Introduction Tell Us More About YOU 3

Website Plan [insert your company name]

This website plan outlines your intention for the design and development of a brand new website, or for the revamp of an existing website.

Taking the time to fill it in will save you in the long run as it will assist you to be explicitly clear about what it is you actually want and need.

It also allows any company you are getting assistance from to be as accurate as possible in the estimating process and to help add value by clearly understanding your vision and providing suggestions on how your vision can be further enhanced.

Copyright: The Training Collective Contents

INTRODUCTION – TELL US MORE ABOUT YOU….....3 WEBSITE OBJECTIVES...... 4 COMPETITOR ANALYSIS...... 7 MORE COMPETITOR ANALYSIS...... 9 SWOT ANALYSIS...... 11 NARROWING IT DOWN...... 12 WEBSITE GRADER...... 12 GOOGLE ANALYTICS BENCHMARK...... 13 WEBSITE PLATFORM...... 14 WEBSITE ARCHITECTURE...... 15 WEBSITE DESIGN – THE ‘LOOK & FEEL’...... 16 IMAGES...... 17 CONTENT...... 18 FUNCTIONALITY...... 18 DESIGN CHECKLIST...... 19 ECOMMERCE...... 21 ON PAGE OPTIMISATION...... 23 SOCIAL MEDIA CONSIDERATIONS...... 27 HR (OPTIONAL)...... 30 EMARKETING...... 31 DOMAINS/WEB ADDRESSES (OPTIONAL)...... 32 LOG INS (OPTIONAL)...... 33 ACTION PLAN...... 34

2 Copyright

All rights reserved. This publication or any part of it may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically or manually without the written consent of The Creative Collective. Disclaimer

While every care in taken to ensure the relevancy and accuracy of this manual, all material is provided without any guarantee or warranty whatsoever.

3 Introduction

It is important to define who you are and what your main objectives are before you make your website plan.

• How long have you been in business? • Why did you start the business or how did you get involved in the business? WHAT DO YOU DO? • What are your key service or product offerings and who is your target market for each? Here is a sample to get you started…..List yours below.

Product or service offering Target market 1. Pet owners in the Nambour region who own e.g. pet grooming long haired cats or dogs which require regular grooming. 2. Pet owners in the Nambour region who have a high disposable income and who enjoy pampering their pet Product or service offering Target market

WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE?

What are your key overall business objectives?

Here is a sample to get you started. List yours below.

4 Objective To offer training and service solutions to help small to medium business owners achieve online success

• What are your key business objectives for your website?

Here is a sample to get you started. List yours below.

Objective To increase the number of request a quote forms we receive via our website

Website Objectives

WHAT IS YOUR MAIN REASON FOR NEEDING A WEBSITE?

5 Establish an online presence?

Revamp an existing site (if so what is the URL for the existing site) and why are you looking to revamp?

Other (please specify below)?

______

WHAT IS THE KEY OBJECTIVES OF THE WEBSITE? (TICK ALL THOSE WHICH APPLY)

Sell a product/s

Sell a service/s

Build brand awareness

To service existing clients

To make business information available

To position you as the ‘obvious expert’ in your industry

To answer FAQs

To create a 24 hour service/presence

To allow direct feedback from clients

To allow prospective clients to inquire via web forms

To showcase something on galleries

Provide direct marketing opportunities

Use as a training resource for staff

Solicit prospective staff

6 List here any other objectives which may not have been covered above:

______

7 Competitor Analysis

KNOWN QUANTITIES Who are your known competitors, that is, any websites or companies you know you are competing with in business. Please list them below and specify why you deem them a competitor

Name of URL (web address) Why do you deem them a competitor competitor?

8 UNKNOWN QUANTITIES

Who are your (until now) unknown competitors, that is they didn’t immediately come to mind when completing the list above, and you may not be aware of them, particularly online, without the investigation you have been encouraged to conduct in the lessons.

Please list them below and specify why you deem them a competitor

Name of URL (web address) Why do you deem them a competitor competitor?

9 More Competitor Analysis

Develop a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis for an e- business solution for your business to include analysis on resources, costs and revenue implications. Incorporate legal and ethical considerations in your final report.

