The role and function of the PR Manager of certain global company is serious one and takes a lot of responsibilities as it needs to be realized in order for the company to grow and stay focus for their goals and vision for the future. The situation implies that the company's current website is now two years old and it did not added value to the business. The imperative basis in rebuilding the company's website as requested by the CEO is a crucial consideration to viewed about as websites are example of great tool in linking management to the staff as well as to the suppliers and respected customers, it provides a more concise and updated process of business situations and activities that is geared towards the success of the company and what business they provide, there is ample need to re-assess as well as update the company’s site – a website that will be able to start in making money and achieve communication goals for the company respectively. There is really a need to redevelop the website of two years and consider all possible aspects in making it innovative into the present market as companies are now being moved and affected by globalization and changes of technology facts in today’s business world and the society as a whole sense.
Moreover, it is then ideal for PR manager to be equipped with adequate and effective knowledge as to how to go about the company’s website redevelopment as well as website restructuring as critical as possible and the proper addressing of communication to the PR manager regarding such plans in dealing to resolving issues and or problems concerning the company’s website as useful process for redesigning the site in giving support to site’s content and structure. Thus, the value of integrating any of the security issues as well as Information Technology issues as needed to be address well and to possible look for online presences of similar companies in certain expertise also, it is vital for the PR Practitioner to have appropriate promotional plan of the company’s website development.
The site have the power and influence to incorporate certain Internet services as the individual have the ability to retrieve papers as well as observe images also listen to music sounds as well as the viewing of programs that jog on virtually in terms of providing computer and software hardware to do something in clicking websites and locating search engines through the use of certain hypertext links can be the crucial feature exclusive and radical regarding website. The company site can provide faster communication with important people involved in process and can submit online queries of something through sending and respond in the same manner of communication. The increase of quantity and quality of available information on the Internet and the presence of known services on the Internet. There must be able to evaluate web sites critically and to examine the technical aspects of the site, the authority of the writer and the validity of the writer's content and know as to whether the site provides the information they need to solve their information problem and if it does not, how the process could be varied to obtain the needed outcomes. (2004)
Plan for redeveloping and redesigning the site
Thus, being the PR manager of large global company, as it is evident that the website is old and does not add value to the company as of the present then, I have several imperative points to propose to the management upon how to address updates and changes of the website being used as well as provide assumptions regarding web security process and its concerns in order for the company to achieve positive indication and outcomes in terms of redeveloping and designing for newer packaging of the website. In addition, being the PR manager there is ample need for planning out website development in such ways as discussed below. As it is a fact that such range of organisations developing better Web site is growing and the company will develop the site by using appropriate skills and resources required for designing a much better web site. As PR manager, there is the need for me to have adoption of certain non-formal web site development model as well as suitable usability methods. The plan will imply the web model identifying the stages and tasks of site development. I will see to it that the management of the company will have precise understanding of certain web user and information provider requirements as it is one of the factor for site progress and the need for the management to integrate and examine usability methods in detail and small-scale in-house development environment will have to be considered.
The site plan out will have its updated company homepage that will contain all the necessary information in communicating to people who are potential business partners, distributors, suppliers and of course loyal customers. The management will have to change modes in writing and publishing the web site in order to feel that such web presence is desirable and is increasing market communication as it will be sufficient due to growing recognition that web site should be achieving precise company objectives and goals (1997). The PR manager will have to advice the company to use such platform autonomous network delivery as the management need to take control of such document presentation of company activities and have ample management of hardware and software platform. The proposal to blend internet and PC elements as it is applicable that the company’s web site design will be seen to have combined the needed elements such as good content; visual appearance as well as usability. The plan that such usability must be evaluated at interrelated levels, site-level usability and page-level usability ( 1998) and note down visual appearance of web interfaces as significant for business value and dynamics (1995; 1997). There must be understanding of factors that influence the behaviour of users undertaking specific tasks, such as purchasing on-line via e-commerce site. The need to require interpretation and selectivity on part of web developer and that as a PR manager, the awareness that web site which follows design guidelines is not inevitably usable.
The experience of redesigning a complex website demonstrates the important role of usability testing. Aside, usability testing raises the awareness of how a site is used and provides a model for periodic evaluation. The website brings together thousands of distinct, but often related, resources and services and aims to deliver them in a logical and easy-to-use manner. The driving goal of the website redesign was to move all the information on the site to a content management system (CMS). The comprehensive scope of the task provided an opportunity to test presumptions about vocabulary and the organization of information on the site, as well as a chance to implement several desired interactive features as the conversion from an HTML-based site to a CMS-driven site was such a fundamental change, it was felt that a usability component was essential.
The redesign process
Then, consensus to update the design and organization of the old website and the shared desire to move to an open-source CMS instigated discussions about a new website. It will be agreed that the new site should provide more interactivity for the user, such as a search feature and a drop-down FAQ list, one with more content geared toward information literacy and instruction with less library lingo, and one that offered a stronger identity for the library. Whereas the old site required the user to choose a broad subject area to begin their search for resources as the new site should have more ways to get into the resources. Because of the magnitude of the change to the website, the decision that usability testing should be part of the design and development process.
