The best business websites serve their readers with strong content, well-architected design, and a focus on usability, readability, and accessibility. This book covers the fundamental aspects of building a website that works for the company, not against it. It covers the essentials of strong copywriting, and then dedicates several chapters to designing user-centric About, Products and Services, and Support sections.
Your visitors come to your site because they are interested in your business and are therefore potential customers. This book covers taking advantage of that traffic by expanding the companys story through a corporate blog and using testimonials, case studies, and other third-party validation to reinforce the marketing message. With this knowledge you will be able to create and maintain a highly professional, polished business site.
While a pleasing website is essential for any modern business, creating it is only a small piece of the online strategy. This book also discusses search engine optimization, using e-mail and RSS to communicate with customers and prospects, and advertising the corporate domain with paid search placement, online banners, text links, and more. The primary theme is using your corporate website to market the business effectively, from designing intelligent product pages to writing compelling e-mail newsletters. This book explores those ideas and offers compelling advice on how to take full advantage of the Web as a marketing medium.
In this book you'll learn how to:
- Implement best practices in corporate web design, with a focus on common sections such as About, Products and Services, Customer Support, and more
- Use e-mail and RSS marketing to stay in touch with customers and prospects
- Apply simple and effective search engine optimization techniques to push your website higher in search engine results
- Advertise the site through e-mail, paid search placement, banner ads, and more
- Write professional, accessible, and usable pages to make your site available to everyone
Summary of Contents
- Chapter 1: Overview
- Chapter 2: Content
- Chapter 3: Accessibility
- Chapter 4: Architecture and Navigation
- Chapter 5: The Homepage
- Chapter 6: The About Section
- Chapter 7: Products and Services
- Chapter 8: Independent Validation
- Chapter 9: The Corporate Blog
- Chapter 10: Customer Support
- Chapter 11: Contingency Planning
- Chapter 12: Legalese
- Chapter 13: Search Engine Optimization
- Chapter 14: Outbound Marketing
- Chapter 15: Online Advertising
- Appendix: Resources
Author(s): Kevin Potts
Edition: 1
Publisher: apress
Year: 2007
Language: English
Pages: 417
Web Design and Marketing Solutions for Business Websites......Page 1
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE......Page 7
CONTENTS......Page 9
ABOUT THE AUTHOR......Page 20
ABOUT THE TECHNICAL REVIEWER......Page 21
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS......Page 22
Who this book is for......Page 23
Contacting the author......Page 24
OVERVIEW......Page 27
Marketing......Page 28
Support......Page 31
Corporate information......Page 33
Redesign justification......Page 34
Planning the redesign......Page 36
Selling the redesign......Page 39
HTML vs. Flash......Page 40
Content management systems......Page 42
Summary......Page 44
CONTENT......Page 47
To compete, you need to be found......Page 48
To be found, you need to say something......Page 50
Avoiding corporate speak......Page 51
Write for your audience, not your ego......Page 54
Examples of clarification......Page 55
Design considerations for content......Page 56
Typography considerations......Page 57
Summary......Page 60
ACCESSIBILITY......Page 63
Accessibility is not just for the blind......Page 64
Hearing impairment......Page 65
Keep the doors open......Page 66
Consider accessibility from the beginning......Page 67
The W3C......Page 68
Standards-based development......Page 71
Color considerations......Page 73
Supplemental navigation......Page 75
Forms and tables......Page 79
Graphics and multimedia......Page 83
Common content......Page 87
Validate the site......Page 89
Screen readers......Page 90
Summary......Page 91
ARCHITECTURE AND NAVIGATION......Page 93
Organizing content......Page 94
Determining the big buckets......Page 95
Visualizing the architecture......Page 96
Navigation design......Page 100
Navigation placement......Page 101
Best practices......Page 103
Site maps......Page 109
Linking to HTML site maps......Page 110
XML site maps for search engines......Page 111
Summary......Page 112
THE HOMEPAGE......Page 115
Purpose and goals of the homepage......Page 117
Overview of the company......Page 118
