ITMG 340 FALL 2019Web Redesign TAS Hawaii LLC

12/3/2019Michael Lee

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Table of ContentsI. Introduction................................................................................................................................3

II. Purpose......................................................................................................................................3a. Description of company.......................................................................................................................3

b. What type of site.................................................................................................................................3

c. Current Site.........................................................................................................................................4

III. Target Market Audience Analysis.........................................................................................5a. Market Demographics of visitors........................................................................................................5

b. Demands/requirements of visitors.......................................................................................................5

c. Meeting market needs..........................................................................................................................6

IV. Competitor Analysis................................................................................................................6a. Estate Administrative Services (https://www.estateadminservices.com/services.html).......................7

b. Hawaii Fiduciary Services (http://hawaiifiduciaryservices.com).........................................................7

V. Website Design Proposal..........................................................................................................8a. Content and Organization....................................................................................................................8

b. Visual Considerations and Special Features/Attractions.....................................................................9

c. Process Flow/Funnel Considerations.................................................................................................10

VI. Website Testing.....................................................................................................................11a. Methods of Evaluation......................................................................................................................11

b. Visitor Tracking mechanisms............................................................................................................11

VII. Website Marketing Activities/Hosting...............................................................................11a. Hosting services, needs, requirements, maintenance.........................................................................11

b. Promotional Activities.......................................................................................................................12

VIII. Conclusion/Future Plans/Assessment...............................................................................12

IX. Appendix................................................................................................................................14

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I. Introduction

Trust Administrative Services Hawaii LLC (TAS Hawaii LLC) was founded in 2017 by

my father, Wendell Lee. A professional with 30 plus years of Tax experience, and a former

partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers, he has since parlayed this success into a growing trust and

concierge services business. As it is growing at a rapid rate, and word-of-mouth has spread the

business farther than it has before, having a website is important to educate potential customers

on the services offered. While the company has a website at the current moment, the goal of this

project was to improve upon the website that already exists, while not radically changing.

The URL for the new site is: https://melee808.wixsite.com/tashawaii

II. Purpose

a. Description of company

TAS Hawaii LLC is a trust administration service business operated by Wendell Lee in

Honolulu, Hawaii. While his wife assists in the running of the company, it is mainly the private

company of Wendell. In this business, Wendell as a former partner at a Big Four accounting firm

specializing in tax services and acts as a trust administrator. In this, he is the trustee for many

different trusts and ensures the distribution of assets to beneficiaries and the management of

trusts. This is a growing business that is needed in today’s world yet has few entrants into the

market.

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b. What type of site

The main purpose of this website would be to establish to people the necessity of this

service, in addition to outlining the different services offered by the company. While a website

does exist, the main focus of this new website would not be to overhaul it, but subtly improve it

to suit the needs of the company. The current website (tashawaii.com) is suitable but the goal of

this new website is to improve its design and add components to it that will enhance its usability.

Another key purpose of this website would be to emphasize that it is a local firm in

Hawaii. This is encapsulated in the mission statement: “To give peace of mind to the people of

Hawaii through trust and concierge services.” This is important because in Hawaii, a key to

success is embracing the local culture and not seeming like a mainland company coming in to

take customers away. Therefore, we would want to make sure that this is emphasized throughout

the design of the website. With this in mind, the new website should include pictures of scenery

in Hawaii to emphasize that TAS Hawaii serves Hawaii, and nowhere else. Other considerations

could include adding Hawaiian proverbs on the introduction of the site.

c. Current Site

If we look at the current website, I think it isn’t totally inadequate and has some aspects

that can be used in the new website. The homepage has some nice photos of scenery in Hawaii

and provides basic information on Wendell and his experience. One positive of the website is it

establishes the setting well with pictures of Hawaii and has a decent color scheme in taking the

orange of the logo and making it a primary color. The homepage also briefly describes the

website, and the service provided in a simple yet effective way.