SWOT ANALYSIS

Analyse the aesthetics and features of your key competitor’s (as listed above – a combination of known and unknown) websites.

Competitor 1 name: Competitor URL:

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

OPPORTUNITIES THREATS

Comments:

10 Competitor 2 name: Competitor URL:

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

Comments:

Competitor 3 name: Competitor URL:

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

Comments:

11 SWOT Analysis

Having now reviewed your competitors and the current state of your website, perform a SWOT Analysis on your own website listing your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

Date completed: / /

STRENGTH WEAKNESSES

Commentary on the status of your website and the competitive environment

______

12 Narrowing It Down

Prepare a competitor analysis that considers what effect any new e-business capability will have on the industry sector and on your competition.

KEY COMPETITORS

Out of all the competitors identified in the above steps, choose 2 you would most like to focus on from here. Choose the 2 you deem to be the strongest competitors.

Competitor 1 URL:

Competitor 2: URL: Website Grader

Your website Competitor 1 Competitor 2 Competitor 3 score out of 100 score out of 100 score out of 100 score out of 100

On each item, (Overall, Blogging, Social Media, SEO, Lead Generation, Mobile) click on the ‘Checklist’ click ‘show’. Copy and paste each ‘to do’ item the system recommends below:

13 Google Analytics Benchmark

Having successfully implemented Google Analytics on your website (or having been granted access to it by your web developer) insert the statistics you have identified in your Google Analytics.

Week 2 benchmark Week 12 benchmark Number of unique users

Number of pages per visit Average time on site Percentage of new visits Top performing keywords Top performing 5 pages Links from an internet search engine Number of people accessing the site from a mobile

14 Website Platform – Which System Will You Use?

Here is a list of some of the website platforms mentioned in Lesson 3. Consider which system may suit you and write in the lines next to it why. If you need to perform additional due diligence, write these into your action plan at the end of this document.

FTP ______

Joomla______

Drupal______

Wordpress______

Wix______

Weebly______

Jimdo______

Business Catalyst______

LightCMS______

WebVanta______

Others – please list here any other website platforms you are considering building your website in and why. ______

______

15 Website Architecture

Here is a list of commonly required pages required to complete a website. Please tick those you envisage requiring. Remember each of these pages will require content and images uploaded to it. Consider where you will source this content, or if needs to be created/written, who will write it in the lines below the tick boxes.

About us

Where we are

Events calendar

Newsletter sign up

Newsletter thanks

Testimonials/customer reviews/case studies

Contact us

Downloadable resources (where appropriate)

Photo Gallery

Site map

Careers

Members only log in section

______

16 List any further content you propose to include. On webinars you may learn of other possible pages and functionality which may assist you to meet your business objectives that you had not previously considered.

______

Website Design – The ‘Look & Feel’

Describe your company brand and the feeling you want to convey when people associate your brand i.e. what words or values do you use to describe your company? ______

Do you have an established logo and house style guide to base your web design on? YES / NO

Does this need modernising/refinement as part of the development process? YES / NO

Choice of font: ______

Whilst only certain fonts are web compatible (and recommended) for use within the content area, are there other fonts which play an important part in your corporate identity? YES / NO

If so, what is the name of these fonts? (you may need to ask your graphic designer or a design professional to confirm this for you).

______

Can these fonts be supplied? Are they Mac or PC based fonts? ______

Are there any websites that you like and why? Please list with your reason for placing them on this list?

17 Website 1: ______

______

Website 2 ______

______

Website 3: ______Images

Where will imagery for the site come from?

 Self-sourced stock images – I will source royalty free, copyright free images including both photographs and illustrations.

Budget allocated: $______

 Stock images sourced on my behalf – I will get the company source royalty free, copyright free and supply them to me for approval prior to purchase.

 Photography – I will take photos and am confident I can produce the correct proportion, lighting, effect etc.

Photography – I will arrange a photo shoot using a professional photographer.

 Specialist Photography – I will need to arrange a virtual tour, aerial shot, fashion/styling shoot

Total image budget allocation: $______

18 Content

Where will the words for the site come from? (Tick those which apply)

 I will write, edit and provide them

 I will write them but will require someone to edit them for me

 I will require someone to write them for me

 I will require assistance in the SEO component of the writing

Total copywriting budget allocation: $______

Functionality

WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR SITE TO BE ABLE TO DO?