Goal conversions......Page 119
And, of course, branding......Page 120
Critical elements......Page 121
Options a la carte......Page 123
A survey of company sites......Page 129
The fold......Page 131
The introduction page......Page 133
Summary......Page 135
THE ABOUT SECTION......Page 137
Linking to the About material......Page 138
Content options......Page 139
The grand overview......Page 142
Services/products overview......Page 143
Principals, leaders, and the board of directors......Page 144
Philanthropy......Page 145
Career opportunities......Page 146
The job list......Page 147
Resume submission......Page 148
Promoting job openings......Page 151
Listing press releases......Page 152
The press release......Page 154
The stock......Page 155
The table ruler......Page 157
SEC filings......Page 158
The contact page......Page 161
The right information......Page 162
Contact via the Web......Page 164
Summary......Page 168
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES......Page 171
Products......Page 172
Services......Page 173
Products and services......Page 174
Finding the section......Page 175
Designing the Products and Services pages......Page 176
Product page design......Page 177
Services page design......Page 185
Unique selling story......Page 188
Summary......Page 189
INDEPENDENT VALIDATION......Page 191
Section nomenclature and positioning......Page 193
The question of context......Page 195
Case studies and press releases......Page 196
Testimonials......Page 200
Awards, recognition, and reviews......Page 201
The customer list......Page 202
Case studies......Page 204
Testimonials......Page 211
Awards, recognition, and reviews......Page 213
Summary......Page 214
THE CORPORATE BLOG......Page 217
Purpose of the business blog......Page 219
The bad, the good, and the better......Page 222
Hosted platforms......Page 224
Locally installed platforms......Page 228
Custom applications......Page 231
Adding the blog to the site menu......Page 232
The URL structure......Page 233
Look and feel......Page 235
Who writes the content?......Page 236
Topics and themes......Page 239
Comments and comment moderation......Page 242
Summary......Page 244
CUSTOMER SUPPORT......Page 247
Save money......Page 249
Entice and inform prospects......Page 250
The FAQ......Page 251
The Knowledgebase......Page 253
Forums......Page 256
Dedicated support contact......Page 260
Best practices in the support section......Page 263
Provide direct and helpful content......Page 264
Adapt to customer needs......Page 265
Summary......Page 267
CONTINGENCY PLANNING......Page 269
Redirects and error pages......Page 270
Crash course in status codes......Page 271
Site search......Page 276
Search as a navigation complement......Page 277
The small but mighty search box......Page 279
Search results......Page 281
Handling errors in forms......Page 283
Common problems (and the errors that love them)......Page 284
Separate print-ready web pages......Page 288
Printing with CSS......Page 289
Doomsday page......Page 292
Summary......Page 293
LEGALESE......Page 295
Intellectual property......Page 296
Copyright......Page 297
Work made for hire......Page 298
Terms of use......Page 302
Special licensing of content......Page 304
Terms of use structure......Page 305
Privacy policy......Page 306
Summary......Page 308
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION......Page 311
What it is and why it matters......Page 313
Laying out an SEO strategy......Page 315
Envision the end result......Page 316
Keyword selection......Page 317
Focus on ROI......Page 319
Regular review and analysis......Page 321
Internal strategies......Page 323
External strategies......Page 331
Robots meta tag......Page 336
Robots.txt......Page 337
Summary......Page 338
OUTBOUND MARKETING......Page 341
E-mail newsletters......Page 342
Newsletter content......Page 343
Subscription management......Page 347
Newsletter design......Page 350
Publishing......Page 357
Reporting and metrics......Page 359
RSS feeds......Page 361
Prime content for syndication......Page 362
Implementation......Page 364
Summary......Page 367
ONLINE ADVERTISING......Page 369
Campaign tactics......Page 370
Defining goals......Page 371
Target demographics......Page 374
Compiling an advertising program......Page 376
Creating effective online advertising......Page 378
Paid search results......Page 379
E-mail advertising......Page 381
Banners......Page 386
Text links......Page 390
Strategies to entice visitors......Page 391
Summary......Page 393
RESOURCES......Page 395
Websites......Page 396
Further resources......Page 397
Websites......Page 398
Books on marketing......Page 399
Websites......Page 400
INDEX......Page 403
