Introducing "The Student Project" (Week 18 & 19)
Myself and fellow student/colleague Jasmin Hannington have been recently working together to create a web-based concept that we believe has potential as a viable online business; "The Student Project". The Student Project
We have recently designed the overall layout, logo and creative design of the website which is outlined in the images below. Watch this space over the next few weeks to find out our key goals, aims and objectives for our new website, what we hope to achieve, what our target audience/users are likely to achieve from using the website, finance predictions, plans for the future (our five year plan) and much, much more.
The Student Project Homepage (Web Design)
First impressions
are critically important. Therefore, a consistent and effectively designed
layout should be used throughout all aspects of The Student Project website.
This helps to ensure the most significant information is placed on the
homepage, promotions are advertised effectively, the company logo is always
present, other important features of the website are easily accessed etc. The
page design could make all the difference when encourage users to explore the
website in more depth, use the business services etc.
BrandInsightBlog
(2012) explains that “Poor design leads to confusion, and nothing drives people
away faster than confusion. If the immediate, split-second impression is that
you don’t know what the site’s about or what to do next, you’re outta there”. Page design is not just about the aesthetic elements, but
also the site planning, navigation and structure, messaging and usability. By
improving this, the business can drive enormous traffic to the website and gain
more customers. Overall, a great page design can together produce great
results. The 3 key objectives of design for The Student project are;
- Customer Acquisition – Encourage users to create an online account with The Student Project to apply for desired job roles, vacancies, work experience and other opportunities with local small and independent businesses. Also ensure the brand’s social media accounts are regularly updated and get involved with conversational relationships with followers and the audience.
- Customer Retention – Prompting website visitors to become users/customers can be implemented by regular posts and expressing the benefits The Student Project can give. The only live chat (Skype) facility can also help to achieve this goal.
- Customer Expansion – Customer profiles on The Student Website can be easily personalised to express individual student’s personality, the skills and expertise they have to offer, any past experience and more. Customer expansion can also be successfully implemented by advertising special discount offers exclusive for NUS card holders.
Students "About" Page (Web Design)
Secondly, the
navigation & structure of The Student Project website is extremely
important to be simple and consistent. Navigation is defined as how people move
around the website through tools such as links and menus. The structure is how
these links and menus are placed within the website and how different pages can
relate to others. Navigating through one screen at a time can be very
disorientating. It’s very easy for some users to get confused and lost. “A
reader who gets lost or confused in this attention-deficit age is likely to hit
the “Back” button” (oneextrapixel, 2009).
Students
especially do not want to waste their time scrolling through a badly designed
page. This can then cause them to get irritated or bored, thus causing them to
leave the website and The Student Project and Black Sheep Digital Marketing
would have lost a viable potential customer. The navigation and
structure of websites are essentially where users can access content; it is the
site’s overall “brain” and a fundamental aspect of website design. It must be
easily accessed and appeal to the user. “Content that can’t be found can’t be
read” (oneextrapixel, 2009). If content can’t be found and read, results will be
poor.
Therefore,
creating a simple and clear structure can help the visitor feel comfortable and
allow them to find the content they want quickly and easily. This is critical
to the overall success of any website; not just The Student Project. Navigation
design and structure should always be “simple, direct, unadorned, with the
overriding objective of helping the user get to where they want to go”.
Student Profile Example Page (Web Design)
Thirdly, the
dynamic design & personalisation of The Student Project is about different and unique
content to target customers (university students). It is also essential to
ensure website content is greatly detailed and “promotions are customised with every page
to view the specifics of each individual visitor” (customerinsightgroup, 2012).
A classic example of dynamic design and personalisation in relation to The Student Project is message greetings.
Website users can register to the website to create/edit their personal profile
or apply for desired job roles. Once the customer is logged on, they are
greeted with a “Hi (Name). Welcome to your account” message.
“Personalisation” essentially
means aspects that can easily be customized e.g. information, service product
etc. All customers have their own unique wants/needs/demands but they all have
one thing in common; they do not want to waste time and pay attention to
content they are not interested in. Therefore, personalisation is crucial for
all websites. It is used to assign appropriate content to each customer
according to their intentions.
Another way in
which this digital marketing tool is used on the website is through job vacancy
search. Users can search for available roles in a given industry sector
(accounting, PR, construction, art and design, IT, sports/coaching, journalism
etc.), time frame in relation to each role, the location and the paid fee.
In conclusion, the
use of dynamic design and personalisation via website design can help give the brand an idea of what
is popular and relevant amongst the target audience at a given time. Overall,
it helps the owner to know its consumers.
Employer Profile Example Page (Web Design)
Online Value
Proposition (also known as OVP) is essential for website content on The Student
Project. It is closely tied to brand positioning which answers questions like:
- What is the business?
- What does the business have to offer?
- Who is the businesses target audience? How can they reach them & communicate effectively
- What makes the business different from its competitors?
All of these
aspects are extremely important to the consumer so the business needs to ensure
they get it right. However, OVP is more than just selling products/services via
an online website and showing content about what the business offers. It is
crucial to engage with online customers, “identify the reasons why the
customers will click on, return, register and/or buy from the site ideally feel
motivated enough to share their experience” (word-of-mouth)
(smartinsights.com).
OVP should take
advantage of some of the unique benefits that online retailers have to offer
e.g. depth of content, interactivity and immediacy (newsletters, fast help
& contact responses, social media platforms etc.), quick and easy purchase
methods etc. Overall, the main
aims for online value proposition should be to offer new experiences,
resources, information and help to customers that they could not gain anywhere
else (instore for example). Effective OVP can help our business deliver, review
and improve effective content across all aspects of The Student Project
website.
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