What key functionality and design needs does the website need to meet? (Tick all those which apply and add lines for any additional functionality you would like your new website to have).

CMS (content management system)

 CRM (client relationship manager)

 Web forms (where people fill in online forms and they deposit straight into the back end database + email you the results)

Forums

 Announcements i.e. news or events which can feature in a news scroller)

Emarketing

 Blog

 RSS feeds

19 Affiliate programs

Photo galleries

 Online ads/rotating

 Secure "Member Only" Area

Bookings i.e. allow customers to book into events

E-commerce (i.e. sell stuff online)

Other (please specify):

______

Are there any significant customisations/developments which you desire?

______

______Design Checklist

If you have an existing website take a look at it with this checklist in hand to work out where it could potentially be enhanced: General

Pages load quickly

 Front page has flagship image/images in line with target market/subject matter of website

20 Fulfills ‘8 second rule’ that is, within 8 seconds of arriving to home page it is clear who you are, what you offer, and what you want user to do (i.e. sign up to newsletter, request quote, browse specials etc.)

 Home page has data capture form or call to action requesting people to provide their details

Easy to locate contact details from home page

 Front page has social media buttons (more on this in social media lessons)

Front page has social media feed (more on this in social media lessons)

Front page has video clip (more on this in social media lessons)

Design considerations

 Logo/brand is located in a prominent, but not over-powering position on the site.

 Colour of website is in line/complimentary to logo/brand

 Site looks professional

 Brand consistent - every web page in the site looks like it belongs to the same site even if different templates have been applied to different pages

Every graphic has an alt label (more on these in SEO lessons)

 Every web page in the site looks like it belongs to the same site; there are repetitive elements that carry throughout the pages

 Font choice (type of text) is consistent throughout the site in terms of size, colour and type

Text is big enough to read, and in a colour which is readable

 Chunks of text are broken up by headers

Navigation considerations

Key pages i.e. key services and key products can easily found from front page

Navigation buttons and bars are easy to understand and use

21 Navigation is consistent throughout website

Navigation buttons and bars provide the visitor with a clue as to where they are and what page of the site they are currently on (breadcrumbs)

Site has a search bar (the ability to search from the front page and inside pages for key information on the site)

 Site has a site map (the ability to see a dynamically updated list of all pages within the site) Ecommerce

Is the site to be ecommerce enabled?

 YES

If so, how many products do you propose to launch with?

______

Will products require variables i.e. colour, size etc.?

 YES

 NO

What ecommerce functionality is desired?

 gift vouchers

 discounts

 up-sells (you might also like)

refer a friend

22 ______

______

What type of products will you sell (hard copy or e-products i.e. ebooks etc)

______

How often do you imagine you will update these products i.e. monthly, quarterly?

______

How many new products will you add once live and how regularly i.e. 1 new products per month?

______

What currencies do you propose to sell in?

______

How do you propose to transact money online?

 Via PayPal

 Via online merchant facility/gateway/bank

Which online merchant facility will you use?

______

23 Which gateway will you use?

______

Which bank will you use?

______

Other functionality required

Please list here any other functionality required.

______

SEO – Search Engine Optimisation

What consideration would you like to give to search engine optimisation as part of the build? For instance do you want to:

 Leave this out to start with in the interests of limiting costs

 Optimise a certain number of key pages to start with. Specify number of pages: ______

If you wish to optimise some pages, which pages will you optimise/arrange to be optimised before it goes live?

______

24 ______

WHAT ONGOING ON PAGE OPTIMISATION ROTA COULD YOU COMMIT TO ONCE THE SITE IS LIVE?

 Optimise new pages as I create them

 Optimise a set number of pages at a set frequency. I will optimise the following number of pages each week/month: ______

______

 I will make it the responsibility of someone at my company to optimise my website at a set frequency within my budget. I will have them optimise the following number of pages each week/month:

______

 I will contract a person/company to optimise my website at a set frequency within my budget. I will have them optimise the following number of pages each week/month:

______

Budget allocated to ongoing optimisation:

$ ______

25 ON PAGE OPTIMISATION

Which keywords/key phrases are you going to chase on a page by page basis for the key pages of your website?

