Understanding what makes your website work

All website owners should have a plan for getting their site back online in case of an emergency. To develop an effective emergency plan, you must first understand what services are required to ensure that your website works properly. The resource provided below provides a template for reviewing your website service providers. For each area of service there is a check box to indicate if this service or product is “mission critical”. By mission critical, I mean that without the service or product your website is useless. This is step 1 in developing a plan. For each area of service, you will want to note the vendor or person providing (supporting) the service or product. This will be helpful later as you assess your level of vulnerability and as you develop a backup plan for each.

The Resource

Step 1: Developing a Website Emergency Plan
The Website Information Worksheet

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Day 5: Tips for Developing Unique and Compelling Website Content

In developing content for your website, it is not only important that you consider what information to communicate, but how to communicate that information. Writing unique website content that compels a visitor to take action can take some effort (unless that’s your gift). To ensure that your content resonates with your target audience, you must first have a good understanding of the message you are trying to convey and your target audience and their values.

Writing compelling content involves more than ensuring that your sentences are well structured, grammatically correct and void of spelling and punctuation errors. You must communicate your information in a way that speaks to your target audience and supports the brand that you’re trying to create or maintain.

The Message

Define what you’d like your visitors to understand about you and your business. What are your business values? What is the “big picture” message that you’d like to convey?

The Content

Ensure that all of your website content supports this message.  Here are a few simple tips for ensuring that your content supports your unique business brand while serving the needs of your visitors:

1. Use of stories – Use real customer stories, case studies or testimonials to support your sales copy. Real stories are unique selling points if you express them effectively. When telling customer stories, be sure to include only compelling information that is valuable to your target audience; eliminate the rest.
2. Catchy taglines or slogans – Create a tagline or slogan that is a memorable, yet brief statement of why the visitor should buy the product or service
3. Be real – Write as if you are speaking to a customer.
4. Use a consistent tone – Depending on your target audience, your content may portray a casual or formal tone. Be sure you maintain a consistent ‘voice’ throughout the website.
5. Eliminate jargon – Omit language that your customers don’t use naturally. You certainly want well-written content, but it should be not be difficult to understand or require that visitors have a dictionary nearby.
6. Use media – The use of video and audio are very effective if produced properly. People often “scan” websites. They are more likely to watch a video or listen to audio, if it’s interesting and of value to them.
7. Declutter – Eliminate any content that does not align with your “brand”

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Day 4: Defining your online customer service standards

Serving customers is a required activity for everyone in business. There are certainly differences in the method for providing service to online vs. offline customers, however you should provide customer service in a consistent and predictable manner for all customers.

The Standard

You can begin to develop a customer service standard by defining the following levels of support for your company:

1. When is it appropriate for someone to contact you? Are there questions or issues that are unrelated to your business? Are there questions that violate your terms with the customer (ex: questions re: refunds, job postings etc.)?
2. Preferred Method of Contact – What is the best way for customers to reach you? There’s not really a right or wrong answer, but you want to consider the needs of your customers. Also, it’s best that the method of contact for issues that require urgent attention be separated from ‘general’ support issues and questions.
3. What are your operating hours – Most small to mid size business have operating hours and can not afford to be available 24/7/365. Are there time periods during which you and/or your business are unavailable to provide support? Are there exceptions to this rule (i.e. life is hanging in the balance) or is it set in stone? Manage expectations by noting your operating hours in the website contact areas.
4. Turnaround time – What can customers expect in terms of how quickly you’re available to respond to their issue(s)?

The Content

Once you’ve defined your levels of support, ensure that you have developed website content that align with those standards. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Example: The Information / Help Page

This is your method for answering questions from customers that couldn’t obtain the information elsewhere on your website, for whatever reason. If you tend to receive the same question repeatedly, you will want to consider including this information in a prominent location on your product/service pages or providing it in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) area.

1. When is it appropriate for someone to contact you with questions or inquiries? If you receive the same question frequently, consider including that information on your product/service pages or on a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page. Providing the answer as quickly as possible should be the goal. Reserve your support hours to questions that have to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis.
2. Preferred Method of Contact for Inquiries – What is the best way for customers to make an inquiry? Are customers required to submit their question via a contact form? Are they required to call you? Is there a Live Chat feature on the website? The method for asking a question should be obvious.
3. What are your operating hours for responding to inquiries – During business hours only?
4. Turnaround time – What can customers expect in terms of how quickly you’re available to respond to inquiries? What is your standard for responding to those inquiries (within 24 hours, immediately, 8 hours, 2 hours, 48 hours)? This information should be transparent to the customer. Perhaps on the contact page you would indicate that the customer can expect to receive a response within a specific timeframe. Or you could use an auto-responder system to email this information to their mail account.

