PROCESS
World Snowboarding Rebrand and Website Development
Insights and Information
While much of this was defined in the RFP, this critical step will confirm the goals and objectives of the future website and get a clear understanding as to how all of the unique audiences will be using it.
The strategy and development team will thoroughly review Google Analytics, may request the implementation of heat mapping software, such as HotJar* and may suggest doing third party research on the different audiences using the site.
*HotJar is an all-in-one analytics and feedback tool that uses heatmaps, conversion funnels, form analysis, feedback polls, etc to get a realtime sense of user behaviour on the site. www.hotjar.com
Brand Development
Your brand is all about the experience your stakeholders are having whenever they interact with you. As part of the website update, we will redesign and update the WST brand to reflect the new “World Snowboarding” name.
Brand development formulates a strategy to create a genuine and distinct position. As part of the process, WST will be provided with 2-3 different options of visual identity direction to select from.
Sitemap, Wireframes and Content Planning
We believe that the most important stage of any website is the planning and website architecture development phase. This collaborative phase will clearly define the function and structure of all of the pages (both external and internal facing) and how the CMS will integrate with each of them. It will also identify how we intend for the site to grow, ensuring the foundation is built properly right from the beginning.
A content audit (which will help to inform the sitemap) will also be completed as part of this stage.
While the sitemap will be the same for both desktop and mobile, separate wireframes will be provided for each to clearly illustrate what content may drop or be presented differently on a mobile device.
Based on our understanding of the proposal and review of analytics, the most important tools to include on the new website are:
- WSPL
- Global Event Schedule
- Event Registration
- Judge Education and Certification Platform
- Sports and Data Centre
Considering these tools and the different ways they’re used by each audience will be a critical part of this phase. The backend of the site in particular will permit different functionality for different types of users (riders, event organizers, etc.).
As with all sites, content is king and plays an integral role in driving design. Once the content direction, site architecture and user pathways have been established, the creative team (still in collaboration with the rest of the dev team) will begin to develop the site wireframes. Once these have been developed they will undergo a preliminary user testing phase to identify any user experience improvements/refinements that might be necessary. Once any observations have been addressed and any refinements have been made, the creative team will begin to develop the site’s visual presentation.
Writing
Based off of the findings in the content audit and the final site structure, existing copy will be edited and new copy will be created to fit within the sitemap and wireframes. Copywriting often happens in tandem with design.
Keyword Research
As part of the content audit and copywriting a keyword analysis will be done to confirm the existing site keywords are performing and to determine if there’s additional keyword opportunities available.
Design
This is the stage where we start to bring the site to life, and we always like to begin with discovery. The Discover phase of the design process is all about information gathering. This step involves pulling together all of our other research on industry, target market and customers, and the ultimate goal/aim for the website, to help guide a look, feel and style of the new site. From there we will utilize the wireframes from the previous step and begin exploring photography and iconography for use in the content and custom data fields.
Design needs to accommodate content rather than content often accommodating design, especially in web design. Even at this stage, content is the number one thing we want viewers to notice. For each page design, we constantly ask ourselves:
- What is the main goal of the page?
- Is it clear to users what action they need to take?
- How does the design encourage users to take an action?
From the wireframing and content planning stages, a number of distinct design templates will be identified, and the design team will then produce completed design mockups, both for desktop and mobile resolutions, for review by both the internal team and the client for critique and approval before the completion of the remaining templates.
Site Development
By this phase, the team is working with approved:
- Sitemap
- Wireframes
- Website copy
- Website design
We strongly believe in spending extra time up front making sure everyone is in agreement on those four stages as it prevents any (time consuming or expensive) surprises as the website is brought to life.
As part of our basic site deliverables, the website development team will ensure that the new site includes the following:
- A WordPress CMS platform that can be easily updated by administrative level staff and is accessible through basic internet access. It will feature robust permissions and accessibility options to grant differing levels of permission where required.
- Standard integration with Google Analytics to ensure effective tracking of the website’s performance.
- Search functionality of the site and advanced filtering of data.
- Support the latest version of commonly used browsers (Chrome, Firefox, IE, iOS and Android)
- Integration and use of social media; this will include the ability to integrate social feeds through a media wall as well as the ability to auto-post articles to social channels.
- Basic SEO operations including meta tag adjustments and keyword additions and optimization. All will be handled through Yoast SEO admin panels.
- Being completely responsive and supporting full access using a range of desktop, tablets, and mobile devices.
Understanding that a large portion of our audience will be accessing this site through mobile devices in locations where wireless internet access may be limited – a priority of our development process will be monitoring how data is handled and more specifically, how it will impact load times.
Testing, Training and Launch
Our development team will work with you and your team to thoroughly test the site prior to launch. Staff training sessions will be provided to make sure everyone is conversant with all of the functionality and are comfortable making edits to the site moving forward.
In addition, we will provide a UAT (User Acceptance Testing) environment with a complete database where you, MemberPro and eclipse360 can all make changes or enhancements to the site prior to pushing those changes up to the live site. This may include things like: changing colors, fonts and sizes, database API calls, new widgets, copy changes, etc.
Ongoing Monitoring, Maintenance and Analytics
As prepared and informed as we are when developing a new website, our users can surprise us in how they use and interpret the data. The new site will include heat-mapping (Hotjar) software to watch in detail how different users are integrating with the site in addition to Google Analytics.
Monthly Digital Audit
On a monthly basis eclipse360 will prepare a digital audit on the website reviewing analytics, user interactions, performance and search visibility. The report will provide site-wide recommendations to messaging, design, user experience and functionality. Utilizing site metrics, a content analysis will be conducted to ensure content is unique, informative and substantive. A review of SEO best practices will be conducted to ensure the site is presented properly on search pages and its keywords are performing. We will conduct a technical analysis to determine if there are any barriers to accessibility for both humans and robots. An external analysis will be done to gauge other platforms and how they’re being used to increase search rankings. An opportunity analysis will be done to ensure no opportunities are being missed.