More Design Techniques
 You always need to build value in your sites.
- Why should the user come to that site?
- Why should the user come to that site often?
- What is the added value from you site (what can a user get from your site that it cannot get anywhere else?
Content is KING and Relevance Matters
Five Value Factors for Net Users
- (from Tomsen's Killer Content: Strategies for Web Content and e-Commerce, 2000 **)
- Credibility: authority of the source of the content, product or service
- Innovation: Uniqueness of content, product and/or service
- Relevance: Impact on a decision, goal or lifestyle
- Timeliness: Immediacy for time-sensitive operations
- Utility: Usefulness in performing daily activities
Example: Amazon.com
Services
- Personalized recommendation
- Recommendation boards
- Special buyer rewards
- Community
Value Factors
- Credibility (high brand recognition)
- Price
- Relevance (wide variety of services and products)
- Utility (easy to navigate, search functionality, streamlined purchase)
- Content in Action: boaters.com
Relevance
- Commodity Content: widely available on the web
- Premium Content: only available at that site (see TheStreet.com)
- Value: helps customer do something better
- Wherever possible, diversify value
Types of Value
- (from Tomsen's Killer Content: Strategies for Web Content and e-Commerce, 2000 **)
- Promotional: provides single-topic information about a particular product or company on the Web
- Commerce: offers inventory in exchange for payment
- Content: offers aggregated information
- Entertainment: provides rich media niche content
Personalization
- Business Drivers: community building; targeted offers; customer loyalty
- Value Exchanges: content, commerce, entertainment
- Site Impact: requires marking all potential content served to a net user according to a customer profile
- Examples: Yahoo, Amazon, Infospace
Navigation and design
- Provide consistency in design to impress "brand"
- Provide clear and consistent navigation to reduce user frustration
- Provide web "templates"
- Site search utilities help reduce reliance on navigation
- Use "metatags" to help non-users find pages
- Streamline form-based processes
- Standardize forms
- Automate manual processes
Discussion Pages
- UMSL Home Page
- CoBA Graduate Programs
- Career Planning and Placement
- The Current
- Student Planner
- College of Education
- College of Arts and Sciences
- Campus Calendar
- Academic Calendar
- Alphie
- The Wall Street Journal
- The New York Times
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