GET MORE FROM THE WEB

Keys To SuccessThis paper will provide you with the concepts to be applied to a website project that will assist you in getting more from the Web.

It wasn’t that long ago when having a website that simply gave out information was all your business needed to gain some online success. Those days, however, are gone for good!

To realize any success on today’s Web ver. 2.0, your site has to address a combination of needs for your customer and your business. To get your company’s website in line with today’s web user, it takes a lot of planning on issues of:

•Information Architecture

•Visitor Personas

•Task Based Segmentation

•User Centered Design

•And More...

Today’s successful websites are planned and measured on a regular basis to maximize the Return On Investment for your business.

There are great opportunities available for your business, On-

line. However, it does take a consistent approach to gain these opportunities in a maturing Online world.

Planning

Planning Fixes Problems!

Building a new website or overhauling and updating an existing website to make it more effective is an important aspect of your business. An effective website is a wonderful tool for your company, to help increase your business, to get your name out there for everyone to see, and to build relationships with future and current clients.

Get Serious About Your Site!

With all of the potential opportunities “online,” it is time to get serious about your website and its contribution to your business.

The information that follows is an overview of the steps necessary to get your online efforts integrated and performing for your business.

Identify KPIs

Identifying Key Performance Indicators for yourwebsite is the first and most important step in developing your online efforts. The KPI’s for your site are measurable objectives that your business needs to receive from all of your online initiatives. By taking the time to define the KPI’s for your online presence(s) you will find an improved Return On Investment (ROI) because of a heightened focus and attention on achieving your goals. You will no longer be spending resources on initiatives that do not fit your KPI.

To properly define the KPI’s for your interactive project, begin by documenting specific goals for your project. Keep in mind that these goals have to be measurable. Once you have your goals documented, decide how to measure successful accomplishments of the goals and what those metrics should be.

Easy To Use

Information Architecture ROI

That’s right, we are going to talk about Return On Investment. If your Interactive

Agency cannot explain what your company’s ROI is going to be for a project then DON’T DO IT!

The largest potential for returning a positive ROI is your website. To tap into that potential the most important value an Interactive Agency can provide is the art and science behind a solid Information Architecture for your website.

Information Architecture is defined as “the art and science of organizing and labeling websites, intranets, online communities and software to support usability.” In a word Information Architecture is all about relevance, its about getting the right

information in front of the right visitor as quickly as possible.

Information Architecture is the single greatest influence to your online project. Get the IA wrong...your ROI will be horrible because your visitor will not be able to accomplish the task that they came to your site to accomplish. Ultimately, leaving your site without do- ing business with your company.

Think about Information Architecture this way: when a builder builds a house, not one shovel full of dirt is overturned without a very extensive plan that is put on paper. When a toaster is built, there is an extensive electrical diagram put on paper before one inch of wire is uncoiled. Yet, countless websites are thrown up in a couple of weeks by that kid in school or that friend of a friend that kind of does this on the side!

Information Architecture is about structuring information to make it easy to find. When information is easy to find, people will buy more, buy ore frequently, stay on your site longer or generally speaking, fulfil l

the goals that you have for your site.

Develop A Plan For Conversion

All internet traffic is not created equal! All too often we set goals for our websites that are too broad to equate into a profit- able result.

One of the first goals for your website was probably to get more traffic to your site, which on the surface seems like a perfect goal. However, if we dive a little deeper, the first thing that has to be identified is the conversion rate of your site.

By conversion we are talking about getting the visitor to your website to take the action that you intended them to take. If your website is a commerce site, then you will measure conversions by the number of visitors that purchase something. If your website is intended to be a reference tool, then you may measure conversion by the number of visitors to your website that download a PDF file. Conversion of your visitor is key to obtaining your business objectives.

With this definition in mind, more traffic may not be a good goal for your website. Quite possibly, the better goal for your website would be to increase the conversions that are happening on your

website. After all, 15% conversion on 50 visitors is better than 1% conversion on 500 visitors.

User Focused

Support Task Based Segmentation

Understanding your users or site visitor’s needs is vital to creating an effective website. Creating a site that gives the user what they need and keeps them on your site for as long as possible will help to convert them from a potential client to an exist- ing client.

Web users don’t have the time to “surf the web” anymore. They are using the web to accomplish a task and they need you to have a website that will help them accomplish that task as quickly and with as little frustration as possible!

Task-based segmentation accomplishes this. Mapping out all of the possible reasons a visitor to your website is there will provide enormous support to the Information Architecture efforts when your website is being developed.

This leads us to our next topic.

Identify Your Visitors

Knowing the importance of conversion, it is now time to identify who your visitors are. Until you have clearly identified who your visitor is, it will be impossible to improve the conversion rate of your website.

Developing and integrating visitor personas into your website can and will greatly impact your site’s success. A visitor persona involves creating a visitor profile that exemplifies the way in which the visitor interacts with your site and ultimately how they use the Internet and their level of sophistication.

Making your site user-friendly with these visitor personas in mind will increase your conversion rate. Thinking of how a visitor will navigate your site and what products they may be looking for will help you to

create an easy to use site that focuses on the potential client’s needs instead of simply showcasing your products.

About 3Sixty Interactive3Sixty Interactive is a professional

agency with over ten years of

experience in the digital world. They

offer a variety of digital marketing

solutions that include search engine

optimization, digital advertising,

email marketing, social media,

customized strategy reports,

analytics and maintenance of your

marketing plan.

Learn more about 3Sixty Interactive

at www.3sixtyinteractive.com or by

calling us at 1-877-43Sixty.