Presentation delivered for Magazines Canada at the MagNet conference in Toronto, June 2008.

1. Website Makeover Made Easy
(yeah, right!)
Presented by Phillip Smith
www.communitybandwidth.ca

2. Why would
anyone trust
this guy?

3. You

5. 1. It’s not easy!

6. The Web is a moving target

7. Tech skills are in short supply

8. Very few people have
“figured it out”

11. 2. It is expensive

12. The basics (ongoing costs)
• Hosting
• E-mail delivery
• Credit card processing
• Customer self-care portals & fullfillment
• Online marketing

13. Expensive consultants

14. Time is your worst enemy

23. New Internationalist is another
example

27. 3. It’s an operation, not a
project silly

28. What is a project
(and what isn’t a project?)
• quot;A project is a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique
product, service or result.quot;

29. We’re in print publishing
(the Web is a nuisance!)

30. The Web crosses boundaries
(where do we put this thing?)
• Editorial?
• Publishing?
• Circulation?
• Marketing?
• Naw, just give it to the interns!

31. So, how do you do it right?
(While making it look easy…)

32. Good ideas are more
important than good execution
… and the story of This
Magazine’s 15 minutes of
fame

37. Rinse, wash, repeat…

43. 1. Set S.M.A.R.T objectives
• Specific
• Measureable
• Acheivable
• Relevant
• Timebound

44. 2. Set an annual budget and
revenue targets
(and stick to them!)
• How many subscriptions?
• How many advertisers
• How much advertising revenue?
• While you’re at it, set some others:
– How many new e-mail subscriptions
– How many letters to the Editor?
– How many forwards to a friend

45. 3. Indentify what’s a project &
what’s an operation
(and resource it accordingly!)
• quot;A project is a temporary endeavor
undertaken to create a unique
product, service or result.quot;

53. BONUS: Get out of your
comfort zone!
• Learn about “Web stuff”
• Take a course in anything from HTML to Web
analytics
• Try your hand at producing a multi-media
piece, or running an online marketing
campaign
• Look outside the magazine box for
inspriation.

55. Back to making things look
easy…

56. 1. Rent your software
(try before you buy)

57. Bricolage

60. Drupal

63. Other options include:
• Wordpress (wordpress.com)
• Expression Engine (enginehosting.com)
• Movable Type (typepad.com)
• Public Square (publicsquarehq.com)

64. 2. Make it easy to “buy now”
(or subscribe now…)

70. 3. Invest in results
(and nothing else)

78. How to make it look easy…
• Remember, it’s not easy, it’s:
– Expensive
– Hard to find good people
– And it’s an operation, not a project (except
when it is)

79. So, knowing that, you…
• Set S.M.A.R.T objectives
• Set budget and revenue objectives
• Ensure that your initiative is properly
resourced (operational, or as a project)

80. And then you make it look
easy by…
• Renting your software
• Making it easy to buy or subscribe
• Investing in results, and only results

81. Website Makeover Made Easy
(yeah, right!)
Presented by Phillip Smith
www.communitybandwidth.ca