This site shows how to manage sites with huge content

1. A Case Study for Heavy
content website
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

2. I’m going to tell you a
story about the
a website
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

3. For some of you,
the ideas discussed here
will not
be new
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

4. Hopefully some of my
experiences may be
interesting
or useful
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

5. Not all projects are
fast. But you can
still get there!
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

6. a background
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

7. The website was
first created
in 1994
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

8. Since then,
the site has grown
enormously…
Tekblink Technology
Website Design and Development

9. Currently around
43,000 pages
and 16 sites

10. trouble in paradise

11. The situation has
gradually deteriorated
over the last few years

12. Harder to maintain

13. Users cannot find
content in the
site easily

14. Traffic is gradually
levelling off

15. Users can interact
elsewhere
more easily

16. The website lost
its relevancy in
the market

17. time for a change?

18. Four years ago
we went to
management
with an idea

19. To build a rich,
interactive
website

20. Focusing on four
key interaction
objectives:

21. 1. Allow authors to
communicate
more directly and
immediately

22. 2. Allow users to
communicate with
Museum staff and
each other

23. 3. Allow users to
interact with our
content in a variety
of ways

24. 4. Allow users to share
their own content

25. What did
management
think of our
idea?

26. Initially, there was
some reluctance, but
now everyone
is on board!

27. how to implement?

28. There are two main
approaches to
implementing
interactivity
on a
website

29. Approach 1:
Small steps and
test the water

30. Approach 2:
Major overhaul
of the entire
site

31. In most cases,
“small steps” are
preferred

32. You can add
components to an
existing website
without major
work

33. You can test the
impact of these
changes and
adjust as
needed

34. Users can gradually
adapt as the site
changes

35. However…

36. We chose the
“major overhaul”
approach

37. Reason 1:
Because our current site
has
so many
issues…

38. Reason 2:
The major overhaul
will allow us to create
an integrated
system

39. Integrated system:
allows authors to
publish all content
via one simple
system

40. Integrated system:
allows users to move
seamlessly through any
type of
content

41. what to implement?

42. We need a wiki!

43. It’s very easy to be
attracted to
features for
the wrong
reasons

44. We didn’t want the
site to become
just a bunch
of cool tools

45. So, during
planning, we
asked some key
questions

46. Question 1:
Will it match our aims
and objectives?

47. Question 2:
Will it add value
for users?

48. Question 3:
Will the feature
fill a need?

49. Question 4:
What are the
implications?

50. Each feature of our
new website has been
debated
and fought
over

51. Nothing was
added simply because
it’s cool

52. how will it work?

53. The overall site

54. Every piece of content
will be an asset - no
more “web pages”

55. content
movies
audios
events
documents…

56. Users can interact
with any asset

57. share user-content
add comments
save favourites
create sets
add tags

58. What’s in it
for users

59. Comment on
any asset

60. Add tags to any asset

61. User tags will provide
new methods of
navigation and
richer search

62. Collect favourites

63. Create favourite sets
and share these sets
with others

64. Upload their own
content

65. images
movies
audios
stories

66. Apply for
expert status

67. help monitor
answer questions
encourage discussion
create content

68. What’s in it
for staff

69. Every staff member will
become
an author

70. Publish assets directly
(after training)

71. Own their assets

72. Create their own
focused, passionate
and personal blogs

73. Microblog
instant news

74. Social tools

75. Our team’s role will
expand from content
creation to content
distribution and success
tracking

76. Twitter, Facebook etc
used to broadcast
content as well as
promote content

77. Video/audio housed on
our site but also pushed
out to variety of other
sites (via tubemogul etc)

78. possible issues?

79. During planning
we uncovered
many questions
and concerns

80. Hopefully these
may help
you if you’re
in a similar
situation…

81. Should staff be
allowed to publish
directly to the site?
In our case - YES

82. Should we have
one voice?
- single corporate voice for some assets
- different voices for types of assets
- individual voices for blogs

83. Will we moderate user
comments and tags?
- no, we will use a simple login
- then allow all comments tags

84. What if information in
comments in wrong?
- authors can comment with authority
- experts can step in and correct
- community can eventually self-moderate

85. What if a tag seems
irrelevant?
- every tag is sacred.
- we have no right to judge tag relevance
- tags are personal expressions

86. Will we be overwhelmed
with questions via
comments?
- we wish!
- we will have to work hard for every comment.
- we will also have to accept that commenting may not happen
in the way we envisage

87. Will comments occur
more frequently on
certain types of assets?
- yes, we believe so.
- blogs are more personal so commenting may be seen as
easier.
- a lot of this will come down to management of comments.

88. How will we measure
success?
- goes way beyond tracking hits and normal stats
- internally tracking comments, tags, members, search terms
- external search terms
- inbound links
- tracking social tools such as twitter tracking, feedburner,
technorati etc

89. How will we build
communities?
In site
- comment answering
- encouraging feedback and sharing
- eventually letting go
Out of site
- go to other places and let them know
- use social distribution tools twitter
- push out to niche bloggers etc
Start with lots of hard work and encouragement. Gradually pull
back. Eventually self-moderate.

90. lessons learned?

91. The journey has been
slow and painful

92. However, it’s also been
lots of fun

93. If you are about
to take the
journey…

94. Make sure the
features you add
have a purpose

95. Think about all
the possible
issues before
you start

96. thank you