Web Sites That Work

1
Web Sites That Work

• By Gary Kidney
• Kidney_at_cl.uh.edu

2
Web Sites That Work

• If a company
• has a web site,
• is it an e-business?

3
E-business Sound Bytes

• E-business is more than paperless catalogs
• -Sean Dugan
• Core tools of e-business are tracking and data
  mining.
• -Brian Fonseca
• E-business is customer relationship management.
• -A Southwestern Bell ad

4
Getting People to your Page

• Having a good domain name.
• Mastering the search engines.
• Those terrible banner ads.
• Partnership links.
• Media tie-ins.

5
Having a Good Domain Name

• Top-of-mind awareness
• Easily-remembered words
• Credibility
• Instantly differentiate
• Communicates a specific benefit
• http//www.marketingchallenge.com/articles.domain.
  html

6
Mastering the search engines

• Search Engine Secrets
• Invisible text
• Position of keywords
• Consistency of word use
• Links to your site
• http//www.internetday.com/archives/050699.html
• MarketPosition Monthly
• http//www.webposition.com/mp-0700.htm

7
Those Terrible Banner Ads

• Banner ads controlled 54 of all on-line spending
  (4.6 billion in 1999).
• Http//www.iab.net
• Banner Ads should be concise, compelling, and
  well branded, but are hard to design.
• http//www.adobe.com/products/adobemag/archive/pdf
  s/0001mfdg.pdf

8
Partnership Links

• Portals
• http//www.fyw-marketing.com/portals.htm
• Click-throughs
• http//hostsite.eads.com/
• Link exchanges
• http//www.bcentral.com/success/dolls.html
• Web rings
• http//www.webring.com/

9
Media Tie-Ins

• Traditional media
• TV
• Radio
• Magazines
• Newspapers
• http//www.drnunley.com/ARTCL35.htm

10
Designing a Good Page

• Content is the key.
• Make it interactive.
• Make it appeal to the eye.
• Use a metaphor.
• Update it frequently.

11
Content is the Key.

• Have something to say and show
• Make it unique
• Make it fresh
• Make it high quality
• Make it easy to read
• Make it easy to remember
• http//www.nathan.com/thoughts/recipe/content.html

12
Make it Interactive

• Have the user do something
• Search
• Download or upload
• Calculate
• Watch media
• Email, chat, post
• Play
• http//home.mira.net/dwalker/front36.htm
• http//www.wilsonweb.com/articles/interactive-char
  t.htm

13
Make it Appeal to the Eye

• Use a graphic artist
• Establish the brand
• Be consistent
• Have a metaphor
• Keep it simple
• http//hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/html/97/05/ind
  ex2a.html?twdesign

14
Use a Metaphor

• An unstated comparison between a web page and
  some-thing in real life.
• Attractive
• Simple
• Intuitive
• Many are borrowed from other media
• http//www.better-homepage.com/web-design/planning
  -metapher.html

15
Update it Frequently

• Review the statistics.
• See what works on the most visited pages.
• Replace pages with few hits.
• Add new content.
• Update content.
• Verify files and links.
• Content management solutions.

16
Keeping People on your Site

• Give them something.
• Can you leverage content?
• Update Frequently.
• Personalize your site.
• Use opt-in marketing.

17
Give them Something

• Something unusual.
• Something metaphor related.
• Not something everybody expects for free.
• http//www.internetday.com/archives/051799.html

18
Can you Leverage Content?

• Pornographers can!
• DEN cant.
• http//www.redherring.com/industries/2000/0711/ind
  -den071100.html?idwebpagesthatsuck
• Steven King can!

19
Update Frequently

• Site updates
• Site redesigns
• Site facelifts
• Site makeovers

20
Personalize your Site

• CRM Customer relationship management
• Logins
• Cookies
• Forms questions
• Databases
• Privacy?
• http//www.builder.com/Business/Personal/ss03.html

21
Use Opt-in Marketing

• Web Promotions.
• Mailing lists.
• Newsletters.
• E-zines.

22
Questions?