We Need A New Web Site!We Need A New Web Site!

Doing Your Web Design RightDoing Your Web Design Right

IntroductionsIntroductions

• Michael Weiss – CEO Imagistic– Internet Software and Services Company– 10 Years experience developing Web sites for Non-Profits

• Robert Rose – VP Product Strategy CrownPeak– 10 Years working with organizations of all sizes – web

infrastructure design and strategy– Specialization in Internet marketing and communications

Plan for your next site Re-designPlan for your next site Re-design

• The Development Process

• Managing Your Site

• Budget

• Q/A

• Resources

The Development Process: RFPThe Development Process: RFP

• How do I get started… – Start by “looking in”. – What do you really need? – Talk to your people!– Out of this document comes an RFP

• RFP Selection Process– Get a short list of firms– Request “solutions”– You’ll have your own criteria – select a firm that’s fits your

needs….

The Development Process: DiscoveryThe Development Process: Discovery

• Discovery – Do it all again…. – You’ve missed something.– Not a 500 page document

• The deliverable: The Statement of Work– Details the BREADTH of the scope. – Top Level needs and priorities– Parking Lot– Paperwork. – No Pretty Pictures yet.

Development Process: Functional Spec.Development Process: Functional Spec.

– Details the DEPTH

– Defines the “what” is going to be built

– Identifies the audience

– Identifies each piece of functionality

– Wire Frames, Content Inventory

The Development Process: IAThe Development Process: IA

• THE most important step in web site design

• Don’t skip this step!

• Wireframes are not a site map

• Wireframes are not hand-drawn.

• Sign off on the wire frames – your designer will love you

The Development Process: DesignThe Development Process: Design

• Now come the pretty pictures

• By far the most emotional and difficult phase

• The people who said “I don’t care about this” suddenly do

• Keep the cooks in the kitchen to a small group

The Development Process: DevelopmentThe Development Process: Development

• The longest phase of the project

• What do you during this phase?

• Your role is to be available for reviews, questions and a little QA

The Development Process: Typical TimelineThe Development Process: Typical Timeline

– Integration• 2-4 weeks

– Content Migration• 4-6 weeks

– Custom Development• 4-6 weeks

– QA• 4-6

– Stabilization• 2 months• There WILL be bugs – this is software

Now We’re Ready To Manage It!!Now We’re Ready To Manage It!!Er…. I think we are….Er…. I think we are….

Managing Your WebSite: What Now?Managing Your WebSite: What Now?

• What Did You Get?

• What Have You Signed Up For?

• One Rant Is Not A Blog

• Guess How Long Till You Get To Do It Again?

You Redesigned And All You Got Was The T-Shirt

Managing Your WebSite: Tools?Managing Your WebSite: Tools?

10. Buying a CMS is still harder thanbuying your first house!

09. Most CMS vendors don’t help customersbe good web site managers

08. Most CRM, CMS, Hosting and WebAnalytics implementations still gounsupported after launch

07. Open Source solves the wrong problem

06. Customers overpay for features they’llnever use, and are rarely deliveredthe services they need.

Top 10 Software Dirty Little Secrets….

Managing Your WebSite: Tools?Managing Your WebSite: Tools?

5. Buying a CMS to have a better website is like buying a mop to keep thekitchen clean

4. Implementation is easy. Management is hard.

3. Most organization have few, infrequentsite management software users

2. Companies buy software based onROI, but don’t ever measure it

01. Content migration sucks

Top 10 Software Dirty Little Secrets….

• Some Vendors won’t volunteerthe truth….

• “Plans are worthless.Planning is priceless” - Winston Churchill

• 5500041650

Shhhhh…..Content Migration Is Hard!

Managing Your WebSite: Migration?Managing Your WebSite: Migration?

• Usability

• Training

• Communication

• Review. Measure. Iterate.

Managing Your WebSite: Launch & RolloutManaging Your WebSite: Launch & Rollout

• Measure twice… confuse.. err.. Impress your boss

• Learn from Google

• Support it – and it will work.

• Business decisions, not triage

• Best-of-breed NOT all-in-one

Managing Your WebSite: Back To StrategyManaging Your WebSite: Back To Strategy

• Sample Development Budgets

– Small: $10,000 to $50,000

– Large: $50,000 to $100,000

– Time is money. These projectstake time.

– Negotiate rates but hoursare hours. Compare apples to apples

– $20 an hour to $200 an hour.

BudgetsBudgets

This isn’t Poker. It’s a Partnership

• Web Site Management Applications

– Open Source isn’t free.

– Site Mgmt Application/Support:

– CMS or CRM: $20K-$100K annually

– Analytics – Free to $500+ annually

– Hosting - $50/mo to $1,500/mo

BudgetsBudgets

This isn’t Poker. It’s a Partnership

10. Never think this going to take 4 weeks

9. Never think you can do this alone

8. Never skip the IA Phase

7. Never do this without an RFP

6. Never send the RFP to more than 5 firms

5. Never choose a vendor based on price alone

4. Never ask your IT Manager to manage thisprocess this alone

3. Never start without a budget in mind

2. Never start this process without key stakeholders involved

1. Never hire your boss’ nephew

Mike & Robert’s Top 10 Never Do This….Mike & Robert’s Top 10 Never Do This….

Rob Rose

rob.rose@crownpeak.com

Mike Weiss

michaelw@imagistic.com

You Have Questions… come on you know you do.You Have Questions… come on you know you do.