Maintaining and Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites
1st Edition
Managing Change, Content, Customer Relationships, and Site Measurement
Table of Contents
Preface Part I Change Management
1 Reviewing and Reporting Progress
1.1 Management Summary
1.2 Progress Report
1.3 Risks and Issues
2 Procedures for Managing Site Updates
2.1 Documentation
2.1.1 Definition of Terms/Glossary
2.1.2 Site Map
2.1.3 Content and Functional Specifications
2.1.4 Technical Specification
2.1.5 Design and Brand Guidelines
2.1.6 Policies
2.1.7 Publishing Procedures
2.1.8 Service-Level Agreements (SLAs)
2.1.9 Other Contracts and Agreements
2.2 Contact Information
2.3 Categorizing Types of Change
2.3.1 Naming
2.3.2 Grading
2.4 Change Processes
2.4.1 Single Points of Contact
2.4.2 Evolving Stages of Web Site Maintenance
2.4.3 Process Mapping
2.5 Change and Update Requests
2.6 Scheduling Changes
Summary
Part II Content Management
3 Introducing Content Management
3.1 What Is Content Management?
3.2 Why Is Content Management Needed?
3.3 What Web Content Management Cannot Achieve
4 Content Management in Action: A Practical Example
4.1 The Home Page
4.2 Content Collection, Management, and Publishing
4.3 Workflow
5 Key Concepts and Building Blocks
5.1 Structuring Content
5.2 The Content Model
5.3 Content Objects and Classes
5.4 Content versus Functionality
5.5 Separation of Content and Presentation
5.6 Metadata
5.7 Templates
5.8 Personalization
5.9 XML
5.10 Content Life Cycle
5.11 Workflow
6 Content Management Systems (CMS)
6.1 What Is a Content Management System (CMS)?
6.1.1 Collect
6.1.2 Manage
6.1.3 Publish
6.1.4 Related Systems
6.2 Selecting a CMS
6.2.1 Build versus Buy
6.2.2 Selection Process
6.2.3 Selection Criteria
6.3 Evolving toward a CMS
6.3.1 The Early Webmaster Phase
6.3.2 The Mature Webmaster Phase
6.3.3 The Early Database Phase
6.3.4 The Mature Database Phase
6.3.5 Full CMS
7 Tackling a Content Management Project
7.1 Project Clarification
7.1.1 Project Sponsors
7.1.2 Project Team
7.1.3 Project Mission
7.1.4 Organization Interaction Plan
7.1.5 Audits
7.1.6 Requirements Gathering
7.1.7 Change Management
7.1.8 Risks and Issues
7.1.9 Initial Project Plan and Budget
7.1.10 Deliverables
7.2 Solution Definition
7.2.1 Content Model
7.2.2 User Segments and Personalization Rules
7.2.3 Templates and Page Designs
7.2.4 Content Creation, Migration, and Collection
7.2.5 Workflows
7.2.6 Localization Plan
7.2.7 Reporting and Analysis
7.2.8 Technology
7.2.9 Testing
7.2.10 Deployment and Rollout Plan
7.2.11 Maintenance and Staffing Plan
7.2.12 Project Documentation
7.2.13 Deliverables
7.3 Project Specification
7.3.1 CMS Selection Process
7.3.2 Create the Project Specification
7.3.3 Final Project Plan and Budget
7.3.4 Risks and Issues
7.3.5 Sign-Off and Change Control
7.3.6 Deliverables
7.4 Content
7.4.1 Content Authoring and Capture
7.4.2 Content Conversion and Processing
7.4.3 Content Acquisition and Syndication
7.4.4 Testing and Quality Control
7.4.5 Training
7.4.6 Update Project Documentation
7.4.7 Deliverables
7.5 Design and Construction
7.5.1 Project Management
7.5.2 CMS Installation and Configuration
7.5.3 Content Collection and Migration
7.5.4 Training and Consulting Services
7.5.5 Change Control and Risk Management
7.5.6 Deliverables
7.6 Testing, Launch, and Handover
7.6.1 Testing
7.6.2 Deployment and Rollout
7.6.3 Localization
7.6.4 Documentation
7.6.5 Training
7.6.6 Handover
7.6.7 Internal Communications
7.6.8 Deliverables
7.7 Maintenance
7.7.1 Managing Changes and Updates
7.7.2 Service-Level Agreements
7.7.3 Phase 2 Project Planning
7.7.4 Deliverables
7.8 Review and Evaluation
7.8.1 Project Review
7.8.2 Content Return on Investment
7.8.3 Recommendations
7.8.4 Deliverables
Summary
Part III Customer Relationship Management
8 A CRM Primer
8.1 What Is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
8.2 eCRM: The Digital Opportunity
8.2.1 Build Closer Relationships with Customers
8.2.2 Understand Your Customers Better
8.2.3 Increase Competitive Differentiation
8.2.4 Higher Levels of Accountability
8.2.5 Tactical Strengths
8.2.6 Cost Efficiencies
8.2.7 Improved Testing and Proposition Development
8.3 The Business Case
