By building a planning stage into your web design project, you can integrate keyword research, information architecture, wireframes and a proper, nailed-down brief. It's an investment, but one that provides tangible returns and improved digital performance post-build.
2. PLANNING: THE WHAT AND THE WHY
What is your
market saying?
Who exactly is
your market?
What do you want
users to do on
your website?
What functionality do
you need to achieve
your goals?
PLANNING A
WEB BUILD
3. PLANNING: THE WHAT AND THE WHY
Keyword Research User Personas
Information
Architecture &
Wireframes
Scope of Work
PLANNING A
WEB BUILD
4. INVESTMENT VS REWARD
• Planning = 20% – 25% of web project budget
• Sounds like a difficult sell?
• Reasoning
- What does success look like?
- Agree on goals with client
- Build structures for users & search engines
- Build structures that convert
- Avoid scope creep
- Give the client confidence
5. Client feedback
“I really liked the importance placed on the keyword and user research to lay the
foundations – makes me confident that the subsequent design and build is going to
be well considered and thought through.”
6. TOOLS YOU WILL NEED
• SEMRush
• KeywordTool.io
• Google Keyword Planner
• Pen & Paper
• PowerPoint
• Sketch
• Marvel App
• Your client’s knowledge
- Market Research
- Conversations
- Access to clients
7. KEYWORD RESEARCH: I LOVE EXCEL, BUT…
• Most clients don’t.
• Data should tell a story
• Data is not the solution
• Don’t over-engineer keyword research
- at least, don’t over-engineer to your client
- this is a strategic phase, not a tactical one
• YOU interpret the data
• YOU tell the story
• Keyword Research has to mean something to your
client
• Excel is bad.
15. KEYWORD RESEARCH: MINING FOR DATA
LOG CABIN(s)
Buy
Rent
Scandinavian
Norwegian
Wooden
Swedish
Finnish
Luxury
Bespoke
Buildings
Chalets
Homes
For sale
For rent
Small
Garden
Corner
Large
Homes
Kits
Plans
Garden
UK
Prices
16. KEYWORD RESEARCH: REMEMBER
• Don’t over-engineer it
• The data is for YOU to interpret, not the client
• Listen. Take the brief, mine the data accordingly.
• Find more data sources
- SEMRush
- Keywoordtool.io
- Wikipedia page -> SEMRush
- Competitors -> SEMRush
- AnswerThePublic
- Google Keyword Planner
• Tell the story
• Take it forward…
17. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE – INTENT
Log Cabins
Type Usage Process
• Large
• Small
• Corner
• Norwegian
• Finnish
• 4-bedroom
• Garden
• Granny Annex
• Home gym
• Office
• Commercial
• Transportable
• Building
• Buying
• Selling
• Planning
• Caravan Act
• Materials
Supporting user queries
Insulation, How is it built, High maintenance… ?
18. INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE - NEEDS
WHAT YOU
WANT
WHAT VISITORS
WANT
Visit our
showroom
Call the
office
Plans
Case studies
Galleries
A log cabin
Planning
information
Lifestyle
change
Not my idea: http://alistapart.com/article/the-core-model-designing-inside-out-for-better-results
21. USER PERSONAS
Job Role
• Marketing Director
or
• Head of Marketing
• Senior Marketing
Manager
Typically…
• Male, 40
• Using a photo from 5
years ago where he’s
less grey
• Fussy about grammar
Frustrations
• Data inaccuracies
• Too many software
solutions for one
problem
Motivations
• Wants to grow the
business
• Pleasing clients
• A quiet life. Thanks.
Gareth
When marketing to Gareth, we should focus on accuracy of data and the full solution set, with a focus on business
growth. We should never make grammatical errors or we will lose his confidence. And you should know when to
leave him alone, so don’t spam his inbox.
22. WIREFRAMES
Wireframes can be tackled in many different ways but the objectives are
the same; to establish the layout of key templates and plan the user journey.