Example: The Billing Support Pages

For websites that accept online payments, it is critical that you highlight your billing procedures on the website. Providing this information on the website is necessary due to the fact that the customer is not standing in front of you. With in-person transactions, many customers assume that if there’s a billing issue, they can simple walk back into the store. You want your “online store” to mirror the experience of an offline store as much as possible. Many online stores create a wonderful before-sale experience, but after the sale is completed, there’s no clear method for dealing with billing issues. For billing questions indicate:

1. When is it appropriate for someone to contact you with a billing question or inquiry? Indicate in your website content if the customer should be contacting another entity instead (ex: bank, credit card company, payment gateway service etc.). This creates a more efficient service process for you, as you reduce the number of unrelated issues submitted. This provides a high level of service for your customers because it saves them time and sends them in the right direction.
2. Preferred Method of Contact for Billing Questions – What is the best way for customers to ask a billing question? Are customers required to submit their billing question via a contact form? What information is required (receipt #, order date, billing name etc.)? Or are they required to call you? The method for asking a billing question should be obvious.
3. What are your operating hours for responding to billing questions – During business hours only?
4. Turnaround time – What can customers expect in terms of how quickly you’re available to respond to billing questions? Billing is a sensitive issue for customers, therefore it is important that this information is presented clearly.

The Resources

Feel free to use the provided Powerpoint Presentation for your notes.

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Day 3: Using Content to Create Trust & Build Confidence

When a new visitor visits your website there are many questions that they need answered as quickly as possible. It doesn’t take much for a visitor to decide that doing business with your organization poses too great of a risk. This is particularly true if the visitor is unfamiliar with you or your company. Online consumers provide very little wiggle room when dealing with unfamiliar organizations. It is up to you to use your web content to minimize the level of risk that an online consumer will typically experience.

The Consumer

What are consumers concerned about anyway?

1. LEGITIMACY: Is this a real business? Am I dealing with a legitimate organization?
2. REPUTATION AND CREDIBILITY: Is this a reputable organization and will I potentially receive a sub-standard product or service?
3. PROTECTION AND SECURITY: Is my personal contact and/or billing information protected? Will I potentially be exposed to ID theft?
4. PRIVACY: What will happen to my information once submitted to your organization? Will it be transferred or sold to third party organizations without my permission, potentially exposing me to an onslaught of spam, junk mail and telemarketing calls?
5. LEVEL OF CUSTOMER SERVICE: Once the business/payment transaction has taken place, are you willing and able to provide customer support?

The Content

Use the Content Matrix (See Day 1) to identify the items that will address the concerns that most online consumers share. You will want to identify standard area(s) in your website design/layout to display this information. It is very important that this information is easily found, as you have less than 10 seconds to convince a new website visitor to remain on your site. Here are a few ideas for creating trust with your website content:

1. Clearly describe your business on the home page in as few words as possible.
2. Use testimonials to build your credibility. It is best that each testimonial clearly displays the name and organization (if applicable) of the writer. Testimonials that are written by a set of initials are not taken as seriously as testimonials written by a full name, which are not taken as seriously as testimonials written by a full name + other supporting information such as an organization or location (city/state).
3. Designate a page or area to display your organizations achievements and any relevant credentials. This will help educate the consumer on you and your organizations’ qualifications.
4. Beef up your contact page. It is best practice if your website includes the following business contact information: Mailing Address, Phone, and Email or a web based Contact Form. You will want to display at least 2 of the 3 options, preferably all three. The mailing address establishes legitimacy. With a mailing address consumers will know that if they want to verify your business, they can do so. Also, displaying a business phone number gives consumers the sense that if, for whatever reason, they don’t have access to email or if your email is unavailable, they have a 2nd point of contact for you.
5. Ensure that your customer service process is visible and apparent. The last thing anyone wants to do is to buy something from someone that isn’t available for questions afterward. The website should clearly state how, when and where to go for questions and concerns.
6. Clearly state your return policy and any ‘money back’ guarantees. Don’t hide this information in a five page Terms document. No one will read that. It’s best to be upfront, which will minimize frustration, manage expectations and avoid miscommunication.
7. Clearly state how/if you will store the consumers information. Provide the cliff notes version; don’t hide it in a lengthy privacy agreement (ex: We won’t sell your data to any third parties at any time, We will only use your information to contact you regarding your purchase etc.). Keep it simple. Otherwise, the consumer will feel that if it’s takes 3500 words to explain what you’re doing with their information, you must be doing something shady.

