Report: League Computer Solutions, Inc.’s Website

Introduction

This report will address the current state of the League Computer Solutions, Inc. website and provide ways to improve the functionality of the website as well as clarify its purpose. I have conducted a content audit, looking at both the quantitative and qualitative aspects of the website. In this report, I will analyze these results and explain what the website is currently doing, and what it is not doing. Then, I will provide a core strategy for the website’s content with consideration to the audience of the business and construct main messages that the content should convey. Afterwards I will provide ways to revise the current content so that it achieves the core strategy with attention to both the substance itself and its ideal structure. Finally, I will address the workflow of the revision task and how to maintain the content once it has been adjusted, as well as constraints and other factors.

Content Audit Review

Main Global Issues

From the content audit, I saw that too much information focuses on social media compared to computer services. Both sides of the business are equally important but social media has more tabs, links, pages, and Home Page information than computer services. In addition, the computer services tab does not contain much information in the limited space that it has. This is the main issue with the site; it does not give equal priority to both sides of the business. There is too much content about social media, and not enough about computer services.

In addition to computer services having limited space and content, only occupying one page on the site out of twelve, I also noticed that there was not a clear distinction between programming services and computer repair/troubleshooting services on the tab for computer services that explained the specific work that David does, and for which audience. The page lists the various services in bullet points without a clear separation of the type of service each one falls under. With my background knowledge of the business, I also know that the business is very flexible and provides many more services than the four listed. Users will want, and need, more information about this side of the business. The contact page more clearly separates the services and clearly identifies the audiences. This information should be more prominent.

The social media pages, on the other hand, contain a huge amount of information. The main social media tab, the blog, and almost all of the main links on the home page are about social media. In total, seven of twelve pages on the website are about social media. Each page is at least twice as long as the computer services tab. This information can tell us two things: 1) the website clearly gives preference to social media and 2) the amount of information about social media is

most likely overwhelming to a user who will want to visit the site, quickly gather information, and make a decision.

Localized Concerns

The concerns listed here, although not the primary issues globally affecting the way users perceive the website and how it portrays the business, are nonetheless important and should also be considered as a result of the audit and on the table for revision:

• Most of the social media pages contained a lot of text with different fonts, colors, and sizes. This could be distracting for users and diminish clarity and credibility. These pages could be revised to look cleaner and easier to read or skim while still providing enough information.

• The social media pages had a very sales-focused tone, which seems to be absent from other parts of the website. The tone of the company needs to be constant throughout the site, and “salesman” may not be the most effective way to sell this type of business.

• Many of the links on the home page are only present on the Home Page. All of them are social media based, but are not found in the social media tab. Other social media pages were only findable through embedded links from other pages. Some did not occupy main tabs or primary redirect links from a main tab.

• The Home Page links, except for the main tabs and the links to the main tabs, are all social media pages. The Home Page also contains widgets, focused on the blog tab, that are only for the social media side of the business. This makes the entire website feel like 1) a blog, and 2) only about social media services.

• Some information repeats across multiple pages when it should be streamlined and present in only one location that is easy to find.

• The Contact Page seemed unnecessary because contact forms were provided on many of the other main tabs.

• Most pages have social media sharing buttons, which seem unnecessary and contributes to the entire site feeling like a blog. Users will most likely not want to share League Computer’s privacy policy on their Facebook page.

• There are no prices listed for these services; users will most likely want to know immediately what to expect if they choose to contact this business.

• The visit counters on each page do not seem accurate and seem more like data collection for the owners than public information.

Core Strategy, Messages, and Audiences

Core Strategy

After working through the extensive inventory of the website and analyzing its content, this core strategy seems to be the basis of the company:

League Computer Solutions, Inc. is committed to becoming the number one provider of computer, programming, and social media services for its clients and anyone in the company’s target audiences that needs help with any of these three main services.

This is, of course, a lofty goal, but a core strategy is the aspirational, driving strategy that informs the content of a website.

Messages

The main messages of the company, based on the core strategy, should revolve around the services being:

• affordable• sustainable• accurate and relevant• reliable• customer-centered

The content should reflect these main messages.

Audiences

Based on my knowledge of the company and the information on the website, the audience is the Pasco, Hernando, Hillsborough, and Pinellas counties of Florida as well as nationwide clients (specifically larger companies around the state of Florida and in St. Louis for the programming and repair services), and online nationwide clients for the social media business. The content should be directed toward these audiences; because this is such a broad audience and changes depending on which side of the business we look at, the content will have to be adjusted to be inclusive of a variety of potential clientele.