TIPS FOR SUCCESSFUL WIREFRAMING:
• Wireframe for mobile and desktop
• Keep the first iteration lo fi
• Build the second iteration in Sketch, using text styles and symbols
• Export it to Marvel App to build in the interactions
26. SCOPE OF WORK (SOW)
• Explain the purpose of the document
• List the team members involved
• List the project stages
• List the services
• Outline the standard deliverables
• Outline the bespoke deliverables
• Specify the timescales and dependencies
• Costs and payment schedule
• Signature
27. SOW STANDARD DELIVERABLES
• Integrated with version control for deployment workflows
• Device responsive for different screen sizes
• Online forms with required fields
• CMS training
• Post launch support and bug fixing
• Browser support*
*We will not intentionally support any devices, browsers or operating systems that make up less than 2% of your total
visits. Functional in the last two versions of Internet Explorer, Google Chrome (desktop and mobile), Mozilla Firefox,
Opera and Apple Safari (desktop and mobile).
29. SOW BESPOKE DELIVERABLES
Explain every step and don’t leave anything open to interpretation.
A newsletter sign up form:
• Is it linked with an API or are the details just emailed to the client?
A vacancies area:
• What happens if there are no jobs to advertise?
• Can users upload a CV?
• Is there a form to apply for the job?
• If so, does it need to pull through the job reference number?
30. SOW Comms strategy
It’s important to outline how you’ll be
communicating and who will be involved in
the communications from both sides.
We like to use Basecamp and ensure we
have at least a weekly call or Skype.
31. SOW cost and hours estimate
Include fixed costs and annual costs separately.
32. AN INVESTMENT WITH A RETURN
Website is aligned with
market & keyword research,
speaking customer language
Website journeys and goals are
defined for specific user personas,
helping them to find the right content
and you to convert them
Architecture is future-proof,
built around customer journeys and
keyword research, resulting in better
rankings & engagement
Functionality is defined, costs are
fixed (not ballpark), and everyone has
confidence in design & development
stage
PLANNING A
WEB BUILD
33. INVEST UP-FRONT, HAPPIER CLIENTS
Improved traffic
…because you targeted
the right keywords
Improved UX
...because you took time to
understand users
Improved engagement
…because you built the
architecture around people
Happier client
…because they have confidence
you will deliver
PLANNING A
WEB BUILD
Creating a blueprint for digital performance
What we call a planning stage – the fruits of a lot of hard work, banging heads together, but based on a desire to avoid the avoidable errors and build a really solid foundation for our clients.
You can’t just launch into building a website without asking yourself some fundamental questions, without drilling into the absolute essentials behind why you’re doing it, what your client wants…
It’s an investment, sure, and it’s not what most clients are expecting… but it’s what clients actually need in order for design & development to proceed with confidence, and for the site to succeed in the long term.
So, those questions. Some fundamental ones… you can’t build a website unless you can answer these.
These are not the answers, btw.
These are the strategies that help you provide the answers.
The difficulty, and where many agencies have failed, is that they believe the strategies are the answer. Look, they say, we’ve provided keyword research. Here’s an excel file.
We’ve developed some user personas. Can we build yet? We’ve done a wireframe, can we build now?
These strategies have to MEAN SOMETHING to the client. If they don’t the client loses confidence. If they don’t, the site won’t succeed.
Define what success looks like first- Agree on it with the client- Build a structure that works for users & search engines- Build a structure that is future-proof (no bloating)- Build a structure that meets client objectives- Avoid ‘scope creep’- Enter design & development with confidence that your foundations are evidence-led and data-based
Difficult sell? Well yes, if other agencies are pitching web builds at £3k. You have to establish the value. The value here is the confidence & understanding. And you know what, you can do the planning stage and let the client go out to tender with this blueprint. They’ll have KWR, IA, wireframes, a full scope of work… feel free to have it built elsewhere. It’s all about confidence & understanding.
An email from one of our clients, sent this morning.
You will need some tools for the keyword research stage. Let’s keep it simple.
