Amplify Your Website
From Concept to Completion
Introduction
Insiders’ Guide To Developing Your Company’s Website
To Begin :
Reflect
Identify Difficulties And Unresolved Problems
The Plan :
Capitalize On The Strengths And Resolve Weaknesses
Let Go Of What Does Not Work
Shift Focus To The Goals New Website Will Accomplish
Develop A Website That’s Scaled For Both Growth And Unforeseen Changes
Table of Contents
PART I PART II
Prepare Your Business For Web Success What A Web Design Firm Can Do For Your Company
Top 7 Questions You Should Consider Strategic Site Design
Identify Your Target Market Layout/Aesthetic/Eye Movement
Example: Sage Solutions Explorer Best Practices In Navigation
Draw Feedback From Your Target Market Call-to-action
Example: Sage Genius
Example : Electronic Virtual Assistant
Understand Your Competition And Know What Makes
Modular o
Approach T Web Development
You Unique
Tutorials
List What You Like About Websites And What You
Don’t Customer Portal
Identify All Content Needed For Your Website eNewsletter
Prepare A Realistic Timeline And Budget Content Management System
Identify A Project Manager Launch And Beyond
Be Open To Making Changes Or Revisions Web Analytics
Networking 101
7 Key Questions
1) What Aspects Of Your Business Are Successful?
2) What Have Been Your Challenges, And How Can TIP
Your Website Resolve Them? It’s important to be holistic
and comprehensive when
3) What Results Does Your Company Want To See? determining your business
4) How Will Those Results Be Measured? goals. Know what each
area of your business needs
5) What Tools Will The Website Provide and how those areas differ;
this knowledge will help you
Prospects/Customers? create the foundation for
your new website.
6) How Will The Website Attract Prospects?
7) What Changes Or Growth Does Your Company
Anticipate Going Forward; How Will The Website
Respond To Your Changing Business Needs?
Identify Your Target Market
Understand The Needs Of Your Customers
They were prospects as well TIP
Your target market is the
low-hanging fruit, the most
Understand How Your Website Can Benefit Your likely demographic to drive
your revenues with the least
Customers And Your Prospects amount of effort on your
part. Start with them and
work your way out to
prospects, to your
Address Customers And Prospects
secondary and tertiary
Adjust messaging to target each group accordingly markets. Utilize this
strategy, and you’ll see the
greatest impact on your
revenues in the shortest
amount of time.
Example: Solutions Explorer
Sage Software wanted to maximize their exposure, both to customers and prospects
Lucid Fusion (LF) created an interactive Web module, called Solutions Explorer.
With the aid of “Michelle,” an interactive tour guide, customers were able to identify
their “problem” and navigate the site quickly to find the Sage product that would
provide them a useful solution.
Sage Product Manager, Michelle,
provides interactive guidance to online
visitors, to guide them to their Sage
Solution.
Example: Infinity Info Systems
Leverage Solutions Explorer for Partner
Partner Specific Information
Lead Generation
Usage Stats
MyInfinityCrm.com features
the same benefits of the
Sage Purl campaign in
addition to allowing partner
customization
Draw Feedback from Your
Target Market
Some Might Think, “I Know Best Because I’m The One Providing It.”
Be Wary
How Can I Get Such Feedback From My Customers?
TIP
Ask Questions If you’re designing your own
survey, keep the majority of
Contact your best customers who give you the most business questions to either yes/no or
Important to ask clear, concise questions that give you Quality multiple-choice answers.
This ensures consistency
Information about your Business (QIB™) when tabulating the results;
it also allows you to more
easily analyze variances
QIB Provides Data That Will Increase Revenues And Market Share that give QIB.
Also improves your customer service, customer experience–
even your product/service itself
Example: SageGenius.com
Sage Software Planned To Introduce A New Version Of MAS 90
Enter Lucid Fusion
LF developed a custom website called SageGenius.com to support a Sage-branded
direct mail and email campaign
• Invited recipients to play an online trivia game
• Series of product-related questions (designed to provide Sage valuable QIB)
Increase response rate
• Sage offered an incentive to customers whom completed the survey
The Result : It Worked.
SageGenius.com provides Sage
valuable QIB by offering customers
small prizes for answering survey
questions embedded within an
online trivia game.
Understand your Competition and
Know What Makes You Unique
Where You Stand Competitively
Make More-Educated Decisions About Your Competitive Strategy
Why Be Unique:
A prospect is more likely to work with a partner that has a
value add
Start With :
What Makes You Unique?
For Whom Are You The Best Choice?
Why Would Prospects Want To Spend Their Money With
Sage Solutions As Opposed To Other Solutions?
The First Points the Viewer Should See :
Your Company’s Strengths
Clearly Defined Brand
How Your Company And Sage Solutions Are Different From
Your Competitive Set.
