Website Analysis

Introduction

After a thorough review of the Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Korn’s website, I have

compiled the following analysis to create an attractive website that also is intentionally

designed to meet Poppin Joe’s™ website objectives. Implementing the changes suggested

will increase sales and educate the interactors on the story of Joe and the success of his

business.

This analysis is in line with recommendations from industry leaders in web design and

content. I have included references at the end of the report.

Site Purpose

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Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Korn was established in April 2005 to provide a young man

with DS-ASD an opportunity to own his own business. Joe sells kettle korn at various fairs

and events throughout Kansas and Georgia. Poppin Joe’s™ is also available via telephone

orders and at select retail locations.

The purpose of Poppin Joe’s™ website is:

• sell popcorn,

• inform where to buy the product,

• inform about fundraising opportunities,

• book private events,

• educate interactors on the development and success of a business being run by

someone with DS-ASD

Joe Steffy participates in speaking opportunities to inspire other developmentally disabled

individuals to pursue their dreams.

Intended Audience

Understanding who our target audience is a critical step in understanding our client’s needs

and goals. One way to define our target audience is to create a user persona; they “are like

the foundation for building your marketing house” (Dam & Siang, n.d.). Poppin Joe's ™

website's intended audience includes fair goers, supporters of developmentally disabled

owned businesses, kettle Korn lovers, and individuals looking to raise funds for charity or

group.

The personas created show the motivations and needs of two customer types. Both Fair

Food Lover Linda and Philanthropist Phil are customer types that would interact with

Poppin Joe’s™.

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Typical scenarios that involve our customers:

Linda, born and raised in Gladstone, Missouri, has two children, ages four and six. Her

husband, and high school sweetheart, commutes twenty minutes to Kansas City, Missouri,

where he works at the Ford Motor Company manufacturing facility. Linda works part-time

at Walmart as a checker to make ends meet. Summer vacations are few and far between,

so they all look forward to the county fair. They love sharing the day with their children and

each other as it brings back memories of their first date. They love watching their children

on the rides, seeing their family and friends, and splurging on fair food.

Phil, a widow, is recently retired from his federal government job. He spends his free time

keeping up his home, golfing at Shoal Creek Golf Course, and finding ways to give back to

his community like his wife used to do before she passed. Since he watches the news at

6:00 pm every night, he sees highlights on various small businesses in his general area.

Since he is doing the grocery shopping now, he sees the small end cap of Poppin Joe’s™

Gourmet Kettle Korn, and it triggers a memory of a news report he heard or read in the

newspaper. He picks up a couple of kettle korn bags and looks forward to sharing it with

his grandkids.

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Rhetorical Appeals

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Rhetorical appeals are a way “of addressing an audience for the most effective appeal

(CopyPress, n.d.). Since we have established who our audience is, we can now use ethos,

pathos, and logos to appeal to them. When we appeal to our interactors, they will be more

inclined to support our business.

Ethos

Ethos conveys to our interactors that we are experts in what we do and establishes

credibility. By “using easily verifiable facts and choosing words that convey a sense of

authority,” we can establish ethos (CopyPress, n.d.). We do this by writing in a confident but

pleasant tone. We need to share the awards Poppin Joe’s™ has won with the audience,

show photos of the kettle korn in the stores, and share whenever the media outlets

mention the business.

Pathos

Pathos appeals to the emotions of our interactors. We need to do a better job of appealing

to pathos. We accomplish this by telling the audience the story of Joe and how he overcame

various hurdles to create his business. We should also expand on how Poppin Joe’s™

supports the troops in Iraq with exciting stories and photos.

Logos

Logos is developed by writing logically and being straightforward. We also appeal to logos

by including data and facts. We should add information regarding how many bags of kettle

korn Joe sells at a typical fair or event.

We also will appeal to logos by revamping the comment section that is currently located on

the “About Us” page, as shown below:

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The comment section is currently a mixture of responses to speaking/educational events

and reviews of the kettle korn. We need to filter the kettle korn reviews and emphasize

them across the website to show the interactor’s reviews about the product’s quality from

actual consumers. We will include the comments regarding the various

speaking/educational events on the appropriate page.

