1. Creating successful websites
Ed Field, Founder & MD, Digino
for
Enterprise Ireland
21st Oct 2010

2. 7 steps to website success
1. Research
2. Planning
3. Brand & Content
4. Functional design
5. Aesthetic design
6. Site build
7. Continuous development & optimisation

3. 7 steps
Before.....

9. Digino – what we do
Strategy – research, consultancy, strategy
Websites ‐ plan, design, build & manage
Digital marketing ‐ plan, implement & manage

10. Digino – who we do it for
All industries
Domestic and international markets
× Not for direct competitors of our clients

11. 1. Research
Listen to, observe & understand your:
1.customers
2.company
3.competitors

12. 1. Research
Evaluating websites – your own, your
competitors’ & websites of related companies
Some criteria
• Easy to use
• Is content digestible & compelling
• Illustrated with graphics, images & video
• Clear compelling call to action
• What are the main features of the site

13. 1. Research
Understanding
our customer’s
search behaviour
‐use the Google
Keyword Tool
#1 Fully understand your customer and their needs.
Then you’ll see the real opportunities

14. 2. Planning – a full website plan
1. The commercials ‐ Opportunity, objectives, strategy
2. Insights from competitor & related companies websites
3. Insights from evaluation of our current website & results
4. Our audiences and their needs
5. Planned website sections & features
6. Design spec – brand, style, tone, personality
7. Content requirements – brand, text, images, video, graphics
8. How will we measure results
9. Who will do what: design, content, build, manage...
10. How we will integrate with our digital marketing
11. Budget
12. Timeline
Get input from all the specialists: design, technical, content, seo etc.

15. 3. Brand & Content – the ingredients
• A clear brand position –
– visually strong, re‐alignment needed?
• Engaging, compelling content –
– text, images, video, graphics
Before you start building gather all your ingredients

16. 4. Functional design
• So it works elegantly
– navigation & all features
• Wireframes/Blueprints
– map out all functionality
• Testing crucial
– people
Step through your blueprints in your customers shoes

17. 5. Aesthetic Design
• Now art until now!!
• Making it beautiful & on brand
• Design all key templates
• Design all graphical elements
Functional & aesthetic designers are not the same animal !

18. 6. Build
• You have plan + content + design
• Code the key templates
• Create all other pages from these
• Code features
• Integrate 3rd party applications
• Testing: browser compatibility, stress, users
• Detailed polishing and snagging
When fully built: test, test & test again

19. 7. Continuous development &
optimisation
• Measure & understand
• Add fresh content & features
• Optimise conversion rates
#1 factor for ROI
= visit to action
conversion rate

21. Final tips: to avoid common problems
CEO needs to determine how important online
is to the business and sign off on the plan
Put the Marketing Director in charge
Just budget for planning first. The rest should
be based on the website plan.
Keep it simple. Only what’s needed.
#1 reason for website failure is failure to plan

22. Benefits of planning
Increase speed of delivery
Control & reduce costs
Reduce risk
Increase focus & therefore chance of success
Strong foundation for further development

23. Skills required

24. 7 Steps
Before and afters.....

27. New site – Preview: http://www.diginomarketing.com/clients/irishferries/site/index‐ie‐uk.asp

29. New site: http://www.cfmanufacturinggroup.com

36. 7 steps to website success
1. Research
2. Planning
3. Brand & Content
4. Functional design
5. Aesthetic design
6. Site build
7. Continuous development & optimisation

37. Ed Field
E:
edfield@diginomarketing.co
m
T: 1890-927-800 Ext: 203
Intl: +353-61-620-147 Ext: 203
W: www.DiginoMarketing.com