The underlying and essential change to a CMS-driven website merits attention before discussing the usability component of the design process. Running the website out of a database eliminates the need for individual HTML files, as pages are served up dynamically via PHP scripts. The staff responsible for designing the database prepared separate scripts for displaying different categories of information, like for example, resources, news and events as there facilitates the ease of making global changes to the website by requiring that changes be made only once. While decidedly more powerful, such a website does not allow for infinite customization to harmonize the structure of the website. This is particularly important in light of usability testing as site usability was not just about feature it had to do with the entire site and its underlying structure and it had to be addressed via the entire site and assuming a partnership role in the testing process brought results that were relevant and that led to a substantive understanding of the dynamics of the website.
Ideas for site content and structure
Moreover, measurements of usability are required for interactive and browsing systems, like for instance speed of task completion is not likely to be an appropriate measure for a browsing task. The same is true of research in hypermedia, much of which is conducted in fairly small hypertext systems rather than the large distributed environment of the Web (1997). The ideas to have transfer of knowledge and skills from existing media for technical information. The management will see to that the site structure and content will gear towards balance communication of involved parties for the business and the presence of dynamic, open-ended online publication having web the concept of finished product can be inappropriate due to technological change and change in user needs and expectations which necessitate the continual development of a site. (1999) suggests that web is facing an imminent usability crisis and that there are not enough user interface professionals to avert this potential crisis as often web developments are undertaken with only limited resources in terms of time, money and expertise.
Then, user dissatisfaction may lead to the site failing to meet its business objectives, it is possible to characterise professional site development environment:
- Limited development team – both in terms of the number of people involved and in terms of site development experience as the development will typically involve people with a wide range of backgrounds
- Limited local user population – the site is likely aimed of external user population rather than being an Intranet application and the user population is to be dispersed
- Business objective – the site has some form of identifiable “business objective” even though the site may not be commercial in nature
- External host – in many cases the site will be hosted by some external company rather than on a server owned by the organisation developing the site
Hence, being the PR manager, ideas for site structure and content is crucial for the company as there needs to: ( (1999)
- make it possible to design reasonably without having much expertise
- train more people in good web design
- live with good designed sites that are easy to use
Given the dynamic technical basis of the Web and the changing expectations of the users, it is likely that evolutionary development will form part of the long-term development of most Web sites. Given an appropriately framed development model, inexperienced developers may be able to reduce the complexity of their applications and improve their usability and maintainability. PR manager can incorporate such media development models like the HDM (1993), RMM (1995) and OOHDM (1996) as the latter is based on software engineering and or database tools and concepts and requires specialist skills. The synthesized structure is applicable as approaches will lead to the following:
Ø establishing the need for change before adopting certain solution
Ø gathering of useful information before site development takes place
Ø developing and evaluation is necessary before creating the complete site
Ø implementation will occur once the design decisions have been finalized
Ø maintaining continuously after site has been launched
Furthermore, in order to be appropriate to the small scale professional site development environment the usability methods need to be:
Simple – methods must be easily applied and should use facilities that are available
Effective – methods should identify only genuine usability problems and should identify significant usability problems
Participatory – methods should involve real users and information providers where possible
Reusable – ideally a single method will be applicable
The launching of the company site should not be the end of the process as the user interactions with the site can be used to identify changes in user behaviour, business objectives may change, competitors’ sites may be updated, use analysis can identify parts of the site that users either cannot find or do not want to use. In many ways effective site is potentially an ideal vehicle for ongoing usability evaluation, though the loss of potential repeat visits due to an initial negative experience must be considered.
Value-added features
Accordingly, (1997) states that, web site should contain something of value to potential customers A good Web site should contain something of value to potential as well as existing customers to entice them to revisit. The advantage of offering free information is that clients will have to provide their names and addresses which will enable the accounting firm to develop a list of potential clients to pursue. The Web site should provide added value to existing and potential clients to make them return to a firm’s Web site. To propose having such useful information that is continuously being maintained keeps clients visiting the Web site. The PR managers’ advice and information can enhance the quality image of the firm and there is imperative to provide ways to communicate with existing and potential clients as tradeoff has time and resources required to maintain and improve the site on a continuous basis.
Graphics
The need to enhance company image through better site appearance
The technological image could be greatly enhanced by the attractiveness of Web site with inclusion of logos, pictures or colour improves the Web site’s appearance. Moreover, regular maintenance of the Web sites is necessary to keep potential clients visiting the firm’s Web site and need to take more advantage of the features of the Internet by utilizing graphics. The need to use helpful linkages brings potential and existing clients back to the firm’s Web site. The interactivity between client and firm afforded by free information or advice or by signing up for newsletter helps the accounting firm to develop a list of potential clients. It helps the firm determine if they are meeting the needs of existing clients.