8.4 Customer Value
8.5 The Single Customer View
9 Understanding Your Users
9.1 Segmentation
9.2 Customer Data
9.2.1 Capturing Customer Data
9.2.2 Permission and Privacy
9.2.3 Managing Customer Data
10 Personalization
10.1 What Personalization Is and What It Promises
10.2 What We've Learned So Far
10.3 How to Personalize
11 Community
11.1 What Community Is and What It Promises
11.2 What We've Learned So Far
12 Customer Service
12.1 What Online Customer Service Is and What It Promises
12.2 What We've Learned So Far
Summary
Part IV Site Measurement
13 The Promises and Challenges of Web Site Measurement
13.1 Promises
13.1.1 More Effective Marketing
13.1.2 Improved Customer Retention
13.1.3 Increased Sales
13.1.4 Automated Site Performance Management
13.2 Challenges
13.2.1 Information Overload
13.2.2 Data Quality
13.2.3 Few Common Standards or Metrics
13.2.4 Privacy and Security
13.2.5 No Single Customer View
13.2.6 Slow, Error-Prone, or Unavailable Sites
14 The Evolution of E-intelligence
14.1 The Arrival and Development of E-metrics
14.2 Increasing Sophistication and Customer-Centricity
15 Measurement Approaches and Techniques
15.1 Site-Centric Measurement
15.1.1 Metrics
15.1.2 Measurement Techniques
15.2 User-Centric Measurement
15.2.1 Metrics
15.2.2 Measurement Techniques
16 Reporting and Analysis
16.1 Defining a Measurement Framework
16.2 The Importance of Analysis
16.3 Design for Analysis
16.3.1 Information Architecture
16.3.2 Templating
16.3.3 Design Guidelines
16.3.4 Navigation Guidelines
16.3.5 Technology Infrastructure
16.3.6 Metadata and Tagging
16.3.7 URL Policy
16.3.8 Naming Conventions
16.3.9 Logging
16.4 Choosing a Measurement Tool
16.5 Report Scheduling and Distribution
16.6 Example Reports
16.6.1 Traffic
16.6.2 Customer Loyalty
16.6.3 E-commerce
16.6.4 Campaigns
17 How to Improve a Web Site
17.1 Get the Basics Really Right
17.2 A Combined Hard and Soft Approach
17.3 Content Management
17.4 Improving the Moments of Truth
17.4.1 Home Page
17.4.2 Site Entry Page
17.4.3 Registration
17.4.4 Checkout
17.4.5 Search
17.4.6 Contact
17.5 Usability
17.5.1 Usability Techniques and Practices
17.5.2 Navigation
17.6 Viral Marketing Tools
17.6.1 Send to a Friend
17.6.2 Email Forwarding
17.6.3 Print This Page
17.6.4 Save to Disk
17.6.5 Privacy
17.7 E-commerce
17.7.1 Improving Customer Acquisition
17.7.2 Increasing Basket Size and Share of Wallet
18 Tackling a Web Site Measurement Project
18.1 Tactical Initiatives
18.1.1 Planning and Education
18.1.2 Implementation
18.2 Process for Medium to Large Projects
18.3 Project Clarification
18.3.1 Project Sponsors
18.3.2 Project Team
18.3.3 Project Mission
18.3.4 Organization Interaction Plan
18.3.5 Audits
18.3.6 Customer Insight
18.3.7 Requirements Gathering
18.3.8 Education
18.3.9 Risks and Issues
18.3.10 Initial Project Plan and Budget
18.3.11 Deliverables
18.4 Solution Definition
18.4.1 Measurement Framework
18.4.2 Metrics
18.4.3 Data
18.4.4 Reporting
18.4.5 Analysis
18.4.6 Technology
18.4.7 Testing
18.4.8 Deployment and Rollout
18.4.9 Maintenance
18.4.10 Project Documentation
18.4.11 Deliverables
18.5 Project Specification
18.5.1 Create the Project Specification
18.5.2 Buy versus Build
18.5.3 Vendor Selection
18.5.4 Final Project Plan and Budget
18.5.5 Training
18.5.6 Sign-Off and Change Control
18.5.7 Deliverables
18.6 Content
18.6.1 Assemble Test Data
18.6.2 Test Data Processes
18.6.3 Deliverables
18.7 Design and Construction
18.7.1 Project Management
18.7.2 Change Control and Risk Management
18.7.3 Training and Consulting Services
18.7.4 Deliverables
18.8 Testing, Launch, and Handover
18.8.1 Testing
18.8.2 Deployment and Rollout
18.8.3 Internal Marketing
18.8.4 Training
18.8.5 Documentation
18.8.6 Handover
18.8.7 Deliverables
18.9 Maintenance
18.9.1 Maintenance Plan
18.9.2 Prepare for the Next Phase
18.9.3 Change Management
18.9.4 Deliverables
18.10 Review and Evaluation
18.10.1 Project Review
18.10.2 Evaluate Results
18.10.3 Recommendations
18.10.4 Deliverables
Summary
Resources Companion Site Recommended Reading Recommended Sites Product Vendors Index
Description
