Website Healthcheck

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Author “Website Manager’s Handbook”ISBN 978-1-4116-8529-1: www.diffily.com/book/

Senior Analyst with iQ Content www.iqcontent.com

Owner of www.likeplace.ie Social network about places to live in Ireland

Shane Diffily

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Healthcheck

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Healthcheck

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Cure me!

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Cure thyself!

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

The web?

Design

Code

Usability

WidgetsAppsFlash

Web 2.0

Twitter

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Money!

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Investment » » Return

Bang for buck

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Not Facebook

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Your reality?

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4 tips…Kit yourself for success.

Don’t overstretch.

Get a little better everyday.

Measure.

#1: Kit yourself for success

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

UsabilitySecurity

Publishing Multimedia

InformationArchitecture

Analytics CodingPublicity

Design

Editing

DNS

Development

Feedback

Testing

Accessibility

Web Policies

Site PlanningPerformance

SLA ReviewPrivacy

Legal Review

Hosting

Change Control Web Standards

QA

Content Creation

Business continuity

Website Infrastructure

And more!And more!

Won’t just happen

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Need resource

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Activities

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1. Publishing

2. Quality Assurance

3. Feedback Monitoring

4. Performance Monitoring

5. Technical Monitoring

6. Change Control

Maintenance

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1. Planning

2. Content

3. Design

4. Build

5. Testing

6. Hosting

7. Publicity

8. Review

Development

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1. Budget & time

2. Skilled people

3. Tools

Mix depends on the ‘scale’ of your site.

Key inputs

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Scale is…

1. Size (effort needed to manage content)

2. Complexity (technology)

3. Levels of traffic (busy-ness)

Bigger ‘scale’ = more resource.

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Small scale site

Skilled people are #1 requirement

Design skills

Code skills

Content skills

Site management skills

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Healthcheck Do you have skilled people?

Typically a small scale site requires, 1 person with excellent skills + tools + time.

Are all maintenance activities covered?Review the website management model at http://www.diffily.com/blog/2009/09/diagram-of- website-governance.htm

#2: Don’t overstretch

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Overstretch

Built Can afford

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Usually forgotten

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Symptoms

Out of date content Broken links Missing files Design inconsistencies Etc.

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“We will build the world’s GREATEST pet food website!”

Your vision!

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Your resourcing?

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Let’s be realistic

Low resourcing = Small scale site

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Growth

If resource grows – scale can grow

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Does the the scale of your site match your resource investment?Calculate the time needed to manage the site, e.g. based on frequency/duration of maintenance activities.

If you have out-of-date content, broken links & unanswered feedback = you are overstretching.

Read more about website scale at:http://www.alistapart.com/articles/manpoweronawebteam

Healthcheck

#3: Get a little better everyday

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Perfect day 1?

Extremely unlikely

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Tweak & fine-tune

A sign of STRENGTH - not weakness

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What to do

Text, e.g. make shorter. Links, e.g. rename for clarity. Design, e.g. change placements.

Usually you’ll be taking stuff OUT – not adding

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How to know

Analytics Feedback Site review

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Experiment

Empower skilled staff who know how to create a great online experience.

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

When was the last time you made a small incremental change to your website?You should be making at least 1 or 2 changes per week.

Less than this suggests you are not monitoring activity closely or do not have enough resource to make things happen.

Healthcheck

#4: Measure yourself

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Success = Hits?

1,000,000,000 x 1010

hits on our website!!(But sales = €0.12c)

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Success = Value

€ Revenue Positive opinions

€ Cost

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Success = ROI

Investment » » Return

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Track investment

Budget & time Skilled people Tools

What’s the TOTAL investment cost?

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Track KPIs

Visitors Subscriptions # Sales

What are the key measures?

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Track return

What value is generated?

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Inputs

Analytics Feedback Systems

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How do you measure success on your website?Do you track investment vs return?

You should create a dashboard of KPIs & track them on a scheduled basis.

Calculate the Return on Investment to find out if the website is worth your time & effort.

Healthcheck

And more…

IIA 2010© iQ Content Ltd.

Start with these…Kit yourself for success.

Don’t overstretch.

Get a little better everyday.

Measure.

Shane DiffilyiQ Content Ltd.2nd Floor OfficesClarendon House34-37 Clarendon StreetDublin 2

Tel: +353 1 6771140Email: info@iqcontent.comWeb: www.iqcontent.com