|
|
May 2003
Web Strategies That Click!
By Susan Crawford
Throughout 2003, we are presenting an actual case study of an existing church Web site and sharing how it evolves as it undergoes a comprehensive Web site assessment. In each issue, you'll be party to the challenges and decisions confronting the church's team. The result will be insights and ideas that you can immediately apply to your Web strategy.
ASSESSMENT MILE MARKER
This is the third installment of the Web site assessment project for Hillcrest United Methodist Church (www.hillcrestumc.org). Interviews with the Hillcrest eTeam has revealed insights, wish lists, frustrations and individual passions for the different ministries. We've looked at how religious Web teams are different and have explored some common navigation problems unique to churches. We also started examining third-party content providers.
WHETHER TO OFFER WEATHER
Webmasters can turn to a myriad of services for snippets of fresh content for their site. These "third-party content" services are usually offered free in exchange for marketing opportunities (i.e., permitting their logo on your site). Most services automatically post (push) to your page(s) at set intervals: real-time weather, hourly news, daily devotional, weekly quotes, etc. In the last issue, we talked about the due diligence needed before offering a service on your site to ensure that third-party content is in context with the rest of your site. The most common misuse of third-party content is using it to simply fill space, and about half of the third-party content we see is inappropriate. Hillcrest uses seven types of third-party content; let's see how their content fares.
Daily Blessing: Currently, this content appears in the absolute best position on the entire Hillcrest Web site - home page/top center. Is this position appropriate? It is - if the Daily Blessing is the absolute Number 1 offering from Hillcrest - beyond prayer request, beyond pastor message, beyond outreach and beyond ministries. If the answer to this question is "no," then the Daily Blessing needs to be repositioned according to its appropriate ranking among the other services. In our recommendation, regardless of the ranking for the Daily Blessing, we would suggest obtaining permission to change its stiff, boxed layout to a more inviting presentation (third-party content should not detract from existing layout schemes).
Daily Devotional: Currently, this content appears in the second best position on the entire Hillcrest Web site - home page/middle center. Is this position appropriate? This content should get the same analysis as Daily Blessing.
Daily Fun Cartoon: Currently, this content appears in an excellent position - home page secondary navigation. Is this positioning appropriate? Again, this is for Hillcrest to answer and change accordingly. Our problem with this content is that it is detrimental to the home page strategy.
It is a graphic with no clear purpose; it simply whisks the user off the Hillcrest site to chase a cartoon.
Google Search: Currently, this service appears at the bottom of the home page - even the "Letter From The Webmaster" ranks higher. In our recommendation, we believe this is a valuable service with the potential of regular use by every user. It deserves higher ranking and more placements site-wide.
Message Board: Currently, this appears in an Interact area but is rarely used. In our recommendation, we would suggest that the value of this message board be reassessed and replaced, if necessary, for more relevant content. Guest book: Currently, this appears in an Interact area but is rarely used. In our recommendation, we would suggest that the value of this guest book be reassessed and replaced, if necessary, for more relevant content.
Weather: Currently, this appears in an Interact area. Why would a user turn to your church Web site for a weather report? In our recommendation, we suggest that the appropriateness be reassessed and, if necessary, replaced with more relevant content.
HILLCREST CHANGES HORSES - WHOA!
New discussions with Hillcrest are stirring dreams, identifying current challenges and reviving lessons from past struggles. Above all, the Hillcrest team is going forward with a re-energized sense of collaboration and a new common goal. The team has decided not to assess their current Web site but, rather, use this access to Web expertise to undergo a completely new launch! This is laudable, albeit a bit of a shock as the existing Hillcrest site isn't bad.
Upon hearing their intention, I immediately glanced around this gathered group and tried to discern whether this new thinking was leaving anyone with that startled deer-in-headlights look. I wanted to assuage any fears - but no one blinked and the vote was unanimous. I assured the Hillcrest team that they can take as long as they want to achieve this re-launch - even as much as a year. The existing site can undergo some minor tweaks while major efforts are reserved for the re-launch. They have the luxury of no time pressures and can re-launch whenever all pages are tested and they are comfortable.
THREE STRENGTH-TRAINING EXERCISES
To help us set a viable future course for Hillcrest, we need to determine where their site ranks among its peers today. We will do this by establishing three peers and one mentor for Hillcrest. Then we'll become detectives and ask ourselves how do these sites reach out to their community. How do these sites achieve their sense of online community?
What are popular layouts, colors and graphics? What makes these sites dynamic? The tougher question, saved for last, will be, "How can Hillcrest be unique"? I have given them this list of questions along with the URLs of the chosen peer and mentor sites. In our next working session, we will review these sites together and answer these questions, with each team member making notes about their area. I want to help Hillcrest with this exercise so I can answer questions as they make their choices, steer them away from common pitfalls and explain subtle strategies that they may want to consider adopting. This exercise is an important part of a re-launch, as it will ensure steady progress with little back peddling.
This exercise also provides the perfect opportunity for Hillcrest to learn-by-example how other sites structure different user experiences. When we asked the Hillcrest Web team, "Who uses this Web site?" they consistently answered, "Well, everyone". If you use the analogy of your Web site as a store in a mall and you want to use this answer to determine what kind of stock to sell, this answer is no help. The Hillcrest Web team needs to define "everyone" in more specific terms to better drive decisions.
Each distinct user type (youth, adult, single) will demand slightly different services, pictures and writing style. This is especially true for the visitor who may be unchurched and is on unfamiliar ground. This user strategy will result in a comprehensive site that instills pride in current membership.
One recommendation I strongly encourage Hillcrest to implement now is the creation of a Web site "bible." This notebook should contain all of the development notes about the Hillcrest site - standardized fonts; layout styles and attributes, standard graphic sizes, mouse-over effects, colors used for certain areas, etc. Once built, this manual should be kept current, so branding and site integrity are maintained as the site inevitably passes to new hands. It should include domain registration information and hosting details as well as brief guidelines about important decisions (i.e., why a special look was developed, the purpose of special file structures, and a summary of all third-party content provider arrangements) and serve as an archive for their Web site assessment. It should have a list of all the pages and the role of everyone involved (editor, contributor) so that the Web team easily knows who to contact with questions (and this list should be distributed to each member of the Web team).
NEXT ISSUE
Going forward, the Hillcrest team has scheduled several working meetings to start tackling their strength-training exercises. In the next issue, we will share these outcomes and I will explain how their assessment finds will be delivered in the form of an interactive action plan that will also double as a re-launch implementation tool. Homework for Hillcrest will be to identify the elements across the existing site that they want to preserve in the re-launch. Stay with us through this process and feel free to send any feedback or questions to article@businesscolony.com
|
|