Page Name: URL:

______

Page Name: URL:

______

Page Name: URL:

______

Page Name: URL:

______

26 OFF PAGE OPTIMISATION

Use a link checker http://www.linkdiagnosis.com/, then complete the items below:

Date link check conducted: ______

Link checker used: ______

Number of links back to your site according to the above site: ______

What OFF PAGE optimisation strategy/strategies could you commit to increase the number above?

Submission of articles to article directories (also known as article banks)

Submission of articles or press releases to news wires

Submission of your site to free directory listings

Submission of your site to paid directory listings:

Forum postings

Blog posts or comments

Social media websites

Buying Links

______

 I will make it the responsibility of someone at my company to optimise my website at a set frequency within my budget. I will have them optimise the following number of pages each week/month: ______

 I will contract a person/company to optimise my website at a set frequency within my budget. I will have them optimise the following number of pages each week/month: ______

Budget allocated to ongoing optimisation: $ ______

27 Social Media Considerations

Please refer to page 5-6, where you identified your key service/product offerings, target markets and business objectives. You must bare these in mind when completing this section.

1. What are you primary objectives for social media?

2. What social networks will you utilise utilise?

Facebook

Twitter

YouTube

Google Plus

______

3. What usernames will you utilise for the various networks. Go to www.namecheck.com and check availability. Then visit the individual social networks and sign up for your account.

28 Facebook profile username: www.facebook.com/______

Facebook Page username: www.facebook.com/______

Twitter username 1: www.twitter.com/______

Twitter username 2: www.twitter.com/______

Linkedin Profile username: www.linkedin.com/______

Linkedin Page username: www.linkedin.com/______

YouTube username: www.youtube.com/______

Pinterest username: www.pinterest.com/______

Google Plus username: https://plus.google.com/______

4. Will you integrate social media feeds and/or icons to your website?

______

5. Will you include sharing buttons on your website? If so, which sharing service will you utilise?

My web developer (add this to your action plan at the end of this document)

29 Other: ______

6. Who will integrate sharing buttons on your website? You, your web developer, or someone else?

Addthis.com

Sharethis.com

Other: ______

30 HR (Optional)

Who will work on the development/redevelopment of your website and online marketing and what will their role be? Consider internal resources i.e. staff as well as external resources you may need to call on/engage. Consider all aspects i.e. seo, SEM, design, programming, copywriting, image sourcing etc. Ensure there is a ‘project manager’ who is ultimately responsible for getting the project completed.

Name: ______

Position: ______

Company: ______

Role in project: ______

Phone: ______

Alternative phone: ______

Email: ______

Name: ______

Position: ______

Company: ______

Role in project: ______

Phone: ______

Alternative phone: ______

Email: ______

31 Emarketing

Will you require eMarketing (email marketing) functionality?

 YES

 NO

Will you require an eMarketing template to be developed in conjunction with the new website so you have a professional image to broadcast with?

 YES

 NO

Do you have an existing database you would like to upload as part of the website build?

 YES

 NO

If so, what is the size of the database? ______

Can you prepare the database in an excel or csv (comma separated value format)?

 YES

32 Domains/Web Addresses

Locate and list all key information on ALL domains your company/entity/you the individual currently owns.

Domain name: ______

Purchase Date: ______

Expiry Date: ______

Who registered with? ______

Username______

Password______

Name of Registrant (person or company) ______

Registrant ID (ABN/CAN etc.) ______

Registrant Contact Person ______

Registrant Contact Email ______

Tech Contact Name ______

Tech Contact Email ______

33 Log Ins (Optional)

Locate and list all key information ALL important log ins for easy retrieval

Google Account:

Username: ______

Password: ______

Google Analytics:

Username: ______

Password: ______

Others:

______

Congratulations – you have yourself a website plan!

34 Action Plan

Please list here any action points you need to commit to as a result of this Website Plan. Revisit this section regularly.

Action required Description Who will be Resources Deadline responsible Required

Action required Description Who will be Resources Deadline

35 responsible Required