Create a Website Plan - Essay Example

Website Plan Introduction and Business Background Websites currently hold the position of one of the most crucial tools a company must possess in order to ensure their survival in business. In this report, we focus on the details that the company’s website will focus on in order to ensure the intended results to the company. It is evident that many companies now realize the importance of websites as a tool to gain market share and improve sales. Most flourishing companies like Dell, Apple, Hp, Coca Cola, would not have reached the places they are without their websites (Plumley & Wyrostek, 2011). The website to be developed will be about a company that has specialized in the sales of computers, computer hardware, electronics and home appliances. The website to be developed should assist the company market their products, sell them online among other crucial activities such consumer satisfaction surveys. The report is going to shed light on the crucial steps that will be employed so as to make sure that website serves the intended purpose. The business has 4 branches in the world. The company seeks to enforce online marketing delivery of their products to selected nations. Business Goals and Website Goals Business goals The goals of the business are primarily marketing the products on sale and making sure they increase their profits though online sale and delivery. The company also seeks to be capable of running consumer satisfaction surveys so as to assist they gauge their progress. Finally, the ultimate goal is to ensure that the company becomes a reputable and among the most respected and successful in this field of business Websites goals The website will, therefore, be designed so as to make sure the company achieves most of it goals in the most efficient way possible. The website will become a partial platform to the marketing department. This is because many people nowadays depend on the internet for many things, making it an easier place to access customers. The products will be marketed by posting them on the website and giving information on the latest technological gadgets awaiting release and those already in the market. In order to enhance marketing, the company will have to alias with most visited websites and have accounts in social platforms such as Facebook, linked inn, twitter and MySpace among others. Secondly the company will should be able to give customers the ability to purchase items and request them to get delivered to supported locations. The products shall be priced ant thee availability of a customer to purchase the items collectively using a virtual cart. This will allow them shop for many products easily. The third aspect of this website is customer support. This will be implemented through the creation on the FAQs section, including live customer care care support though chart or voice calls via Skype. This will help improve customer experience because they will be capable to make have choices of the products they purchase, hence improve the company’s reputation. The final part of the website will be the ability to run consumer satisfaction surveys on the website. This will be done by first examining the counter of customers who have signed up to the company’s website. The second method is through the website daily counter of the number of individuals who search, or visit the website. The final method is through consumer satisfaction rating through the 1/10 gauge after buying products and the comments that are left on the website. The comments will give provide to the company information to the company on which the customers feel ought to be changed. Competitor Websites Analysis The company deals with sales of computers and their hardware, making it belong to one of the most competitive business field. It will have to find its ways through already established computer companies such as dell, Apple, Hp,and Asus. However, these are not the prime competitors the company’s major competitors are custom PC builder and hardware sellers like IBUY POWER, Newegg, Toms Hardware, Custom PC,s Gaming PC’s and others of the like. In this case, we will analyse the general features that the websites to these companies are composed of. The first feature is the menu submenu organization that when highlighted, either drop down or move sideways. These make it easier for the customer to navigate around products. The second property that they harbour is graphics properties. These are crucial in attracting the consumer to the website. Websites that have amazing graphics include I buy power, Asus republic of gamers and Custom PC’s. The other property that most computer sales company have is product specification details, reviews, and gallery and YouTube videos where applicable. This gives consumer more information about products. The products are usually priced in $ since it is the most commonly used trade currency. The other most important aspect is custom care support through Skype links and active charts. There are also submenus for ongoing forums and products promotion as well as information on the upcoming products. The websites usually have fan pages to social platforms such as Facebook and twitter. Finally, there exists a hyperlink that connects the users to pages containing the information of the company, FAQ’s, other products on sale, history of the company, popular products and many more others. Target Audience and Use Environments The target audience for the company are mainly individuals interested in computing solutions. These are usually companies, institutions and individuals. Most companies or large organizations are targeted for products such as printers, servers and networking solutions including PC’s. Individuals will mostly be targeted for the purchase of home PC and hardware components. Since the business seeks to capture greater market share, the prime object will be to satisfy all level customer. This means the company will sell from high end products to middle level and normal consumer products. The website will, therefore, serve clients of all classes. User Tasks In this area, we define all