WendiWebDiva’s perspecive

 For your entertainment and/or education

 The WebDiva’s Sample Web Architecture Doc

WebSite Strategic Planning Guide

• Planning
  • Client fills out online Project Inquiry form
  • Project Inquiry Form Questions
    • What is the purpose of the website?
    • Who does the work? In house or outsourced?
    • Who maintains the site? Who pays for that maintenance?
    • Who are the website’s primary audiences and what do they need, want, and desire?
    • Any multimedia aspects? Video, audio, tutorials, etc.
    • Any technical requirements? Database apps, forms, etc.
    • Any language translation requirements? Specify language
  • Web Services sets meeting with client to determine feasibility
  • Web Services provides client with Project Plan (see figure 1)
    • Sign off by client
• Implementation
  • Budget and timeline – cost and resource analysis
  • Revenue Generators – banner ads, google adsense, etc
  • The site content – information architecture (see figure 2)
    • Sign off by client
  • The look of the site – creative brief, creative spec, accessibility tests  
    (see figure 3)
    • Sign off by client
  • Site functionality – technical brief, functional specs
    • Sign off by client
  • Draft site for client review
    • Sign off by client
  • Usability  and Accessibility testing – focus groups to try new site
  • Search Engine Optimization
  • How the site will be marketed -marketing plan
  • Final site review
    • Sign off by client
  • Launch – soft launch before announcements to public to work out bugs
  • Public Launch
• Post Launch Analysis
  • Site review and assessment
  • Success/Problem analysis – what worked and what did not
  • Search Engine Optimization review
  • Change Request Forms provided to client for maintenance purposes.
• Long
  Range Planning
  • Path tracking analysis – are your users doing what you want them to do? (based on WebTrends reports)
  • Revenue review and assessment for placed media (if applicable)
  • Website ROI analysis

What implications do Web 2.0 technologies and concepts have on developing and managing customer facing content on your site? 

What is Web 2.0?
Web 2.0 is the name given to a collection of technology that is changing how we work with the Web, whether as consumers, software developers or businesses. Instead of presenting content/information/knowledge in a linear sequential manner, customers are provided with a rich array of tools and resources to create a productive learning experience.

Web 2.0 allows more touchpoints between businesses and customers earlier in the cycle than traditional methods (e.g., email). Using product review applications that are openly available to all and allow customers to provide feedback on products can be captured immediately.

• Instant feedback, rapid evolution of offerings through co-innovating with the people actually using the products (e.g., package tracking information via mobile devices)
• Custom product recommendations (e.g., product suggestions based on shipping history)
• Product ratings and reviews by customers
• Really Simple Syndication or RSS, a common format for Website syndication. RSS allows browsers or RSS aggregators to “subscribe” to feeds and to provide up-to-date content to the user. (FedEx News and Events via podcasts)

Forms of Web 2.0 Technology

• Ajax  - application groups
• Podcasts/RSS Feeds
• Mashers – data portals
• Blogs – journals
• Social Networks/Enterprise Management Systems
• Wikis – interactive content sites
• On-Demand commerce services

What’s in it for your company?

• Provide an interactive experience for the customer
• Improve business value
• Provide significant competitive advantage

Current sites offer

• Linear instruction-based design
• PDF documents
• Package Tracking application
• Customer login applications

How does this affect developing and managing customer facing content on your internet site?

• Content will change from inventories of linear information to an online interactive,  community-based business
• New mechanisms will be created to track what products customers are using, saving particularly popular data sets and making them shareable and reusable
• RSS feeds will enable customers to receive package updates in real-time.
• Use of enterprise social networking services such as LinkedIn and Visible Path to locate sales leads and prospects from the collective contacts of employees
• The corporate intranet will become more collaborative with the introduction of Wikis and social networks to improve training and communication

How do we integrate Web 2.0 technology into your site?