Substance and Structure of Content: What Are We Revising, and How?

The revision plan focuses on these main current pages:

• Home Page• Computer Services page• Social Media Services page• Other Social Media pages• Contact Page

I will be discussing: the content that needs to be changed (substance) to fix the issues noted in the Content Audit Review and to align with the core strategy, messages, and audience; and where it belongs on the website (structure).

The Home Page

The Home Page currently promotes the dominance of social media services. These links and sections need to be removed and placed elsewhere (their destinations will be discussed in the Social Media Services section). However, the function of the Home Page as a landing page makes sense; the redirects to the main tabs should stay. The Home Page could also function as a place for current promotions, deals, or news from the business.

The widgets focusing on the blog also do not belong on this page. They are only for social media services and specifically for the blog, so they belong on the blog page as a way to increase the options for navigation. Although the blog itself is not a main focus in this report, the categories and recent posts (and the addition of an archive or tags, perhaps) are either already present on the blog page or belong there as a mode of navigation.

Some of the contact information on the Home Page repeats in two places. The information in the header is simple and straightforward, so that should stay where it is; the address located at the bottom of the page should be moved to the contact page (this will be discussed more in the Contact Page section). The links to the business’s social media pages also repeats twice and one should be removed. I suggest the links at the top be removed, as they do not line up with the header boundaries.

Computer Services Page

The Computer Services page needs a substance overhaul. The services need to be categorized according to their clientele (audience) and purpose. The services also need elaboration on par with the Social Media Services page: why might the user want this service? What can the client can expect from the service, including potential price points, and how the services are provided? Users may not know if they should expect to bring their computers to the business location, if the business will dispatch someone to their location, or if they will receive the consulting online, etc.

The four services listed, after being categorized with headings, also need to be more specific. They currently are vague; what exactly does “technical support” or “troubleshooting” mean, especially for a user who is not familiar with computer language? Since the business does provide more than just these four services, it either needs to be made clear that the business can do more or that they are flexible about the services they will provide for each individual client. If we feel that the four currently listed encompass all potential services, it would be helpful for the user to see specific examples of these services.

It should also be clarified what “computer” means. Will this business only troubleshoot PCs? Will they work with Macs, or tablets? Are smartphones considered computers? A clear definition of the types of technologies and products the business works with would help users know if this is the right service for them and would eliminate repeat questions from various customers.

Lastly, the contact form should be removed from this page as there is a redirect link to the Contact Page already, and more than one location to contact the business is confusing for users as well as redundant.

Social Media Services Page

This page is close to providing categories of services, but the beginning of the page feels more like a sales pitch and only later in the numbering do we get an idea of what services or products the business provides for users who are interested in social media. It should be made clearer that the page is providing a categorization of services and the sales tone removed so that the business’s purpose and messages are not overshadowed by the feeling that the business wants to sell a product as opposed to help the client.

Like the Computer Services page, even vague prices would be helpful for users. This page does do a better job of identifying audiences, how services are delivered, and what the customer should expect. The organization, however, makes it difficult to find this important information. There is a lot of text on the page and users will not want to spend a lot of time reading everything to find what they want. It is difficult to skim. In addition, there are too many different types of emphasis and variation in the text. Some things are italicized to bring attention to them, but compared to the enlarged and colored text, they are lost in the page.

These problems needs to be adjusted so that the page is more user-friendly and delivers the right content in the right format. To start, the information should be reduced and combined so that it is less daunting to try to skim through. Once the amount of content is more manageable, the page should be organized according to the type of service with clearer headings and emphasis so that the user knows what to look at. Instead of four levels of emphasis that compete with each other, the page only needs one or two levels to organize the type of service and the clientele.

Other Social Media Pages

The Home Page currently houses the other social media page links. Since they will be removed according to this plan, these pages need to be accessible in another way. I propose a drop-down menu when the user hovers over the Social Media Services tab. This way, the user will be able to view the main Social Media page and see a menu of other page options that they can visit. This puts all of the social media information in one place and removes much of the visual domination of social media. These pages should also be linked in the main Social Media tab.

As far as the pages themselves, they contain a lot of information. The many sections, font sizes and colors, and infographics can be overwhelming for a user. Much of this information can be consolidated and presented succinctly, similarly accomplished by the plan outlined in the previous Social Media Services section.