Addressing Issues of Security or IT
The understanding of user needs and information provider needs as web site produced should be user centred, catering for actual user needs, tasks and expectations and recognising actual user constraints. A site which fails to meet the needs of its users is unlikely to meet its business objectives. The information provider needs as company site should meet business objectives in producing the site includes meeting of user needs. Like for instance, end-user of the site expects to have purchases online directly from the company but, there intends to provide only an online product list and a list of suppliers perhaps the manufacturer lacks the infrastructure to handle small orders and is not cost-effective.
Moreover,(1997) present a user-centred design process for Web sites:
- early in the project to determine the evaluative criteria users apply to the Web sites that they use
- after a preliminary design of the Web site to elicit feedback and comments and/or to evaluate certain aspects of the site
- when the Web site is operational to elicit continual feedback and suggestions for additions and/or modifications to the site
The model applies equally well to information provider needs and demonstrate that success has, or has not, been achieved. The measure of success is still the number of hits a page or site receives with respect to measuring the achievement of business objectives, it is both easy to define and to quantify. It is also clear that the information provider needs and the user needs are interdependent. In order to have a realistic chance of achieving its business objectives, an information provider must consider user needs when defining those objectives. On the other hand, company will afford the luxury of web site that satisfies user needs but serves to achieve their objectives. The sites can be analysed to determine perceived strengths and weaknesses and to derive an informal set of desirable (1993), the use of developers or information providers may reflect their subjective opinion, rather than those of real users. The use of real users will also reduce the chances of deriving features from sites which do not meet user requirements.
The company site is likely to be a dynamic entity; underestimating the cost of maintaining a Web site has been identified as a common mistake in Web development (1998) and poor maintenance can lead to a decline in site quality over time. Procedures for organizing files and directories on the server, keeping links updated, adding, deleting and revising materials, file and directory naming conventions and checking the currency of content must be considered. The empirical validation of the effectiveness of methods and of the framework will be required before the experiential evidence of web developers can be formalised into an accepted development approach. One particular issue that must be faced is the demonstration that the identification and correction of usability problems by such methods leads to Web sites that meet both user and information provider needs more effectively. A reliable method for grading the severity of usability problems would also enhance the cost-effectiveness of solving these problems. These areas both require empirical investigation. A further important area for investigation is how effective particular usability methods are under varying conditions (1998). The issue of identifying combination of complementary methods and the benefits afforded by such combinations as the development model can be refined into a validated toolkit for the development of usable Web sites.
Online Preferences
The potential customers can locate the firm by searching web sites similar to searching yellow page advertisements, as the site page allows for the inclusion of more information about the firm and greater creativity in presenting the information. The Web site can include information that would be in the yellow pages, but also adds an interactive element that may be valuable to potential and existing clients. The contents of each Web site were examined for value-added features. Finally, the contents were examined for the use of graphics, colour, animation which enhance the technological image of the firm and contribute to the attractiveness of the Web site. In using the Internet as an advertising medium and vehicle of communication, accounting firms need to provide not only their physical address but also the e-mail address. One way to obtain potential clients’ names and addresses for further solicitation is through e-mail queries.
Promotional Plan of site
The need for advancement in Internet technology provide companies with a new tool for direct marketing and advertising that may be cost effective and provide maximum delivery to targeted customers. In particular, the accounting profession has enthusiastically taken advantage of this new medium of marketing. The plan to imply content analysis of web pages using some factors identified in previous research as influencing clients’ choice and other factors identify as effective in Web-based promotion. The promotion of company web page URLs and E-mail addresses to determine whether the Web sites contained factors that influence client choice and have features that have been identified as important in using the Web as an effective advertising medium.
Aside, referrals is a factor in business and word-of-mouth referrals by current clients and professionals in the community can convey a favourable image of an accounting firm’s quality of services particularly to convey a positive image of the accounting firm as the web site cannot convey an overall image of quality of services as referrals would, but it can convey the image that is technologically adept. As the PR manager, it is important to improve business image and attract clients within the local area; general interest in the Internet; better serve the firm’s current clients; complement current advertising and attract clients and the improvement of service to existing clients by transmitting information and forms through sites and e-mail communication. There shows that advertisements should communicate their experience, areas of specialization, range of services, reputation, available resources, location and availability. Websites enable firms to include more information, in a more imaginative format, than conventional advertisements. While a Website cannot convey an overall image of quality of services, it can convey the impression that the firm is technologically adept. Being the PR manager, there is the need to do more to promote website as there indication that company is not doing enough to promote their web site.
The management should pay more to register their Website and ensure that the firm’s name appears in the first page of the search engine. A good company site should contain something of value to potential as well as existing customers. Providing advice and information, which is regularly updated, enhances the image of the firm and provides a way to communicate with customers. Getting people to sign up like newsletters will help the management to develop a list of potential clients and to determine if the needs of clients are being met. Then, before establishing a presence on the Internet, the management should determine its marketing strategy, determine what the objectives of the Web site should be, their strengths, areas of specialization and service products they want to offer. The Web site should be developed consistent with their goals and products and visit other firms’ Web sites and read about Web site development to determine what makes an effective Web site and they must make appropriate commitment of time and resources to profitability exploit the capability which Internet marketing offers.
0 comments:
Post a Comment