The structure of the website is also simple and doesn’t need much changing in my

opinion. There are tabs for Home, Services, About Us, and Testimonials. In the services tab, it

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tells you why you should hire TAS Hawaii LLC and also what basic services are provided. In the

About Us tab, there is a brief mention on Wendell’s past and his contact information. The

testimonial’s tab includes a few quotes from satisfied customers.

I think where this website isn’t as good is that it doesn’t tell Wendell’s story very well.

Because this company is totally associated with him, there isn’t that much mention on his past

and why you should hire him to help you out. Therefore, I think more could be added in that

respect. I also think it would help to have more testimonials. I also think there could be more pop

in terms of design of some of the pages. Some of them are bland, and while they get the message

across, I feel that the pages could be more exciting to keep attention on the page.

III. Target Market Audience Analysis

a. Market Demographics of visitors

In terms of the actual users of the service, they would likely be older males and females

from 60 years old on. However, this website would not only be for the actual users but many

others. This would include lawyers that could refer clients and the family members of people in

need of the services. The lawyers, according to Wendell, comes from a wide array of ages.

However, we are likely looking at professionals who are anywhere from 35-60 years of age. For

the family of the actual users, it would likely be the immediate children of these users, who are

probably around 30-50 years of age. This would make the general demographics for the visitors

of this website at middle-age, who are likely working professionals or families. The

demographics of these visitors would also likely be upper-middle class. This would be because

they are either the clients or lawyers who help these people out. In order to utilize this service, it

only makes sense if you have a decent amount of assets to distribute to their heirs. Therefore,

they would likely have money, and therefore be upper-to-middle class.

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b. Demands/requirements of visitors

The main requirement for visitors of this website would be that it outlines the types of

services offered and to learn more about Wendell himself and his background. This is the most

crucial aspects that these visitors would likely want to glean from the website. They would also

likely want to learn more about what trust and concierge services means in the context of this

business. Users would likely want the information to be presented in a simple and easy-to-

understand, especially those who use the website who are not lawyers. This would explain to

them the service offered and hopefully create more business for TAS Hawaii LLC.

c. Meeting market needs

The key selling point of this site would be that it outlines the services in an attractive

manner. The goal would be to have a superior website in terms of presentation of information

and graphics. This goal should be attainable because the websites for their competitors, as

outlined below, aren’t necessarily the most advanced websites. This could create a competitive

advantage for TAS Hawaii LLC. I think the other thing that needs to be emphasized is the

experience of Wendell. One thing that differentiates the company from other is his experience,

and that needs to be emphasized throughout the website.

IV. Competitor Analysis

In looking at different competitors, I asked Wendell what the biggest competitors for the

company are. He identified Estate Administrative Services and Hawaii Fiduciary Services. They

are both considered competitors because they offer similar services to people in the State of

Hawaii. In consulting with Wendell, he does not feel its applicable to include companies from

the mainland. This is because they do not really operate within the market and provide a different

set of services. Conversely, culturally in Hawaii following the model of mainland firms will

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often lead to less business. While they might offer trust services, they will likely not offer the

concierge services that are offered by TAS Hawaii, LLC.

a. Estate Administrative Services (https://www.estateadminservices.com/services.html)

Estate Administrative Services is a competitor because they do similar work in the same

neighborhood. They are also more established, with them being founded in 2000, while TAS

Hawaii LLC was founded in 2017. Therefore, they have been in the market longer than TAS

Hawaii LLC and could be used as a model for building their business. This competitor was

identified by Wendell himself, as someone he acknowledges as a competitor.

When looking at their website, it is simple but well-put together. They have a lot of

resources in terms of the type of services they offer. I think the main strength of the website is

that they outline the services they offer succinctly. This is something that could be applied to the

TAS Hawaii LLC website. The website also does a good job with emphasizing they are from

Hawaii. They show many scenery pictures of Hawaii, as they have a similar mission to TAS

Hawaii LLC. They also have a fees page, but do not post any actual fees (as that is difficult to

assess in this industry) and really it is a simpler outline of their services.