Writing Quality

Style

Based on our target audience demographics, I propose that we make significant changes to

the current website copy. The best way to do this is to develop a style guide to outline

“structure, models, and norms that will contribute to consistency of voice” throughout all

marketing efforts (Carroll, 2020, p. 157). As it stands, the website does not have a

consistent point of view. I suggest we use second-person writing perspectives as it will form

a personal connection with the interactors.

Tone

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All copywriting should be sincere and joyful. Being genuine in our website copy will invoke

trust and a willingness to support the brand. A cheerful tone will invoke good emotions.

For instance:

As you walk around the fairgrounds, be sure to keep your senses tuned to the

aroma of Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Korn to enjoy a warm, sweet, and salty treat.

Don’t wait for the next fair! Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Korn is available year-

round. We pop and ship every order fresh!

Voice

Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Popcorn stands out from other kettle korn businesses because it is

run by a young man with DS-ASD. Even though Joe is a sole-proprietor, the company was

built with the help of his loving family. Our customers include families and individuals that

support people with developmental disabilities, and therefore our voice should be friendly

yet informative.

Site Navigation

The website’s navigation is located at the top of the page and is easy to find. The interactors

must find the information they are looking for quickly.

The current main navigation bar details are as follows:

The following is a breakdown of the content that is contained on each page:

● Welcome: A general overview of Poppin Joe’s™

● About Us: The story of how Poppin Joe’s™ came to fruition

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 ● Products: Lists each available flavor, what sizes are available at fairs, and a bit about
product quality

● Fundraising: Includes brief information regarding fundraising

● Calendar: List event dates/locations of where to find the booth

● Photos: A collection of photos of Joe’s stand and him at various speaking

engagements

● Contact Us - Contact information including a form and social media pages

I propose the following changes to the main navigation content:

● Home

● About Us: This will tell the story of Poppin Joe’s™

● Shop: Online store and links to retail locations

● Services: Book an event and fundraising information

● In the News: Media mentions and speaking events

● Contact Us: Phone number, email address, contact form

Page Layout

The page layout for the website needs to follow best practices for web design. We want to

have a general layout for similar page types to create consistency, and so the interactors

know what to expect. I would recommend utilizing whitespace in the layouts of all the

pages.

Overall Structure

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As you can see from the image below, the home page requires the interactors to scroll

endlessly to get to the bottom of the page. According to Anthony Brebion (2018), it is

important to place “most engaging content above the fold.” I would recommend a home

page’s layout that minimizes scrolling. The current website is also very photo heavy. There

needs to be a balance between written content and graphics.

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As the website stands, the page layouts are similar for both the home page and the body

pages.

Current Template for Home Page Current Template for Body Page

Revised Page Layouts

I suggest using three templates for the website, the home page, the online store, and all

other pages.

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Header

The layout of the front page will be changed so that the information they are looking for is

readily available to the interactor. In doing so, the current header image will change, and

the logo will be moved into the header.

The current header:

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The proposed header will include our logo, the site navigation, social media links, and a

search feature.

Footer

Even though we are changing the front page’s structure to decrease the amount of

scrolling, we still need to focus on elements that will be below the fold, like the footer.

The current footer:

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Proposed footer:

We want to make sure that the interactors have an easy way to contact us once they get to

the bottom of the page. Adding contact information in the footer along with location

information, will improve the user experience.

According to The Hutchinson News, “Festivals account for 66% of sales; retail locations,

24%; and special events such as weddings, fundraisers and graduations, 10%” of Joe’s

annual sales (Clarkin, 2019). I would recommend a CTA button that allows visitors to get

more information on special events and inquire about a date since 10% of sales come from

those types of bookings.

Adding the copyright information into the footer will protect from plagiarism.

Social Media Links

The website lacks a social media presence other than a small mention on the contact page,

and it is missing the Twitter and Facebook hyperlinks. I would suggest that we add Twitter

and Facebook links into the header, footer, and contact page. It will continue our goal to

appeal to pathos, our interactor’s emotions.