List What you Like About Websites
and What You Don’t
Evaluate Websites
Develop Your Own List Of Best Practices
Capitalize On The Mistakes Others Have Made TIP
Match The Excellence Of Your Competitors Look at other industries to
find inspiration; evaluate
sites of brands that you
admire. This can be a great
Compile A List During Planning way to gain inspiration and
Candid Conversations And Real-life Examples help create your list.
• Easier To Communicate & Collaborate With Your
Team
Key Things To Look For:
Newsletter Sign-up
High-level And Detailed Product Information
Call-to-Action
Identify all Content Needed
For Your Site
Think About What You Need To Say
Utilize Your Team
TIP
Consider Hiring A Preferred Vendor Less can be more in certain
Copy can make the difference between a mediocre site sections; most visitors do
not like long paragraphs or
and an outstanding site small fonts. The more
concise your copy is, the
Content Includes: photos, testimonials, pdfs,
more impact it has.
downloads and/or other materials useful to your
prospects and customers
One Person From Your Team Responsible
Minimize miscommunications, overlaps, or worse yet–
oversights
Tailor Your Copy
Great copy can capture a visitor’s interest and create a
lasting impression
Identify all Content Needed
For Your Site
Prepare a Realistic
Timeline and Budget
A Great Web Team Will Ask 3 Important Questions :
1) What’s Your Timeline?
2) Ok, Now Really–what’s Your Realistic Timeline?
3) What’s Your Total Budget?
Be Generous With Your Timeline ; Allow For The “Human” Element
Take Longer Than You Think They Will
Get The Most Realistic Timeline Possible From Web Team
Utilize Their Experience
Be Up-front About Deadlines And Your Work Pace
Decision-makers Or Content-provider’s Timeline
Helps Set Reasonable Expectations
Confirm An Accurate Total Budget
A good Web team will tell you what they can and cannot do within that number
Prepare a Realistic
Timeline and Budget
PHASE Lays The Foundation For Your Uniquely Branded Website
Addresses The Top Priorities
1 Goal : Generate Leads That Positively Impact Your Revenues
PHASE
Build Upon The Foundation
2 Includes Any Revisions Or Updates
PHASE Completes All Original Priorities
Can Be An Expansion Of Original Design
3 Your Business Will Grow Because Of The Website’s Functionality
TIP
Examine payment options with your Web team and how those coincide with your fiscal year. Possibly segment
your design fee by % or benchmarks; instead of 50% deposit and 50% upon completion, discuss 33% 3x or 25%
4x. Alternatively, negotiate payments based on milestones: i.e. 25% at deposit, 25% after site map and wire
frames are finalized, 25% after graphics and design are finalized, and 25% at website launch.
Identify an Internal Project Manager
Save Significant Time And Trouble
Person Should Be Highly-Organized, Responsive, And Detail-Oriented
Person Needs To Understand:
• What items they can approve
• What items need to be approved by superiors and/or third-parties
(photographers, lawyers, brand managers, etc.)
• Who needs to see what
Make Clear Distinctions In The Beginning
Know The Point-person From Your Web Team
• Single contact to ensure the best communication possible
Be Open to Making
Changes or Revisions
REMEMBER :
TIP
When interviewing a
Variables Change! prospective Web team, ask
Companies who have the most success with their them how they respond
when changes occur, or
websites are able to bend and adapt as new when the process veers
circumstances arise. from the initial timeline.
Their answer will be
especially telling: if they
provide a clear response
This Is A Creative Process! about planning for flexibility
and accepting the nature of
Choose An Attitude Open To Possibility And the creative process, they’re
Innovation on track; if they dodge the
question, or try to push past
Define A Clear Goal That Satisfies All Involved with a vague reply akin to,
“oh, we always stick to our
timelines,” proceed with
caution. Always and never
do not belong in a sentence
with timeline (present
sentence excluded).
PART II
What Can a Web Design Firm Do for Your Company?
Strategic Site Design
Layout/Aesthetic/Eye Movement
Best Practices In Navigation
Call-To-Action
Example: Electronic Virtual Assistant
Modular Approach to Web Development
Tutorials
Customer Portal
eNewsletter
Content Management System
Launch and Beyond
Web Analytics
Strategic Site Design
Layout/Aesthetic/Eye Movement
Layout : Based on clients needs and target market
Aesthetic : Engage prospects and customers
Eye Movement : Want to be able to control a users TIP
primary and secondary focus A website should be
designed such that you
Best Practices In Navigation don’t have to redesign
Bad Navigation Makes You Think based on a stylistic fad or
because you want to
Good Navigation Makes You Think Less expand your site. Design is
Outstanding Navigation Thinks For You as important in scalability as
how your back-end
Keys to great navigation: programming is done.
• Intuitive
• Easily Accessible
• Consistent Hierarchy
Interface Lift™ - Something Fresh And More Effective
The More Engaging And Easy Your Company’s Site Is To Use, The More Revenue It Will
Generate
Call-To-Action
Ensure Various Message Points Are Heard And Users Are Encouraged To Act!