These are just a few ideas for using your content to build trust & confidence. Keep in mind your target audience and their concerns, then evaluate your content and look for opportunities to create trust and build confidence.

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Day 2: Developing a Customer Focused Content Plan

Taking inventory of your existing content is the first step toward ensuring that your website content provides value to your target audience and is effective in meeting your business goals. Once you’ve documented the content current available, the next step is to (re)define and evaluate your target audience.

The Website Visitor

Who exactly are your target website visitors? In defining the types of visitors you’d like to attract to your website, take it a step beyond “people (with money) who need to buy widgets.” Enhance your target audience definition with a solution-oriented approach.

Target Audience #1: Potential Buyers of my Widget Products

Target Audience #2: Existing/Former Customers

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You get the picture. This exercise forces you to think like your audience. You may want to take it a step further and query your existing customers regarding their initial impression of your site and how your website could provide more value to them today.

The Content

The second part to this exercise is to answer the following questions for each item noted in your content audit. Keep in mind your ideal/target audience as you answer the following questions:

1. Is this content accurate (i.e. are there errors, typos, miscommunications that should be addressed)?
2. Is this content still relevant?
3. Which of my business goals does this support?
4. Who (exactly) would find this content useful? Be specific. (ex: my current customers, customers requiring technical support, potential customers who are making a purchasing decision, the media etc.)
5. How (exactly) does this item provide value to my target audience?
6. Can this item be enhanced further to provide additional relevant information or enhance the visitors experience while browsing my site?

NOTE: If you’re using the Content Matrix provided on Day 1, you may want to add additional columns to document your answers to the questions above.

The Goal

The goal of this exercise is to:

1. Clearly define your target audience and their needs.
2. Determine the existing content that should remain and the items that should be omitted. Any content that doesn’t support your business goals or serve the needs of your target audience should be omitted. You don’t want to water down your message or confuse your visitors with too much or irrelevant information.
3. Determine if additional content is needed to ensure that you’re providing value to your target audience.
4. Identify any content maintenance issues (ex: misspellings, grammatical errors, outdated information).
5. Strategically document your content plan. This will be valuable for future website enhancement projects.

The Resource

Feel free to download this summary in PDF format.

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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Day 1: The Content Audit

Every website owner should review their website periodically to ensure that the content is up-to-date, relevant to their target audience and effective. The first step in this process is to perform a content audit, which involves cataloging and assessing your existing website content. This session will focus on cataloging or taking inventory of your existing content. This phase will serve as the foundation for the remaining activities, therefore it is important that you schedule enough time to perform a careful review.

The Importance of Effective Website Content:

(cliche alert) Content is king. Without effective content, there’s no website. There are many uses for content:

• To inform.
• To answer your visitors/customers questions.
• To manage expectations.
• To build trust & credibility.
• To drive decision-making.
• To entertain.
• To build relationships/community.
• To educate.

A comprehensive content review process will ensuring that your business goals for your website align with the needs of your target audience. Also, you want to ensure that your website is not cluttered with out-dated, ineffective, and unfocused content.

The Goal:

Here are a few important reasons why perform a periodic inventory of your content is important:

1. To ensure that you’re providing value to your target audience – Your website content should be reader or customer-focused. The first step to determining if your content serves the needs of your readers is to take an inventory of the content that exist today.
2. To serve as a reference during website development, content enhancement or web enhancement projects – This step is also critical when planning a new website or website enhancement project to ensure that valuable content stays and invaluable or wasteful content goes.
3. To facilitate website maintenance and emergency planning – It goes without saying that you should backup all website content. Also, knowing the last date an item was updated will give you a better sense of out dated content items. In case of an emergency, you need to know what you have on the website and where to find it (the source).

The Resource:

A content matrix is a great tool for documenting each content item and its attributes. Click the following link to download a copy of a Content Matrix tool that will get you started.

Also, download this summary, which includes a description of the column headings in the Content Matrix file.

Kishau Rogers

Kishau Rogers is the President and Founder of Websmith Group, a web application development company. Her mission is to connect businesses with the information and technologies necessary to meet their goals EFFECTIVELY. Kishau Rogers holds a Computer Science Degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and has over sixteen years of experience, which includes web, application and database development. Kishau also speaks, blogs, and writes articles to educate organizations and entrepreneurs on resources and best practices for ensuring effective, dynamic and innovation web solutions.

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