Every now and then I hear stories of online campaigns that have gone horribly wrong. A Web site for example that’s been live for two years, but has never had its performance measured; an offline campaign that is supported by an online campaign which someone forgets to get up on time; a project that goes live, fails to meet the desired outcomes and has a redevelopment commissioned only three months later; or project that wasn’t backed up before a server crash, and had to be redeveloped again from scratch.

These stories come to me from clients, candidates and even the occasional potential client who discovers (after the budget is spent) that they made the wrong choice, and now need some advice. Whenever I hear these stories I am reminded that there are still a lot of Web cowboys out there.

For a Web cowboy, following process can be a real bore but a lack of it is at the heart of their mistakes. They prefer to saddle up, dig in the spurs and ride out, in any direction, into the open country. Forget risk analysis, forget road maps and forget milestones - just get out there and see what happens. Sometimes it works. Most often however it doesn’t.

A successful online project needs careful thought and a dedicated Account and Project Management team to make it happen. Before you get on the horse it’s important to ask where you are going, how you are planning to get there, when you want to arrive and what you want to happen once you reach your destination. And of course, before the bells and whistles are considered the most obvious question needs to be asked: how will this project deliver profitable results to our client?

Riding out with the cowboys can be exciting, and maybe even more fun (in that fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants sort of a way) and by cutting corners it may even end up costing you less. But like the Wild West of the past, law and order is necessary for ultimate success.

For your online project, having a professional and dedicated Account Manager will ensure you get control and accountability. The first step is to research and plan, asking questions about your audience to develop a profile of your users. Then determine the desired results, see if any legacy systems need to be considered, understand the fundamentals of your brand, and how your business works. Once that information has been shared your Account Manger can apply their expertise to develop a Road map – outlining long term goals and how to achieve them.

Meanwhile your Project Manager will don the Sheriff’s badge, focus on the detail and ensure your milestones are fence-posted. This way we’ll ensure you’re safe from being looted, and you’ll know what to ‘pony-express’ back to your stakeholders along the way.

Next time you meet a Web cowboy, consider the fact that you need some law and order to become a true success in the online frontier.

Pepi Ronalds, Studio Manager

Labels: Process and Methodology

SEO - Search Engine Optimization - is a set of methodologies aimed at improving the position of a Web site in search engine listings. Primarily, to achieve high rankings in search engines, a web site must be optimized for keywords relevant to the Web site’s subject. The keyword phrases you choose to optimize for should be equivalent to the queries users are likely to enter into search engines when seeking the product or service your Web site offers.

It is important that you optimize your site for the right keywords. Choosing popular single-word keywords is unlikely to yield satisfactory results. If, on the other hand you have very specific words that are unlikely to be found on many of your competitor’s sites, such as the name of your business for example, then it would be foolish to ignore these. But it is much better to choose a number of two- or three-word keyword strings to optimize for. For instance, if your site is about apples, “apple” is a mandatory keyword, but if you select a number of multi-word phrases such as “apple orchards”, “growing apples”, “buying apples” then success is more likely.

Another issue to consider is synonyms. Very often users will use different words for the same thing. However, be careful not to use every synonym you can think of. Most search engines have algorithms that include synonyms in the keyword match. But using relevant, on-topic phrases is likely to give you extra street cred by search engines.

The way you use the keywords you have chosen to optimize for can make or break your SEO campaign. It is important to use these terms frequently, but be careful - overkill can lead to being blacklisted by search engines. Try and aim for a keyword density of 1-3% for your primary terms and 4-7% for the rest. Anything over 10% is likely to be frowned upon by users and search engines alike. Where you use your keywords is also important. Search engines place higher relevance on keywords found at the beginning of pages, blocks of text, headings and titles.

Aim for about 10 keyword phrases to optimize for. It is not worthwhile thinning out your attack by tailoring your content for many more.

So content is king. Keywords alone will not shoot you to the top of search engine listings but choosing the right ones for your site and using them intelligently in your content is the first step to claiming pole position in Google.

Isaac Forman, Designer

Labels: Design and Usability, Search Engine Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation

Social networking is the buzz word of the moment, it’s a general term for the process of people making social connections via the internet.

Social media describe the online tools and platforms that people use to engage in social networking. The most popular social networking tools are Web site services (such as Friendster, MySpace or LinkedIn), blogs, podcasts, message boards and vlogs.

Some of the most popular Web sites that have emerged to facilitate social networking are YouTube, Flickr and Blogger. Most of these sites offer free accounts and everyone has the desire to share their experiences with the wider world - to be social.

