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Problem.
The owner of a retail and mail order Nursery and Flower Shop
used a small, local development company to build a Web Site;
she
wrote its content herself. After 15-months, it wasn't helping her
business as much as she had hoped, so she contacted T-21
for help in improving it.
Action. On her
approval, her T-21
Team
Manager (TM) assembled a small Web Analysis Team to review
the Web Site. Visitor statistics revealed both a paucity of
visitors and very limited viewer exploration.
Analyzing the content, the Team noted that the Web Site was filled with botanical names, raw
facts, and prices - but had little emotional appeal for
consumers. In addition, it lacked basic
structuring for Search Engine success.
In part, the Team's report stated:
- "Site visitors are discouraged from exploring
the Web Site by dry, technical verbiage;
the presentation tone is that of a text book,
rather than an
enticing catalog."
- "The Web Site's content
should be rewritten and restructured to emphasize appearance, fragrance and
ambiance, through pictures and prosaic
descriptions. Climate information, planting instructions, and care information
should be available, in a drill-down menu, beneath the title
line of each offering."
- "Inadequate Search Engine
Optimization techniques prevent many viewers from finding the
Web Site."
When her TM
talked with her about the report, she sighed and said,
"When I write for the public to see, I regress to cold, factual
writing, like I did in college." They
discussed the findings and her TM suggested that she look at
Web Sites of similar businesses and consider the Team's recommendations.
After reviewing similar Web Sites, she
told her TM that she agreed with
the report's advice. She authorized a
Web Site revision and her TM
convened a Web Team for the work.
Results. The Web Team's
Authors emphasized sensory aspects - "look, feel and
smell" - in
the text. The Graphics specialist carefully interwove
pictures, to make the Web Site more vibrant and
appealing. The final revision was a stunning presentation -
first appealing to buyers' emotions, then following up with facts and planting guides.
When the Team Manager
talked with the owner, eight months later, she said her Web Site
was entered into a Regional Growers
publication and had received an "Outstanding
Recognition" award from the group.
She said, "I'm proud of it now."
The new Web Site statistics indicated that
viewers were responding to the new content, by exploring over
five times more Web Site content than ever before.
(During the revision, T-21 Search Engine Optimization specialists
had worked in tandem with the Authors to increase the number of Web Site
visitors; during the year following the revision, the number of viewer visits increased
almost four-fold.)
We're doing pretty well
now," the owner said. "Since the changes, the new Web Site is doing what I originally hoped
for - overall sales are up 19%." In her customary terse manner, she commented, "I'm happy."
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