One weakness of the website is that the about us section could be more detailed. It

doesn’t really tell much about the company and what they offer. It mentions the name of their

founder, Stephen Harris, but doesn’t tell me much about his background or the background of

their employees. In this business, having someone you can trust is important and the website

doesn’t emphasize that. That should be the emphasis of their website in my opinion. They also

could have done a better job with the graphics too. It seems basic, and while it does the job, the

design could be spiced up.

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b. Hawaii Fiduciary Services (http://hawaiifiduciaryservices.com)

Another competitor is Hawaii Fiduciary Services, run by Kela Holt. They were identified

as a competitor by Wendell, as they are another one of the few companies in Hawaii that provide

the same type of services that TAS Hawaii LLC does. If we look at their website, it is more basic

than the others. I think one thing that this website does well is that they have a FAQ section. It is

a good idea to have this section, but they do not have much in it. I think they do a good job

presenting Kela and her experience. This provides more information regarding the key contact

point within the organization and establishes trust.

However, what I do not like with this website is the information is mainly presented in

long paragraphs that aren’t the easiest to read. For example, if you press on the categories on the

Services page like “Trust Administration,” “Estate Settlement,” and “Conservatorship,” the

information within them is simply in paragraph form that could be spruced up with some type of

list or bullet points. I also think the fonts on these pages are too small and could be harder to tell

what they are saying. Finally, I think they could use more connections to Hawaii on their page.

They currently do not have any indication that they are Hawaii based aside from their name and

adding some sort of picture or something could be a good addition.

V. Website Design Proposal

a. Content and Organization

With the new website, I decided to keep the overall structure similar to the previous

website. There is a home page and a page for About Us, Services, Testimonials, and Contact,

which are all similar to the previous website. One page that has been added is Trust Help, with

subpages for What is Trust Services and the Benefits of Administrative Services. This is to

provide the viewer who does not understand trust services, and the type of service offered.

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The About Us page provides information regarding Wendell, and his background. I

expanded on what was mentioned in the previous website and provided a more in-depth

biography. There is also a picture of Wendell, which I believed the previous website was lacking

in establishing that personal touch. I also highlighted areas where he has received certifications

and where he has been educated. For the Services page, I created boxes where it outlines the

different services offered by the company, in addition to pictures of the services. This was taken

from the previous website, as I only felt this page needed a visual makeover, not necessarily a

content one. It was a similar deal with the testimonials page. The page includes quotes from

satisfied customers, not too different from the original webpage.

The main new feature in terms of content for this website is the Trust Help page. I felt

that this was necessary because I felt the website was lacking truly explaining what the business

is. If you are an expert in the fields you would understand what TAS Hawaii LLC does, but a

vast majority of the potential customer base would not. Therefore, I thought it would be good to

explain what the business is about. Especially that the business is complex, I felt that this was

necessary. To show this I made two subpages, one which explains what trust services is and

another which explains how the business can help customers. The addition of these pages will

help customers understand the nature of the business, and hopefully bring in more customers.

b. Visual Considerations and Special Features/Attractions

While the content might not have changed from the old website to the proposed one, a lot

of the visuals have changed. I thought that the original website didn’t pop with its design, and I

feel that this website does a better job doing that. The main visual element that was added was

each page has different stock photos of scenery in Hawaii. This is again to emphasize that TAS

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Hawaii LLC is a local company. I also utilized different types of graphics to show the

information, instead of in a boring paragraph of text.

The color scheme utilized also differs from the current website. Instead of focusing on

orange, I wanted to create a cleaner color scheme. This was to fit the colors shown in the logo of

TAS Hawaii LLC. Therefore, on the top, I utilized a white header that includes the company’s

logo. However, the footer is still orange, albeit a more neutral orange. There is also a larger

presence of teal, which goes along with this cleaner look in my opinion. All of these color

schematics is to complement the scenery pictures of Hawaii, which itself has a lot of lush green

and ocean blue colors. The fonts used throughout the website are to complement this cleaner

look as well. The fonts provided come from the base package used in Wix to build the website,

and fits with the look of the pages.

c. Process Flow/Funnel Considerations

When users first reach the page, they will be directed to the home page. The goal will be

to direct visitors towards different pages throughout the website. Immediately when opened,

there is a button that will direct customers to the Services page. The goal of this will be to

highlight immediately the different services offered by the company. If you scroll further down

the home page, there will be a brief biography of Wendell. However, not all of the information is

shown there, as a Read More button will direct the user to the About Us page, which will provide

more information about Wendell. This is crucial because he is the centerpiece of this business,

and you want the user to know more about his background.