The tone in these pages needs to be adjusted to match the Computer Services tab. By diminishing the sales tone and being more direct about the services offered, users will be more inclined to see the credibility of the business and see that the business is client-centered, not simply trying to sell products.

Contact Us Page

The address from the Home Page should be moved to this page. As it is part of location or contact information, it belongs on this page. Although a map of the business location is normally essential for businesses, it does not really apply to this business since most of the work is done at the client’s site, which should be specified here as well as in Computer Services. Perhaps adding a map of local areas serviced for technical support would be helpful for users.

This page currently only gives the contact form as a way to contact the business; before providing the form, remind users that they can call the phone number. Although the number is already listed at the top of the header, provide it in the Contact Page as well.

Audiences do not need to be identified here, as they should be moved to both Social Media Services and Computer Services. The summary of audiences and services beneath the contact form is redundant because once the two aforementioned tabs are revised, they will provide a clear and comprehensive description of the services and audiences. It also is easy to miss because it is beneath the contact form where some users may not scroll.

Lastly, since this is a contact page, users will expect to see hours of operation. At what times of day can they call the business? Will the business respond to emails on weekends? If they want a weekend appointment, is that possible? The hours will have to reflect both sides of the business and both subdivisions of computer services (programming and troubleshooting/tech support).

Overall Revisions

The visit counter should be removed from each page; it can be a negative attribute if pages are not visited often and users can see that pages are not visited often. I also think it may be malfunctioning, as I have been visiting each page multiple times and noticing that the numbers seem wrong for what I have been contributing to the traffic.

The share buttons should be removed from each page; as I stated in the Content Audit Review, there is a very low chance that users will want to share these pages to their social media accounts.

Again, although the blog is not a main focus of the report, it should either start to include posts about the Computer Services side of the business or be moved into the drop-down menu under Social Media Services. Currently it contributes to the domination of Social Media Services because it only addresses that side of the business but has its own tab.

Finally, the certifications posted around the website are scattered and if users do not know what they are, they might wonder if these are fake. Perhaps creating a section for awards and licenses would help keep all of these together and providing a few sentences of background information for each one would help contextualize their purpose for users.

Governance and Workflow

Because this task is a large undertaking and will be time-consuming, but cannot be drawn out or in progress for an extended period because this will diminish the usability of the site and potentially affect the business, I suggest a timeline be created and anywhere from a few days to a week be dedicated to fixing the website.

Terry is currently in charge of the website and will most likely be completing the revision of the site. Because she is also working and facing time constraints, I think it will be most effective to block out a set amount of time each day to working on the website. Ideally, this should not last more than a week; taking two or three hours a day for a week to revise the website should be sufficient. One way to do this would be to focus on a page a day, or a section of the Substance and Structure portion of this report per day.

With specific regard to the blog, which is entirely social media-based, I suggest that David make some posts that could be on the blog so that it represents both parts of the business. He could create simple computer FAQs that address small, common computer problems, or step-by-step processes that users could do on their own. Since he is methodical and direct in his writing, this would be a way for him to contribute meaningfully.

Once everything has been revised, messages conveyed, audiences considered, and core strategy implemented, the content needs to be looked after by someone to ensure that it is updated, accurate, and functioning. I suggest Terry check over the site every two weeks, visiting each page, and making adjustments where needed. The core strategy should be kept in mind for each of these check-up visits, and content critically considered.

Conclusion: Last Considerations

Before starting this project, constraints need to be addressed. As mentioned in the previous section, Terry is the one running the website while simultaneously working her side of the business. Because she will be the only one writing and keeping track of site, things may need to be adjusted to consider the amount of work that one person has to handle. Another constraint is that David is very minimalistic and direct; if he tries to work on the website and start writing for it, the tone and style of the writing will be drastically different. His blog posts, if he agrees to write them, might have to be edited to fit Terry’s style.

The WordPress platform itself is a constraint. Some of the revisions in this plan may not be possible with the current theme or within WordPress’s allowances for customization. If this is the case, adjustments will have to be made to the plan that still fit within the core strategy and main messages.

Lastly, I did not look at the blog itself; some information in those posts might need to be updated, as they might be advice for navigating social media sites that have been updated since then. Working through the content on the blog and making sure that it is updated and accurate will be a completely different project on its own. However, it is more important to revise the website as a whole to reflect the business and its principles first before trying to tackle the blog.