MAKE A WINNING WEBSITE – THE KEY TO SUCCESS

4.1 Introduction
All web activities are services, and winning websites provide the best service possible.
Successful e-marketing starts with willingness to be of service. That is why this chapter
introduces the concepts of:

 Information services
 Contact services
 Relationship services
 Transaction services
 Entertainment services

4.2 Smooth the ‘Customer Journey’

 website should smooth the path through the ‘customer journey’ or ‘experience cycle’ –
right through from dreaming about possible holidays, through to enthusing others to
make the same trip, and maybe deciding to make a repeat visit
 Your service should therefore encompass everything from the highlights of the
destination and recommendations for those still in the decision-making process, through
to uploading holiday pictures after the trip and buying souvenirs online.
4.3 Make Accessibility the Basis for Website Quality

To be a quality, user-friendly, successful website a site has to:

• Comply with the guidelines of the World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility
Initiative (W3C WAI)
• Have valid markup (computer language or source code of the website) and interfaces
that are accessible to all kinds of user, and all the devices they use
• Meet legal and best-practice standards in your country and the countries it will be used
in.

 What is World Wide Web Consortium’s Web Accessibility Initiative?

- The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)'s Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) is an
effort to improve the accessibility of the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) for
people with disabilities. People with disabilities may encounter difficulties when
using computers generally, but also on the Web.

4.3.1 It Is Right for Customer, and It Is Good for Business

 All users need to be able to perceive, understand, navigate, interact, and contribute
 Webpages that are fully accessible to users are usually also easily accessible to search
engine crawlers or spiders such as Google’s which automatically index your site
 When your site is accessible it will take into account the visual, hearing, physical,
speech, cognitive, and neurological limitations, multiple disabilities and age-related
conditions of users.

4.3.2 Barriers to Avoid

• There are many barriers you can avoid with good design and planning. For example,
people who are blind rely on a screen reader. This is software that reads text on the
screen and outputs it to a speech synthesiser, refreshable Braille display, or text-based
browser or voice browser, instead of a reader.
4.3.2.1 Principle 1: Content Must Be Perceivable
WCAG Guidelines:
• Provide text alternatives for all non-text content.
• Provide synchronized alternative for multimedia.
• Ensure that information, functionality and structure are separable from presentation.
For example:
- Fonts must be scalable
- Coloured text, if used as a marker to emphasize a point, must not be difficult to read or
prevent machine reading.
- Tables need to make sense when read serially.
- People with poor vision who use extra-large monitors and associated functions should
be able, for example, to increase font and image size, and override author style sheets.
- Pages need a consistent layout so that, when enlarged and surrounding context cannot
be seen, they are still easy to navigate.
• Make it easy to distinguish foreground information from background images or sounds.
For example:
- Provide good contrast between text and background.
- Make it easy for users to change the contrast by overriding the author style sheets.

4.3.2.2 Principle 2: Interface Elements in the Content Must be Operable

WCAG Guidelines:
• Make all functionality operable via a keyboard or a keyboard interface.
• Allow users to control time limits on reading or interaction.
• Allow users to avoid content that could cause photosensitive epileptic reactions.
• Provide mechanisms to help users find content, orientate themselves within it, and
navigate through it.
• Help users avoid mistakes and make it easy to correct them
4.3.2.3 Principle 3: Content and Controls Must Be Understandable
WCAG Guidelines:
• Ensure that the meaning of content can be determined. Do not use unnecessarily
complex language.
• Organize content consistently from page to page and make interactive components
behave in predictable ways.

4.3.2.4 Principle 4: Content Must Be Robust enough to Work with

Current and Future Technologies
WCAG Guidelines:
• Use technologies according to specification
• Ensure that user interfaces are accessible or provide accessible alternatives.

4.3.3 WAI Levels and Marks of Conformance

There are three WCAG 2.0 levels to which you can aspire, or which you may obliged to comply
with if your government demands it from you as a state-funded body. Each level entitles you to
use a WCAG logo:
• Level A – sites that “achieve a minimum level of accessibility” and can be reasonably
applied to all web resources”
• Level AA – achieving “direct accessibility without requiring users or their user agents to
do anything different from users without disabilities.
• Level AAA – aiming at enhanced accessibility.

4.3.4 Meeting Government Requirements

 In many countries there are laws about web accessibility.
4.3.5 Help on Your Site.
You should provide an ‘Accessibility’ link at the foot of your homepage to, for example,
guidance on how the user can change their browser settings.

4.4 Write to Suit the On-screen Reader

It is an inescapable fact that users scan pages on the screen rather than read them properly.
Only when they have arrived at detailed information that they were looking for will they start
to read it fully.

4.4.1 Help Customers to Scan the Page

• Headings and sub-headings must be meaningful and relevant to the content that
follows.
• Each new piece of information should have its own sub-heading
• Content should be in very short paragraphs. 25-40 words is a good target.
• Bulleted lists are very easy to scan and should be used when you can, but do not put too
many in an unbroken list.
• Use simple language:
- Shorts words rather that long ones.
 - Common words, not usual ones.
- Plain words, not buzzwords and jargon.
- Avoid acronyms, unless you explain them or they are commonly used by a specific
audience
- Be brief and to the point – no hyperbole, waffle, flowery language, or gratuitous use of
adjectives

4.4.2 The Inverted Pyramid Style

When writing for the web, this is turned on its head, hence the inverted pyramid style:
• Start with the conclusion
• Give the ideas, reasons, and additional information
• Provide background

4.5 BUILD IDENTITY AND TRUST

Trust has been defined as “the user’s willingness to risk time, money and personal data on
website”.

4.5.1 Vital Confidence Builders

 Choose the right URL
 Have a clear statement of the purpose of the site.
 Use the official logo prominently on every page.
 Use the graphic design of the site to portray the destination attractively.
 Keep the site accurate, up-to-date and thus authoritative.
 ‘Buttons’ or other advertisements placed by third parties on the site, should be
marked (advertisement) in a small point size
  Do not link to sites, and do not accept advertisements, that are not in keeping
with the purpose of the organization and the destination’s brand values
 Show the source of all third-party content, such as weather forecasts, e-
commerce offers, or searchable databases

4.5.2 About Us/Contact Us

Best practice, and in some cases legal requirements, for an ‘About us’ page (or similar title in
the language of the site) may include:

 Name of organization
 Location and postal address
 Fax and telephone numbers
 E-mail address
 Opening hours
 Profile or mission statement
 Corporate registration details
 Name and contact details of the person in the organization responsible for site content
4.5.3 Privacy Policy and Terms of Use of the
Site
 The privacy policy should state the purpose of
personal data collection. The terms of use will include
disclaimers and other statements. Both should be in
the language of the site.
 It is an accepted convention to group text links to
Contact us, About us, Legal, Terms of use, and Privacy
policy at the foot of every page of a site.
 Take advice from your legal advisor about specific
requirements for all these pages.

4.6 Ensure the User Can Contact You

Websites need contact services that allow users to get in touch with you as owner of the site.
They also allow you to get to know more about their wishes, and should include:

 A ‘Contact us’ link on every page.

 A simple form to report errors or give feedback
 A ‘Help’ link for key tasks (which opens a small new window)
 A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. Make sure it is versioned for each country or
language