• Open our marketing processes to the experiences of outside participants
• Actively listen to where and how they participate
• Harness that collective intelligence to create products, services and brands
• Focus on finding out how these tools work with the actual users
• Gather valid/reasonable data to verify that these tools are achieving business goals

Structural leaders emphasize rationality, analysis, logic, facts, and data. They are likely to believe strongly in the importance of clear structure and well-developed management systems.  A good leader is someone who thinks clearly, makes good decisions, has good analytic skills, and can design structures and systems that get the job done.

Wendi’s Perspective on Internet Marketing for Theatres

I’ve summed up a few key points on making productive use of the internet after reading an article entitled “Producers Use the Web to Romance Audience and Bring Them Back” in the July 9, 2006, New York Times.  The key is not to overuse the internet but instead tol make the internet work for you.  As outlined in the article, minimal investment, maximum research, targeted marketing and technology can fill a theatre.

• Make use of Interest Groups
  • Primarily a traditional marketing feature, this component is combined with a technological solution to target specific groups who attend performances.
  • According to the article, “The Color Purple” is introducing a Web campaign called “Organize Your Group” to help families, schools, gospel choirs and churches arrange theatergoing “reunions”; an earlier form of this program has already referred more than 100,000 people to the show.
  • In addition, “Avenue Q”  offered discounts to people who visited its Web site. The email blast to 20,000 e-mail addresses netted $40,000 in sales with negligible costs.

·         Send personalized follow up emails sent the following business day

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  • The “Altar Boyz” sent a personal email message to attendees the Monday after the show. People apparently pay attention to them because they come across as personal and interactive.
  • Use caution with Email Blasts. A good analogy would be weekly grocery flyers: recipients don’t sign up for them, so they throw them away without checking the contents. Overuse can kill a campaign.

·         Use search engineso        The majority of Web users make use of search engines to find what they’re looking for online, thereby making search engines a portal for businesses that want to attract their target audience for low cost.o        Optimized your site for search engines. Keywords, HTML structure and organization are integral for search engine spiders to locate and list your site in a prominent manner.·         Blog Coverage is persuasive

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  • Like several other productions, “The Wedding Singer” offered free seats to the authors of various New York City-based blogs, hoping they would write about the experience if they liked it
  • The Commercial Appeal has a community blog base (the Memphis Scene) from which the Orpheum could benefit.
• Analyze web traffic and drive customers to the website
  • Make use of subscriber email addresses, measure website traffic and monitor user patterns as they develop and change.  Your website provider can acquire traffic and path tracking analyses. If they don’t, invest in a package that does – InSite, Click Tracks and WebTrends are good products.

·         Interactive Advertising can be a good investmento        According to the article, a four-month Google ad campaign ran for “Doubt” cost about $15,000 and sold more than $400,000 worth of tickets.o        The CA, MBJ, WKNO and various local media offer reasonable ad space.·         Partner for Ad Space with Vendors

•  
  • Hopstop, an online transit guide company  partnered with Internet marketing firm Situation Marketing to deliver Broadway show ads to its website visitors.  Hopstop provides mass transit and walking directions between points in the city and delivers ads based on the destination. In return, Situation uses HopStop services on Broadway sites.
• Make use of Podcasts -  more folks carry Ipods than you think
  • Using RSS feeds to direct users to upcoming events. Syndication is a cost-effective way to increase awareness of your content and brand, drive traffic to your site, and serve your existing readers. CNN, Christian Science Monitor, Time Magazine, The New York Times, and CNet’s News.com use RSS to syndicate headlines and summaries
  • Many broadway productions, including “RENT” and “Jersey Boys,” have podcasts. Linking to those podcasts would enable your audience access to interviews and video footage.

Wendi Recommends (because she used them at Methodist Healthcare)

• ·         QuadraMail – email blast service

• ·         WebTrends – path tracking website analysis tool

• ·         SLP 3D – streaming media (live casts and on demand)