And if we’re keeping it simple…
I love excel but clients don’t love excel data dumps
Not everyone understands data
Not everyone cares
Data has to tell a story
The biggest problem that we, as agencies, face, is that we don’t let our data tell stories
We over engineer what is actually a very strategic phase. We look at data and competition metrics too much, we need to interpret more and make decisions.
You can go off and understand keyword competition metrics and get as granular as you like. That’s your job.
The data has to mean something to clients – giving them an excel dump of keywords is a mistake
Talk…
And above all, listen.
Market research… ask for it. If they don’t have it, demand it.
Talk to your client’s customers… or listen to them.
E.g. Animas – carried out a lot of consumer research, defined users & interviewed 50 – watched them navigate & their choice of keywords – saw what they wanted to achieve.
This insight led to decisions in KWR, architecture, wireframes, even the language we used in the content.
A few tactics – but not the whole story. We could speak for days on how to deep-dive.
Remember, we’re not over-engineering. We’re trying to understand & build a picture.
So start at the top & work down.
And yes, we use SEMRush & we trust the data more than we trust Google’s data. So we start by looking at the assumptions – let’s say “Log Homes” is what we’ve assumed is our keyword.
SEMRush tells us, actually, we’re not right. Log Cabins is by far and away the more popular keyword. And yes, we know from talking to our market that log cabins is also used for holidays.
Where it gets really powerful is when you can turn to a client and say
“you know that competitor, well I know what he ranks for”
“I know how much traffic he’s getting”
“I also know when these keywords are trending…”
And I know where you sit in comparison to this competitor – and others…
This is where it gets really interesting for clients. You’re putting it into a real-world context – everyone has a competitor.
Everyone has goals – and very often, those goals are to outrank someone else.
Remember – no sign of excel, no data dumps, just stories. Led by data.
Diversify your data sets – get different angles
Google’s drop-down is visible to everyone
Use keywordtool.io or alternatives to find out what the suggestions are
- IMPORTANT: remember what is important to the client, not what Google says is important… log cabin breaks is NOT what this client wants. Log Cabins for sale, however…
Diversify your data sets.
Answer The Public gives you questions that people are actually asking.
Think blog posts – think Quora – think FAQs – think “low volume, high conversion” keywords that might not register volumes in Google Adwords
A lot of these questions are rubbish
But there are some gems – e.g. what wood for log cabin, are log cabin homes expensive?
How much are log cabin modular homes – obviously, price is a driver
But when you come to build your editorial calendar with the client, this is a great starting point.
The process of making this data MEAN SOMETHING to a client…
You need pen & paper for this
Process, process, process…
Build from the trophy outward & look for alternatives
Segment intent
Build further. Look at Wikipedia’s rankings. Look at competitors.
Talk to you client. Talk to their customers. Look at market research.
You hold the data. You interpret it. They understand the story.
Keyword Clouds are easier to interpret for clients
They tell the story, and the data is there to back it up
It gives you direction & a focus
Big keyword down to little keyword
Short-tail down to long-tail
Product page down to supporting blog post / user guide / campaign content item
Think about intent. Start to segment your keywords up.
Take log homes as an example:
You have log homes, small log homes, large log homes – buyer intent is unclear, but they want a log home
You have garden rooms, annexes, gyms, offices – buyer intent is different, they know what the log home is for
So you have a direction for your architecture
Not just navigation – but structure of site
People don’t come to NAVIGATE through your site, they come to GET SOMETHING DONE (alistapart)
Think Intent
Think Client Objectives
e.g. Animas, go back to your market research, your conversations with customers – WHAT DO THEY WANT TO GET DONE? Keywords are one thing, real-life examples are better
Use the keyword research to educate structure of the site
Use your knowledge of the customer’s customers to educate structure of the page
3 users: those who are new to insulin pumps – switching from injections, those who are out of warranty / coming up to warranty expiry, those who have been living with t1d for many years
Architecture designed to influence & support the journey through the site
Define the goals – design the architecture to help people get where they want to go & where you want them to go
Result: Bounce rate down 30%, time on site up 100%, enquiries up 50%, pages per visit up 100%
This is important: who are your users?
You may want to hold this stage back until you’re doing the IA – once you have the KWR on board.
