A case study of a high content website
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Transcript of A case study of a high content website
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
A Case Study for Heavy content website
I’m going to tell you a story about thea website
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
For some of you, the ideas discussed here will not be new
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
Hopefully some of my experiences
may be interesting
or useful
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
Not all projects are fast. But you can still get there!
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
a background
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
The website was first created in 1994
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
Since then, the site has grown enormously…
Tekblink TechnologyWebsite Design and Development
Currently around 43,000 pages and 16 sites
trouble in paradise
The situation has gradually
deteriorated over the last few years
Harder to maintain
Users cannot find content in the site easily
Traffic is gradually levelling off
Users can interact elsewhere
more easily
The website lost its relevancy in the market
time for a change?
Four years ago we went to management with an idea
To build a rich, interactive website
Focusing on four key interaction
objectives:
1. Allow authors to communicatemore directly and immediately
2. Allow users to communicate with Museum staff and
each other
3. Allow users to interact with our content in a varietyof ways
4. Allow users to share their own
content
What did management think of our idea?
Initially, there was some reluctance, but
now everyone is on board!
how to implement?
There are two main approaches to implementing interactivity on a website
Approach 1: Small steps and
test the water
Approach 2: Major overhaul of the entire site
In most cases,“small steps” are
preferred
You can add components to an existing website without major work
You can test the impact of these
changes and adjust as
needed
Users can gradually adapt as the site changes
However…
We chose the “major overhaul”
approach
Reason 1:Because our current site has so many issues…
Reason 2:The major
overhaul will allow us to create an
integrated system
Integrated system:allows authors to publish all contentvia one simple system
Integrated system:allows users to move
seamlessly through any type of
content
what to implement?
We need a wiki!
It’s very easy to be attracted to features for
the wrong reasons
We didn’t want the site to become just a bunch of cool tools
So, during planning, we asked some key questions
Question 1: Will it match our
aims and objectives?
Question 2:Will it add value for users?
Question 3:Will the feature
fill a need?
Question 4: What are the implications?
Each feature of our new website
has been debated and fought
over
Nothing was added simply because it’s cool
how will it work?
The overall site
Every piece of content will be an
asset - no more “web pages”
contentmovies
audiosevents
documents…
Users can interact with any asset
share user-contentadd comments
save favourites
create setsadd tags
What’s in it for users
Comment on any asset
Add tags to any asset
User tags will provide new methods of
navigation and richer search
Collect favourites
Create favourite sets and share
these sets with others
Upload their own content
imagesmovies
audiosstories
Apply for expert status
help monitoranswer questions
encourage discussion
create content
What’s in it for staff
Every staff member will become
an author
Publish assets directly (after training)
Own their assets
Create their own focused,
passionate and personal blogs
Microblog instant news
Social tools
Our team’s role will expand from content creation to content distribution and success tracking
Twitter, Facebook etc used to broadcast content as well as promote content
Video/audio housed on our site but also pushed out to variety of other sites (via tubemogul etc)
possible issues?
During planning we uncovered many questions and concerns
Hopefully these may help
you if you’re in a similar situation…
1Should staff be allowed to publish directly to the site?In our case - YES
2Should we have one voice?- single corporate voice for some assets- different voices for types of assets- individual voices for blogs
3Will we moderate user comments and tags?- no, we will use a simple login- then allow all comments tags
4What if information in comments in wrong?- authors can comment with authority- experts can step in and correct- community can eventually self-moderate
5What if a tag seems irrelevant?- every tag is sacred. - we have no right to judge tag relevance- tags are personal expressions
6Will we be overwhelmed with questions via comments?- we wish! - we will have to work hard for every comment. - we will also have to accept that commenting may not happen in the way we envisage
7Will comments occur more frequently on certain types of assets?- yes, we believe so. - blogs are more personal so commenting may be seen as easier.- a lot of this will come down to management of comments.
8How will we measure success?- goes way beyond tracking hits and normal stats- internally tracking comments, tags, members, search terms - external search terms- inbound links- tracking social tools such as twitter tracking, feedburner, technorati etc
9How will we build communities?In site- comment answering- encouraging feedback and sharing- eventually letting go
Out of site- go to other places and let them know- use social distribution tools twitter- push out to niche bloggers etc
Start with lots of hard work and encouragement. Gradually pull back. Eventually self-moderate.
lessons learned?
The journey has been slow and painful
However, it’s also been lots of fun
If you are about to take the journey…
Make sure the features you add have a purpose
Think about all the possible issues before you start
thank you