MySpace has become particularly popular with a new generation of internet users who are tapping into alternative and mainstream culture alike, setting up their own ‘free’ Web sites. Recently the UK pop-singer Lily Allen achieved the first number one hit single based on download sales alone, by building a strong fan base via her MySpace page.

MySpace offers people the chance to express themselves, especially through music, video and photography. It’s easy to ask other users on MySpace to be your friend, allowing you to expand your social network and share your thoughts and ideas with a larger audience.

I have a friend from Melbourne who met his Japanese wife via Friendster. Through profile matching it’s easy to find someone with the same interests as you, even if it’s as obscure as Fanzine collecting.

Many companies are now leveraging these social networking Web sites to access new customers or build and maintain customer loyalty. What better way to sell the new Nokia E-series that through a dedicated fan-blog. Sponsored by Nokia? Paid by Nokia? Who knows…but it’s working.

See this wiki List of social networking websites for a comprehensive list.

Carl Panczak, General Manager, Sydney

Labels: Web Culture and Trends

Over the last 9 years Reactive has gone from humble beginnings to a market leader. It’s focus has changed as has its clients. The work is more strategic, more informed and more aware of it’s business intent. New offices have now opened in Sydney and London. Our org structure had changed to better service bigger business. Projects have increased in scope and variety. Quality of work has become more important than ever. And as ‘once-competitor-come-employee’ of Reactive the opportunity to re-brand was the perfect way for me to get to know the company from the inside - intimately. What I found was a significant gap between the story told by the existing brand and the real sprit of today’s Reactive. Different enough to require a ground up restoration.

It started with a marketing plan. Our management team used this as a reference throughout the process. We researched, brainstormed, discussed, and developed a plan. We identified three key requirements for the new brand; to communicate who we are, what we do, and (the bigger challenge) to describe what we are like. To assert our genuine point of difference.

It was acknowledged early in the process that the company’s key differentiator is it's quirkiness and human approach as well as it's focus on real results. As such the brand had to be approachable and whimsical whilst asserting the right amount of professionalism and sophistication. White and black are punctuated by a synthetic green colour; similar to the green used to display early computer operating systems. The type mark is a customized version of the typeface Klavika designed by Eric Olson. It sits proud and approachable. Keylines trail from the typemark in different directions and in different ways.

The trailing key lines suggest reactivity, movement, 3 dimensions, interactivity, depth, a network, motion or shape. They can appear abstract or simple depending on the requirements of the application. They trail from one side of the paper to the other side, resolving in the type mark. The brand appears in transition, having just changed or about to change. This reflects the nature of our company, of ourselves as individuals and our business.It’s great to be at the end of a thoroughly enjoyable process. Today we proudly launch our new Web site. I have a dozen boxes full of business cards, presentation folders, letterheads and followers which will be distributed to our staff. There are a dozen different word templates, fax templates, envelope templates, bills, invoices, email signatures and other internal documents which have been designed and will be used by all staff. All of this work was the contribution of many hard working people over the course of the last couple of months.

We hope you like the new us.

Tim Kotsiakos, Creative Director

Labels: Design and Usability, Process and Methodology, Reactive

The requirements phase is often not given the attention it deserves.

Albert Einstein once said "Requirements are the foundation of software"...well, maybe it wasn't Einstein, but it was someone smart.

The outputs of requirements gathering are the blueprint to your site - critical documents! They are used for quoting, planning, designing, building and testing your Web application. The requirements will give you artefacts to describe the behaviour of the system (such as wireframes and use cases).

Defects in requirements will have a cascading effect throughout the project. While fixing an error in the requirements phase is often 100 times cheaper than after the software is built.
Statistics show that investing up to 30% of the project budget on requirements documentation significantly improves the chance of a project successfully meeting budgets. Make sure you invest the time and effort in a detailed requirements phase - this will reduce the risks and give you peace of mind.

The requirements phase aims to define and document the scope of the system so it can be quoted and developed based on that scope. However, some projects just aren't suited to fixed scope. You might want a more flexible system, perhaps your business is changing, or your market is rapidly changing. This is where agile development comes in.

The concept of the agile approach is to break the system into smaller projects which are delivered in iterations with less documentation. Each delivery is quoted based upon the experience of the previous iterations. The risks are reduced by this approach, but it doesn't suit a fixed budget.

It's rare to find project sponsors who don't have a fixed budget. But time and materials work doesn't necessarily mean you need deep pockets. You can put controls around the hours that are spent, and re-evaluate your requirements after each iteration (fortnightly or monthly), thus keeping a tight rein on expenditure.

Matt Watson, Technical Director

Labels: Process and Methodology