked. When it comes to talking to your designer, knowing what you like may give him or her a better idea of what you are looking for your site.
CHOOSING A DESIGNERMany firms do specilise in what types of web sites they do. By choosing one of the categories (E-commerce, Information Site, Extranet, Intranet and Business to Business site), your Request For Quote (RFQ) will already be sent to a company that specialises in one of those categories. By providing information on what your site will be, your Request For Quote (RFQ) will then be narrowed down again to companies or designers able to meet your requirements best. When it comes to responding to proposals from your RFQ, there are some questions you may want to ask the suppliers before selecting a firm to finalise with. Have a look at the web designer's own web site. If they are proud enough of their own site, that is a good sign. Also, see if they can supply references for sites they have done in the past. Have a look at them, do they all show a sense of individual style or do they look all the same? Does the designer continue to have a relationship with any of those sites, supplying continual maintenance or upgrades? If it's an intranet or an extranet you are developing, security will be one of the most important aspects, so it's vital to make sure the design firm has a proven track record in this arena. Quotations can vary greatly and so can work ethic. Designing a web site is a collaborative process and can take some time going back and forth, so it's important that you can get on well with your designer and that he or she will understand your needs. However you should try not to deviate from your original site specifications in order not to increase the costs of creating your site. Be aware that a price that you are quoted on, may not be the final price of the project as web sites continually evolve from conception to launch. Make an idea of roughly what your budget will be and stick to it. Some designers will quote you for the entire package, others per page on the site, and some even per hour. Quotations received might depend on how the designers see the complexity of your site but it won't be until you speak and decide upon a strategy that a final price quotation may be possible. If you have an specification for a website, you can request competitive quotes or proposals from actual web design firms by choosing any of the following options:
Website Content As they
say "content is king" : from fancy flash animations, to streaming
video, to interactive games, or to powerful words that draw in your
audience. If your specification is for a particular aspect of a website,
you can request proposals or quotes for any of the following:
WEB DEVELOPMENT CONSULTINGThe astonishing growth and power of the Internet and the revenue generating opportunities it provides is exciting to any company. The key to success, however, is to attract an increasing number of visitors and convert them to long-term, loyal customers. Bringing in a consultant to help develop a workable strategy can help clarify what the purpose, aim and target audience for the site will be. Web Development The development of a new web site or the updating of an existing one needs to be carefully considered. Some companies will offer an all-in service that includes web development, web site design and build, and web marketing (see Choosing A Designer above). Other consultancies will recommend outside sources for the actual build following a web development strategy that they have formulated for your organisation. Creating a web development strategy includes thinking about all the options presented by the internet that is relevant to your organisation's site. Knowing the competition and how their sites work and what will be different about yours. Understanding what technology is out there which could be usefully included on the site (with technology changing rapidly, it's not about getting the latest technology on your site but what is the most reliable and most relevant technology for your site). The consultant needs to put all this in context of what your organisation does and what your organisation's objectives are. The strategic plan needs include goals on how success will be assessed once the site is available on the internet. By working out the target audience the consultant can recommend what is the most appropriate functionalities of the site and work closely with the designer to making sure that these are implemented so that the desired audience doesn't get confused.