What do you expect them to do on the site?
What’s most important to them? Their frustrations? Their needs?
What type of content do they want to ‘consume’?
If you have market research, if you’ve talked to your client, if you’ve talked to these customers, you can start to fill this in… (and you will have multiple)
Who are your users?
What do you expect them to do on the site?
What’s most important to them? Their frustrations? Their needs?
What type of content do they want to ‘consume’?
I’m presuming that everyone knows what a wireframe is, what I want to talk about is how we use them as part of our planning stage.
It allows clients to look at the contents of the page without getting hung up on fonts, colours and imagery. It means they have to focus on what’s important, the content and the functionality and where necessary the user journey.
Some clients do find this hard, they can take some convincing that their not going to get black and white website. Most have enough imagination though and do value the process.
Pen & paper - helps keep things fluid and means the designers don’t get caught up in the detail.
Specifically we use Dot pads and 0.5 fine liners. The Dot pads are great, it’s like graph paper but just with dots. Straight lines have never been easier.
It helps keep things fluid and means the designers don’t get caught up in the detail.
it’s up to you whether you share this with the client, we don’t always. Sometimes this is just an internal exercise.
If you can’t draw it doesn’t matter, you don’t need to be Da vinci, you will get better the more you do it.
We’ve learnt that wireframes for desktop are not enough, there is no point in working out the template layouts for desktop without considering the way it adapts for other devices. Even if it is in rough desktop alone is not enough.
For this iteration we personally prefer to use SKETCH from Bohemian coding, if you haven’t started using this yet then you definitely need to check it out. When you’ve sussed the symbols and type styles you can make site wide changes really easily.
No more multiple photoshop files.
Because of the rapid uptake of sketch Adobe are bringing out a competitor next year called Project Comet. If you guys are interested we can hold a separate webinar on sketch best practice.
Prototype in Marvel to assess user flow and demonstrate navigation.
Knowing the user personas and the information architecture means the wireframes become less subjective. This is useful when designing and invaluable when providing a rationale for the client.
When you are happy with the wireframes, get them into Marvel App.
Marvel App is another game changer, it allows clients to click through designs in a browser and see rollover effects and even transitions. Making prototypes has never been easier.
Explain the purpose of the document
Why do we need a Scope of Work? We know from experience that projects can evolve as they go on.
If you’ve done the foundations, you know exactly what the client wants, the client knows exactly what they want, and you can both agree on it.
Define the functionality required, list the services & the project stages, define what is deliverable – what is bespoke – and when it can be delivered.
THIS is the brief, but YOU have written it with the client’s help. Now everyone has confidence.
List the team members involved
List the project stages
List the services
Outline the standard deliverables
Outline the bespoke deliverables
Specify the timescales and dependencies
Costs and payment schedule
Signature
There is a standard level of deliverable that applies to (almost) everyone
Make sure the client knows this.
Use gantt charts to help the client see when things are happening, when things are deliverable, and what’s next
This gives them confidence in your ability to deliver on time (that is key btw)
The more detail the better, written explanations go a long way and can save a lot of time in the long run.
It’s important to make the client aware of the comms strategy. Who’s the project manager from both sides and who else should be in copy?
We’ve used lots of different project management solutions but we can’t fault Basecamp. We’ve settled on it combined with Harvest for time tracking. Which is also amazing.
Keeping everything on basecamp means that email threads can be easily followed by all team members.
Skype is our preference over phone calls, being able to see someone as your talking to them is priceless.
and you can share the files you’re talking about, share screenshots, share screens even…
The tightest brief possible…
Once everything is signed off, you can move on with confidence.
The SOW establishes all the functionality you need to meet your objectives
The keywords you are targeting
The site architecture
The layout (wireframes)
The people you are targeting
The functionality you require to deliver the project
The final, nailed-down cost
This is all about nailing down the cost & the resources required. Ballparks are useless – if you have defined the scope, you can define an absolute price and avoid scope creep and avoid having to go back and ask your client for extra budget because you didn’t establish the foundations in the first place.