the things that the person is using the website will be able to do. On the website, a user will be able to view the products specifications and their prices. They will also be able to review them and or comment on their performance and durability. The user will also be able to purchase the products using flexible payment methods such as credit cards and online transactions such as PayPal, Payza, Pioneer and other online money transfer service provider (Shelly, Napier & Rivers, 2009). The customers will be able to hyperlink to the social platforms like Facebook and twitter through their accounts. There will also be access to the company’s information and history. The user will also be able to initiate an active video chat via Skype and a massage chart supported by the company. Finally, the company will be able to view marketed products in the company. The other new feature that will be added to the company is the ability of the user to place bids on selected products allowing them to buy products at selected prices. Website Storyboard Sample top menu with drop down characteristics for navigating products at the top sample left side menu that allows for further browsing of products according to genre A sample base hyperlink section that will link the user to several other important pages to the user Website Page Templates In this section, we get to describe the actual feel of the website. This website will have to be graphically attractive, but should be able to maintain simplicity and clarity to make it simpler for consumers to navigate around the products and other features of the website. The homepage will not be composed of so many details. It will contain selective hyperlinks that customers will able to link to a page depending on the continent one comes. To achieve this, the homepage will be of sky blue background and a translucent white image of the globe with all the continents listed along. From here the user will be able to navigate to the other common pages that are rather similar in nature. However, products and pricing will differ across different continents due to shipment cost. The other product pages will be divided into a number of parts. The first common part will be the websites menu that will be both at the top and the left of the website. The menus at the top will have a drop down effect while those vertical on the right will possess as right slide effect (Shelly, Napier, & Rivers, 2009). These effects will me registered when a menu is clicked or highlighted. The colour scheme of the website will dependent on the type of products that the consumer will be browsing. Those onto gaming products will have high graphics content with the colours ingrained being mainly red, luminous green and blue. Those users that are browsing office products will have a rather clean but, classic interface, either light blue or plain in colour. The top of the website will have slideshows on promotional products as well as advertisements. These will also be replicated on the right hand side. Page Contents and Tools The website pages will contain different contents. There will be company information and FAQs on one page. The other general pages will contain products, advertisements, galleries and product specifications inclusive of price. The tools that the company will be able to use on the website include the product price bid tool, the consumer satisfaction rating tool and comment tool. The customer will also be availed with a myriad of methods to pay for the products and that of delivery. Process Analysis The company’s website will work in conjunction with their system to enable data handling and manipulation. There will be base operator that will be able to handle video and massage chats. Each and every user will be able to open an account which will make it easier to channel issues to the admiration and follow on them. The chart rooms will be regulated by allowing a number of simultaneous connections since the number of operators are limited. The website will be managed and updated by its creator since the person will have a better knowledge of what happens. The information on the website will be dynamic so as to present more information to the user and prevent it from being boring (Brown, 2006). The website ought to be maintained frequently since the products change frequently, and there are also many products to be maintained. This will assist in making the company remain up to date. Marketing Techniques The website will have to be marketed in order to make sure people are aware about it. This will be done through social media. The other way is through advertising on common website company such as Google, yahoo and other product sales website. Ti is also important for the company to partner with computer manufacturers such as Apple, Dell, HP. ASUS and Acer so as to endorse them as official and preferred dealer of their products. To retain customers, there will be videos on products, downloads in the form of pdf explaining on product specifications and social medial categories in their accounts (Lawrence & Tavakol, 2007). Conclusion Websites have become a common platform for business transactions in the world today. It is, therefore, crucial for each and every company to have one (Brown, 2006). In this case, the website will serve the company as intended because it will increase market share and profits. They will also have an easy time gauging their progress based on the available tools References Plumley, G., & Wyrostek, W. E. (2011). Website design and development:. Indianapolis, Ind: Wiley Pub. Brown, D. M. (2006). Communicating design: Developing web site documentation for design and planning. Berkeley, CA: Peachpit Press. Lawrence, D., & Tavakol, S. (2007). Balanced website design: Optimising aesthetics, usability and purpose. New York: Springer. Shelly, G. B., Napier, H. A., & Rivers, O. N. (2009). Web design: Introductory concepts and techniques. Boston, Mass: Course Technology. Teixeira, J. (2010). Your Google game plan for success: Increasing your web presence with Google AdWords, Analytics and Website Optimizer. Indianapolis, IN: Wiley. Read More