Website Discovery

 

Defining the Project

The purpose of this document is to define the strategy and scope for your website. We will use this report framework to help guide discussions during our project kickoff meeting.

Our primary goal at this stage is to accomplish the following:

1. Define the organization-wide objectives as they relate to this project
2. Analyze who the audiences are and what information and tools they require for a positive user experience
3. Get a sense of the key issues and messages that need to be addressed
4. Define the criteria for evaluating the success of the website

To help get a better understanding of what you think works well on the web, we also encourage you to look at a few existing websites to articulate what you like or don't like. Finally, we'll ask you some questions about the site's organization, functionality, features and tone.

01: Objectives

Before starting a project, we like to step back and take a broad view of your objectives. This will help us identify the tools and frameworks that will help you accomplish those objectives and create a structure that can evolve with your requirements. Please provide your primary objectives for this project below. For example:

• We want to provide as much information as possible on your full range of advocacy work, policies and/or research to ensure that all visitors to the website will be able to find the information they are interested in quickly and easily.

02: Audience Analysis

The site will only be successful by meeting the individual needs of your audiences and producing a user experience that is engaging, informative and credible. Take a moment to identify who will be using the site and what they would need in order to form a positive impression. Think about the specific information and features that will best answer their questions or provide them with tools to accomplish tasks.

03: Key Issues/Messages

In order to effectively engage visitors and meet your marketing goals, we need to understand your key issues and messages, and how they interact with your visitors’ needs. Please list and share them key below in order of priority.

04: Defining Success

How will we determine whether this project has been successful? Please identify criteria that will allow us to track how we will meet project goals. Please be as detailed as possible in defining how these criteria can be evaluated.

05: Sample Site Analysis

It's often a helpful starting point for discussion to identify a few websites and articulate what you feel works and what doesn't. We're looking at identifying the broad strokes at this point. Examples of the type of feedback we're interested in include:

• Structure and layout
• Look and feel
• How information is organized
• Ease of navigation
• Clarity of communication
• Site features and tools

06: Site Discussion

Please consider these questions in advance of our meeting. Much of the structure, messaging and functionality will flow from well-defined goals, key messages and audience requirements. We can discuss the more specific issues and provide recommendations about how we could best use the website to engage users and accomplish your goals during our meeting.