Example: Electronic Virtual Assistant
Electronic Virtual Assistant (EVA) Is A Hands Free Approach To Organization
EVA was getting a lot of hits on their website due to the PR efforts we had in place for
them but they weren’t closing on their website for a number of reasons
Before : After :
Modular Approach to Web Development
Scalable Development
Develop the site for your current programming
requirements, but ensure new functionality and widgets
TIP
As we discussed earlier,
can easily be added to your website. take phased approach to
your website. But ensure
that the company
What Is A Widget? developing your website is
developing it such that you
Short for `window gadget', this refers to components in a can come back and add
graphical user interface. new features without having
to re-develop.
Various Add-ons / Widgets
Click to Call
Web-based Tutorials
eNewsletter
Customer Portal
Content Management System
Click to Call
Allow Users To Proactively contact you
Strategically placed button
Instant phone number for your business
Use with your existing phones or PC
TIP
Ensure that every means of
Sound more professional, look like a bigger company communication available
are clearly listed and
Online service - Easy to use Web interface accessible on your website.
Web-based Tutorials
Website Guide
Product Tutorial/Walk-Through
Benefits Of A Tutorial:
Immediately understand benefits and ease of use TIP
If you’re going to have a
Immediately engage prospects and provide with video tutorial on your site
information so they contact you with a spokesperson, try to
find someone within your
company who hast the
ability to perform this task.
This will save you
thousands of dollars in
talent fees and allow you to,
hopefully, ensure that you
can shoot new video in the
future with the same talent.
eNewsletter
Allow Users To Sign-Up For Your eNewsletter
Build a seed list of prospects
Deploy Enewsletter Through A Website Add-on
Drip Campaign TIP
Sales cycles are around 18 months If you’re going to have a
video tutorial on your site
You want to provide information and engage them through- with a spokesperson, try to
out the sales cycle find someone within your
company who hast the
Press Section ability to perform this task.
This will save you
thousands of dollars in
talent fees and allow you to,
hopefully, ensure that you
can shoot new video in the
future with the same talent.
Customer Portal
Provide A “Customer Only” Area
TIP
Exclusive News And Info Often times companies
have information that they
Exclusive Downloads don’t want to allow “the
world” to see or download.
Added Support Utilize your customer portal
for such information. It
allows you to control the
distribution of information as
well as it gives your
customers a sense of
exclusivity and one-on-one
attention.
Content Management System
Control Your Content And Your Ability To Update Information
CMS Systems - more efficient manner than programming
TIP
Easy Wysiwyg Control - easy as sending an email Often times companies
Allow various people to control various content types (i.e.. have information that they
don’t want to allow “the
News, events, products information) world” to see or download.
Utilize your customer portal
for such information. It
allows you to control the
distribution of information as
well as it gives your
customers a sense of
exclusivity and one-on-one
attention.
Launch and Beyond
What Now?
Once Your Website Is Designed And Developed You
Should Let The World Know So They Will Come And Visit
TIP
So the site has been
Ensure Someone Maintains Your Website With Current developed, now let’s get it
Information out there and make sure
users are getting to the
Important To Know What Sections Users Are Accessing pages we want to “push.”
More So You Can Ensure They Are Seeing What You Also, make sure you
promote your website and
Want Them To See.
encourage your sales
Ideas To Consider people and other
employees spread the word.
• Web Analytics
• Networking 101
Web Analytics
Knowledge Is Power
Where Users Are Coming From
Where Users Are Going
TIP
Don’t be overwhelmed by
How Long Users Are Staying On Various Pages web reports. The report
tools we use allow you to
How Many Repeat Users You Have
see a snapshot or delve in
How Promotions Affect Your Site Traffic to find more information.
So What?
Where Users Are Coming From
Where Users Are Going
How Long Users Are Staying On Various
Pages
How Many Repeat Users You Have
How Promotions Affect Your Site Traffic
Use Analytics To Engage Prospects
Thank You For Your Time
Q&A Session
Feel free to call us to schedule a free consultation
Contact Information
Zubin Mowlavi
Zubinm@lucidfusion.com
949-502-7750 x. 201
http://www.lucidfusion.com/sage
About Lucid Fusion
Based in Irvine, CA, Lucid Fusion, Inc. is a progressive New Media
marketing agency that has been providing companies with innovative
online and offline marketing solutions since 1999 Partial Client List:
Print And Web Campaigns Sage Software
Understand What It Takes To Succeed Infinity Info Systems
Provide Solutions That Give Competitive Edge Kenwood USA
Sirius Satellite
Matthew McConaughey /
What Sets Us Apart From Other Firms? j.k. livin
Think Outside Of The Box Without Losing Sight Of Clients’ Goals DreamWorks
Interactive
Strong Ideas Saitek USA
Manage The Project So You Don’t Have To Worry BaccHus Development
Wells Fargo Home
Mortgage
Preferred Vendor Approved Services: ACE Duraflo
Brand Identity The Herrington Teddy
Web Design/Development Bear Company
Fortune Fashions
Print and Web Advertising Industries
Online and Offline Marketing Sony Pictures Classic