Technical Writing Project Management

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7 mistakes of web project managers

If you are a company or a project manager, check out these 7 mistakes of web project managers to gain some insight into some things you should avoid when it comes to managing a web project.

Web design and Development involves three levels:

• Web management
• interaction design (navigation support, homepage layout, templates, search, etc.)
• content design (the actual writing on the pages, as well as the design of any other media types used to communicate content as opposed to site interaction)

FACT: users only care about content. The message has to be the message and the medium is not the message. Usability of a website is also extremely important to users. If they can’t figure out how to use your website, then they will leave immediately.

1. Not Understanding the Company’s Goals
This is by far the biggest issue I see when I evaluate a site for SEO and Marketing. It baffles me as to how many websites I see on a daily basis that make we wonder who the target market is. I evaluated an electronics company the other day, and it read like a technical document. By the second page, I was lost. Guess what? Consumers viewing this site are too.

In this day and age, you need a website, to be considered as a professionally run organization. Its fine if you only want to create a virtual business-card site with a small amount of corporate imagery, directions to your offices, corporate affiliations, goals, investment relations, etc. Honestly, this is not the most effective use of the web for your business, as you are not targeting consumers.
Your job as a project manager should always be assisting companies in finding ways in which they can provide legitimate customer value on their site.



2. Designing a site for the company executives and employees
Internally-focused websites sites cause companies to end up with home pages full of useless mission statements, corporate history, the CEO’s CV, etc. While most of this is necessary, make sure it all goes on the “About Us” or “Company Info” page, not the home page. The website should be designed with customers' needs in mind and not to promote or pump-up the company without any regard for the consumer. Building a site for the company executives only serves one target audience: the executives. So make sure you build a website for the people who you want to sell your products or services to. If you want to make the executives happy, then build an Intranet with an internal website dedicated to all things about the company. Intranets are a great way for employees and executives to communicate and work together to accomplish the goals of the company. But the truth is, Consumers WILL NOT buy from you if they do not feel important and respected.


3. Outsourcing certain aspects of the web design project to Multiple Agencies

If you are planning on outsource every Web project to a new agency (or even worse, India), your site will end up looking like a patchwork quilt instead of a simple and clean interface. As with most agencies or outsourced companies, they want to put their own individual stamp of creativity on it. This tends to end up in a huge mess. The goal here is consistency.

Users and Consumers do not like to click on different pages where the design aspect changes from page to page. In their eyes, you have lost your credibility and will most likely lose sales and repeat business. Not only that, if the company plans to use the website to showcase to investors, well, guess what they are going to think also? A website is more than just a calling card, its Y-O-U. With that said, having a mismatched design, only stands to make you look unprofessional.

Use only one agency or design firm to design the site from start to finish. Make sure they have the skills and talent and above all, communication ability to provide the services. Communication breakdowns or no communication are what kills many a web project.



4. Don’t forget about Maintenance and updates
The Internet changes so fast that a major redesign is needed at least once per year simply to avoid a completely outdated look and to accommodate changing user expectations. You will always need to develop and implement fresh content. Using a Content Management System (CMS) is by far the best way to avoid spending a ton on site redesigns. CMS systems are easy to manage and changing the template (face) of the website is relatively easy and cost-effective.



5. Underestimating the need for Marketing when designing a web project
Like I said earlier, designing a site for the executives is a HUGE mistake and if that is the case, you can throw out any marketing strategies you have. Another big thing to remember is building a site without Search Engine Optimization in mind. So if you build an all flash based website, the search crawlers will not be able to read it and index it, and some users (especially those still on dial-up) will not be able to even view your website. Another negative about flash is that the user must have the most current flash player installed in order to view your site properly. If users have to take the time to install software to view your site, most will leave immediately.

The key here is to make a website for the consumer and make it as easy as possible for them to navigate. CMS systems are built with SEO in mind, so check them out. Wordpress currently has a plug in called All-In-One that works great. So does Joomla, which has now incorporated Meta information that you can easily fill out with titles and keywords that are relevant to each page.

About the Author

Gary Nicholson is the project manager for Relevant Trafik, a search marketing, social media, and web design agency located in Los Angeles. For tips, tricks and daily news about all things SEO, Internet marketing, and Web design, be sure and follow Relevant Trafik on twitter: @relevanttrafik

I need your help with some documentation, Part II


technical writing project management
technical writing project management