The links in the header will direct users to the other parts of the website. The header is

meant to be easy to navigate. The only sub-pages show when scrolling through the Trust Help

page link. Other than that, everything is laid out in a logical order on the header. Because the

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header is located on the top, it should be easy to notice for a visitor, and no information should

be hidden.

VI. Website Testing

a. Methods of Evaluation

To evaluate the website, the first method would be to present it to Wendell for approval.

We want to ensure that the website represents the company in an accurate manner, and that

would be a crucial aspect for him to approve the content. Another method of evaluation would

need to test how the speed of the website is performing. To do this, we would likely outsource

this to RaneWorks (more on this later), the hosting service, to perform this process. This is to

ensure that when people access the website, all of the content is available, and no glitches occur.

b. Visitor Tracking mechanisms

One area where the website could be improved is tracking mechanisms. Right now, TAS

Hawaii LLC does not utilize any type of analytics for making decisions regarding the website. I

think it would be beneficial for TAS Hawaii LLC to start to utilize analytics systems in order to

understand what demographics are looking at the website and how to best leverage different

tools. I think one option that could benefit the company is to utilize a service like Google

Analytics. It is useful because it is free and can provide preliminary information for TAS Hawaii

LLC regarding hit rates, low long people are spending on pages, and what pages they frequent

the most. This could inform future decisions regarding the website and can benefit the company

to use something like that.

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VII. Website Marketing Activities/Hosting

a. Hosting services, needs, requirements, maintenance

Currently, the company uses RaneWorks, a local Hawaii company to host the website

and provide search-optimization tags. In ideal circumstances, this relationship is beneficial as it

is inexpensive at $30 a month. The plan would include to provide to RaneWorks the new website

to upload onto their servers. From there, they would be responsible for providing the hosting

services and maintenance of the servers.

TAS Hawaii LLC wouldn’t expect to have high amounts of traffic. Most of the traffic

would be from specialized users, not the overall general public. Because there won’t be an

exuberant amount of traffic, the amount of storage space is minimal. There is also not the need to

update the website regularly because it is a static product for the most part. Therefore, the

website can sit on the RaneWorks servers, and not need to be updated unless deemed necessary

by TAS Hawaii LLC.

b. Promotional Activities

For promotional activities, search engine optimization tags will continue to be used. This

will likely include consultation with RaneWorks. This would look to direct people searching on

engines like Google to lead towards TAS Hawaii LLC. Currently, if you search “Hawaii Trust

Services” on Google, TAS Hawaii LLC is the third result on the list. Using something similar to

what already exists would be beneficial to the company.

In addition to this, to increase marketing for the company, creating social media pages on

platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn would be beneficial. Especially on the LinkedIn side,

having a page would likely be a good way to attract business. This also is dependent on the fact

that Wendell has a lot of connections on LinkedIn that could potentially bring in business for

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TAS Hawaii LLC. Creating a page on Facebook could help to attract more business from other

avenues but shouldn’t be as crucial immediately.

VIII. Conclusion/Future Plans/Assessment

In the future, more improvement can be made to this website by consulting more with

Wendell regarding ways to improve how services can be described. However, due to time

constraints this was not possible for the purposes of this project. Also, more aspects could be

used to improve certain pages like receiving more testimonials from customers. Overall, the

website was well received on preliminary glance by Wendell, which is the objective of this

project. I think the website at the very worst is better than the previous one, but obviously can

still be improved.

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IX. Appendix

Figure 1. Portion of About Us Page

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Figure 2. Services Page

Figure 3. Testimonials Page