Visual Appeal

Logo

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I would recommend a redesign of the logo. I feel as if the popcorn kernels are too large

compared to the text and is not balanced. I also feel that logos should stick to two colors,

maybe three at the most. Correcting these two things would create more of a professional

image for our brand.

Color

The following is Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Corn’s current color palette with the

hexadecimal names:

From my research, the website’s current color palette is very similar to most kettle korn

companies on the web.

Popcorn for the People Popcorn Indiana Doc Popcorn

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I do not find the palette in need of change; however the use of color on the website needs

to be addressed. Using WebAIM’s contrast checker, I was able to determine if the colors
used would pass accessibility guidelines.

The text color #D40404 on the background color #FAB602 in the menu passes the contrast

checker for large text but fails for normal text.

The body text color #5a5a58 on the background color #FAB602 passes the contrast

checker for large text but fails for normal text.

The text color #FF990B used for hyperlinks and titles on the background color #FAB602 has

very poor contrast and fails both normal and large text tests.

I would recommend using a white background for the website instead of the current yellow

color to fix the contrast issue. I would not recommend using any yellow for headings, body

text, or hyperlinks.

Font

The website uses two different fonts: Lucida Grande Regular for all body text and

navigation and Lucida Grande Light for headings. Both are web-safe fonts that are easy to

read on a screen.

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To improve the website’s design, I would recommend another font to use for headings. My

recommendation would be Georgia, as it is a web-safe font and will go well with Lucida

Grande Regular.

Images

As I have mentioned before, the images on the website are too large and lack

professionalism. The home page has too many photos and discourages the use of the site

since the user has to scroll repeatedly to get information. The rest of the pages are lack in

graphics. None of the photos contain captions, so the interactors are not given any insight

into the photo’s story.

The biggest issue regarding graphics is the lack of photos on the “Products” page. We need

to show the users what the popcorn looks like in a professional manner. I recommend

having professional photos taken similar to Kalamazoo Kettle Corn’s.

Each popcorn flavor would have a photo of it out of the bag, similar to the photos below.

This will show the texture and color of the popcorn and entice the user to order.

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We will also need a photograph of each type of popcorn in its packaging like

Kalamazoo Kettle Corn’s.

Content

Having a clear content strategy will allow us to focus on our website’s goals, determine

appropriate content hierarchy, and give our interactors a seamless experience.

When an interactor comes to the website, they need to find what they are looking for

within seconds. The homepage of the website should immediately:

● Establish identity and mission

● Manifest hierarchy

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 ● Indicate where to start

● Communicate what’s there

● Indicate shortcuts

● Convey the big picture

● Avoid clutter (Carroll, 2020)

Currently, the home page only states Poppin Joe's™ motto and basic information about Joe

and why the business was created. The large photos create a cluttered design, and it

prevents interactors from finding the information they need. Focusing the website’s

content on our primary objectives will give the customer what they want with minimal

effort and the fewest number of clicks.

Let’s Get to Work

I am looking forward to redesigning Poppin Joe’s™ Gourmet Kettle Corn website and brand.

Joe’s story is inspirational and needs to be shared. I look forward to your feedback.

References

Brebion, Anthony (2018). Above the Fold vs. Below the Fold: Does it Still Matter today?.

AB Tasty. https://www.abtasty.com/blog/above-the-fold/

Carroll, Brian (2020). Writing And Editing For Digital Media (4th ed.). Rourledge.

Clarkin, Mary (2019, October 3). Disabilities don’t stop Poppin’ Joe. The Hutchinson News.

Retrieved from https://www.hutchnews.com/news/20191003/disabilities-dont-stop-poppin-

joe

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CopyPress (n.d.). Creative Spotlight: Rhetorical Strategies for Successful Copy.

https://www.copypress.com/blog/rhetorical-strategies-successful-copy/

Dam, R., & Siang, T. (2020). Personas – a simple introduction. Interaction Design

Foundation.

https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/personas-why-and-how-you-should-

use-them

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