Monthly Archives: July 2014

The Case for Site Maintenance

With access to content management systems with increasing functionality, content is your main preoccupation. These days it is relatively straightforward to install any function into your website.  So, content is more important.  How do you set things up to focus on content?  A well-designed website will minimise the need for site maintenance.

Consultancy

I finished a sequence a few weeks ago about how to work with a designer or consultant to set up a WordPress site. You can do it yourself and there are plenty of how-to-do-it sites around. However, planning the purpose of your site and how best to put it together may be where you need consultancy support.  Constructing a site that doesn’t work for you by doing the tasks you need doing with minimal maintenance, can result in wasted time and lost opportunities.

… for Groups Planning a Site

Many voluntary groups don’t have members with the time or knowledge to set up a site on their own. They may be able to add content to a site and so pursue their aims through their site but they need help to get started.

This is why web consultancy is a better bet than design for many voluntary groups. Whilst groups may think they need help with the technical side, in fact the main thing they need  is help with their site maintenance and development systems.  They need to start with a site that supports their current aims and has potential to develop as the group’s needs evolve.  Getting this right from the outset is a major advantage.

… for Groups with a Site

Website owners need to be clear about what their site is for and focus on how to meet their aims.  A small group with limited budget may need help in building on what for them has been a massive investment. They’ve paid a designer or consultant for help setting up their site.  Now they are seeking ways they can keep on top of their website’s demands. They need to find ways to do this that are not prohibitively expensive or time-consuming.  If the site is well-designed from the outset, that is an advantage.  If the site design works against the group’s aims then the site needs to be re-designed.

Site Maintenance

Often people have ideas about site maintenance that are inappropriate for their group.  For example, many believe a blog needs to be updated regularly. This might mean weekly or even daily! This is true where you want your site to be found by search engines in a competitive market but not necessary for many voluntary groups.

Voluntary groups have a local market and so their website might have a two-fold modest aim of keeping their members up-to-date and informing locals of what they do. Often they have no competitors because they’re the only group doing their thing in their area.

So long as the group is active and remembers to post about its activities, they might not need to add much more on the site.

A client asked me for a static site. They meant a no-maintenance site and I had to ask them to think very carefully about this. Such sites have limited use. The main use is as a brochure site, where you have a business card that refers the recipient to a site that acts as a paper brochure would.

This might work for an individual or group that offers a service that doesn’t change much and handles most of its publicity offline. But even then it is better to have basic functionality, such as a blog. No-one knows how their work will change in the future. A brochure site that can grow a blog sometime in the future has to be a better investment.

If your group is active it needs more than a brochure site. The question is not whether you have an active site but how to keep it active with limited resources.

Conversations Online: Blogs

If you are seeking conversations through your website, blogs are an essential tool. Many people do not realise the many uses to which a blog can be put. Here is a summary of the properties of blog posts:

  • They are independent of site structure, so posts can be created and destroyed with no consequences for the rest of the site
  • If you find your site is becoming complicated because pages are full of miscellaneous material or there are too many pages to cover in your menus, the chances are a blog would be better way of organising your content
  • Each post has its own url, which means it can receive back links from your own and other people’s sites.
  • Posts can be assigned to categories and so be indexed on the site. So, you can have categories in your menu. For example, if some posts are about events and others are news, these could be displayed as different menu items.
  • Posts have tags, which mean keywords can easily be found by searching the website.
  • It is possible to comment on posts. It is possible to comment on pages but as pages are permanent and often full of the important but boring stuff, comments are not always helpful.

Things to Consider

So, blogs are an essential part of most sites. Some people resist putting a blog on their site because they believe they have to write a post every day. This is where it sometimes helps to talk to a consultant before committing to a particular site structure. You will need to consider:

  • The types of information you intend to put on the site. If there is a lot of material that is either temporary, eg events, or ephemeral, eg news then a blog is worth consideration.  Temporary posts can be deleted or archived.  Ephemeral posts simply get older but form an archive for the occasional interested visitor.
  • Frequency of posting.  Daily or less frequent but regular posts are necessary only if you plan to use search engine optimisation. This  can be essential for commercial sites. Many voluntary sector sites have other means of finding site visitors. Often they are the only organisation providing their service locally, so people seeking it will find them. Many have members and lists of contacts who can be kept in touch with the site.
  • Use of comments.  Comments are a reason for people to return to your site and make their contribution. They are an excellent way to get a conversation going.
  • Links with social media.  It is possible to set up blogs so that each time you post, you update social media and email contacts.

Two Essentials for Your Avatar

Last Tuesday I wrote about the market as people engaged in many activities. The marketplace is not solely or even mainly buying and selling. Maybe online marketing would give you that impression but look closer at what is happening.

Online marketers are right. A website that doesn’t sell is a waste of time. But what does it mean to sell? The early retail co-ops not only sold quality food but also education, campaigning against adulteration of food and financial support for families. These co-ops were social institutions first and that is why they succeeded.

Buying and selling is about building relationships and so is everything else worth doing online, just as in real life. Without building relationships, nothing will sell. So, if your website is in support of a cause or educational, you still need to build those essential relationships.  Without them no-one will visit your site or rate it as worth a visit.

I have written about avatars and how to develop at least one avatar for your business or cause. Your avatar is a typical customer. The idea is if you address your avatar when you write for your website, your customers will respond positively to your message. The aim is to get away from jargon and to reach your audience through the words they use.

Your avatar helps and the more detailed and real it is in your mind the better. However, there are two things all avatars should have in common.

Capacity

They must be able to respond to your offer. So, if you’re selling something for £500 your avatar must have at least £500 disposable income. Money is the most obvious but there are other ways in which an avatar may need capacity, for example:

  • Where do they live and how far are they likely to travel to your events? If you offer accommodation, are they more likely to attend?
  • Do they have time to attend your event?
  • Do they understand your offer? Your avatar might lead you to simplify your content.
  • If you want them to write a letter, do they have the information they need?

Sympathy

The second thing they must have is a positive view of your offer. You are not delivering a website for people who disagree with you. They might visit but they are not likely to respond positively. If they do respond positively it will be because your site is particularly persuasive and that will be because you have made the case to your positively inclined avatar.

However, your avatar need not know anything about your offer or even the problem your offer addresses. If your avatar is a middle-aged employed woman and a socialist, you might be able to persuade her to donate towards a campaign against modern slavery, even if she is ignorant of the facts before she encounters your site. A similar avatar with a more extremist political view, might be less sympathetic.

The point is: run with an avatar who is sympathetic. If you’re building a following for your website, you need to speak to the people who are likely to follow.

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