Ashley Friedlein's first book, Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites, became a bestseller and an essential reference for Web professionals developing new sites. Maintaining and Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites addresses the realities of successful sites today, namely the notion that maintaining and evolving a site is actually a bigger commitment than launching it. Management wants to maximize returns and obtain reliable performance data, customers demand better service and insist on sites that are more advanced yet easier to use, and the Web site must increasingly be integrated with the entire business even as the amount of information it handles continues to grow.
Maintaining and Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites focuses more on process, reality, and pragmatism and less on strategic theory. It provides the reader with the knowledge, tools, approaches, and processes to manage key site maintenance and evolution projects, providing answers to the following questions:
How can I better manage changes and updates to the Web site? How can I scale up to allow more contributions to the site and more content and still maintain quality and control? What is content management and how do I go about it? How do I go about personalization or community building? What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and how do I actually do it online? How do I measure and report on how well the site is doing? How do I avoid information overload? How do I maximize the value the site creates?
The book includes case studies to demonstrate candidly how the issues discussed in the book translate into reality.
Key Features
Case studies show candidly how the issues discussed translate into reality. Describes content management & Customer Relationship Management (CRM) how to go about implementing them. *Teaches how to measure & report on how well the site is doing, how to avoid information overload, & how to maximize the value the site creates.
Readership
People involved with all aspects of managing projects to do with Web site maintenance and evolution.
Details
- No. of pages:
- 442
- Language:
- English
- Copyright:
- © Morgan Kaufmann 2003
- Published:
- 10th December 2002
- Imprint:
- Morgan Kaufmann
- eBook ISBN:
- 9780080510644
- Paperback ISBN:
- 9781558608306
Reviews
"If you run a Web site, own a Web site, or are merely responsible for the success of a Web site, this is the book you need. Big picture philosophy and detailed practicality make Maintaining and Evolving Successful Commercial Web Sites the appropriate practicum for progressive Web professionals." —Jim Sterne, Author, Speaker, Consultant, Target Marketing of Santa Barbara "Ashley Friedlein takes four very complex but important subjects and boils them down for you to their essentials. With an abundance of practical examples and a strong feeling for what common sense dictates, he leads you to the heart of what it takes to keep a big site running and improving." —Bob Boiko, Author, The Content Management Bible (Hungry Minds, Inc.) and President, Metatorial Services Inc. "Ashley Friedlein makes a much-needed contribution to the (often neglected) area of Web site management. Using clear language and straightforward case studies, Friedlein masterfully tackles the 'post-launch' phase of Web development. This book will be sought after by all Web site managers." —Hurol Inan, Author, Measuring the Success of Your Website (Longman) and Consultant
Ratings and Reviews
About the Authors
Ashley Friedlein Author
Ashley Friedlein is cofounder and CEO of e-consultancy (www.e-consultancy.com), an online and offline service for U.K. e-business professionals, providing access to the best e-business information and advice. Previously, he was lead strategist and senior producer at Wheel, where he successfully managed the development, delivery, and ongoing maintenance of several major Internet sites, in particular those for media owners. Ashley comes from a background in digital media production, having worked at Pearson and Bloomberg and with the major U.K. broadcasters. He is the author of Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites (2001).
Affiliations and Expertise
e-consultancy, London, U.K.