eCommerce & eBusiness E-Business is the application of new technologies and processes to enhance, evolve and often replace traditional ways of doing business. The World Wide Web (WWW), the internet, extranets, and other emerging communication technologies have redefined the ways organisations do business. With technology
changing so rapidly, it's important to keep a finger on the pulse of
the eBusiness world. A consultant needs to integrate the web strategy
as part of your overall business strategy. The strategy should include:
Web Branding & Marketing Web branding starts with choosing the right domain name to creating the right kind of web logo to building traffic to your site through the creation of an identity which immediately speaks about what your site is and what you offer your visitors. There are countless resources on the internet which will tell you how important branding is to a site's success. A consultant will be able to help shape what that brand should be and how best to target your audience. A strong branding strategy will aim to give your site an edge over your competition. A survey of 4,000 brand management, creative and production professionals by GISTICS Inc., a Larkspur, CA-based research and consulting firm, found that successful digital brand building requires a two-part strategy: 'One focuses on the business process, that is, how a company finds, serves, and satisfies its customers. The other targets the branding process, in terms of how a company manages media as well as positions messages in competitive and confusing markets.' So a good consultant will be able to build a creative plan that demonstrates an understanding of who you are, and what you stand for, and expresses it to the world in ways that are engaging, relevant and persuasive. A consultant should have a lot of web know-how and should spend time in finding ways to build traffic such as search engine registration, market research to determine demographics, online advertising campaigns, banner placements and find ways to include your site into the web community. Elements
of successful web marketing include:
INTRANETS & EXTRANETSIntranets An intranet
is the use of Internet technologies within an organisation (or
company) to achieve better results than the conventional means of data
access and transfer. Intranets can help in cutting costs by providing easy and fast
accessibility of day-to-day information. Generally speaking an intranet
is different from an internet in the following ways: There are two costs associated with Intranets. The cost of setting it up and the ongoing cost of maintaining and expanding it. The costs of setting up an intranet include the hardware (server and related hardware), software, security and labour. The ongoing costs include upgrades to the server, network and software; manpower and Intranet management tools; and publishing and archiving costs in maintaining the information available on the intranet. The initial phase of setting up an Intranet most probably won't take too long, the Intranet will be improved upon in time. Extranets The next wave in enterprise networking, Extranets, offer companies an exciting new way to leverage their investments in intranet technology. Functioning like private networks within the internet, extranets enable companies to share information and selected applications with selected customers and suppliers and to conduct electronic commerce transactions - safely, securely, and inexpensively. The costs of the extranet will be similar to the intranet costs but also include custom web applications that your clients who use the extranet will need to access. The extranet will need additional security functions (such as encryption and strong authentication - see Info Security category) as the communication and access is done over the public internet.
NEW MEDIA / ONLINE MARKETING
Web Marketing The Internet has provided for many different and unique marketing techniques to be developed over the past few years. Some techniques you may be familiar with (such as banner ad campaigns that beg the customer to click through from the site they are viewing) and others less familiar or more subtle. Here are short descriptions of just some of the techniques employed in web marketing. Each one requires thought and strategy, and like any other marketing campaign, you must have clear objectives to what you want to achieve and how you will measure success - these objectives should be made clear to the web marketing company you employ.
eCommerce Marketing If your site is an eCommerce site, then many of the techniques above are likely to be utilised. When marketing an eCommerce site, like designing a TV ad campaign or magazine advert, the marketing company must know exactly who is your target audience. Campaigns will be structured and websites targeted depending on who your customers are.
Graphic Design Employing a graphic design firm for marketing is important for several reasons. Maybe your web design company can programme the perfect shopping site, but that doesn't mean they have an eye for a creative discipline such as graphic design. Is your site targeted at kids? Could a popular logo be designed based on your site's name or URL? These and other issues can affect what is appropriate for your site's graphics. Banner ad design sometimes need very careful thought, if they are animated and need to get across a particular message, then an experienced design firm will be best placed to design that perfect ad which will reap the desired benefits.
Email marketing is very similar to direct mail or direct fax marketing. A customer will provide you with an email address and every so often you will email your database of addresses with targeted newsletters or sales messages. As email is one of the most popular forms of communication, the benefits of email marketing are clear - many people use email and response time to email messages can be very quick. A typical response to an email marketing campaign can be as high as 8% to 18%, much higher than the average 1% for direct mail. Other advantages of an email campaign is that it is far cheaper than traditional mail (sometimes costing just a few pence per customer) and success can be easily tracked and campaigns altered depending on success. With links in the emails directed at your site, it's much easier for customers to see for themselves what it is you are selling them. With regular newsletters you can market your brand name each time you send a new message, let customers know of regular developments to your site and create a dialogue between your company and your customers.
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