Web audit
Web audit
The assignment will compare the websites of your chosen company with others in their field from Australia and abroad.
Issues you should consider include:
The 13 C’s as presented in the lectures
Issues to be explored in the website audit ( in yellow issues for the situation analysis)
Issue | Criteria/questions |
Domain
(.com, com.au, different spellings) |
Clearly defined and researched all options considered? |
Search engine position
(first, sponsored) |
Clearly presented? |
Condition
(situation analysis- uncontrollable environment- internet adoption by customers, suppliers, technological developments, trends, competitive situation. Info from ABS, AGIMO, Gartner, Jupiter, Forrester, Gartner, KPMG, Ernst and Young. PWC, BCG, Nielsen Netratings , Hitwise, technocrati.com etc) about how customers, suppliers are using the Internet in the industry sector). This is an important aspect of your report! |
How well has secondary research of the industry sector been conducted, how extensive was the research, quality of sources? |
What type of business model has been used | Clear definitions of models and the application in the chosen site |
Context
(site layout, design and navigation, site map, search- how executed, how good are the results) |
Show the relevant issues with screen shots and mark up |
Content (use of text, pictures, sound, video) | What has been used and how consistent is it? |
Corporate ID and Design
(Does the company carry the design through the whole site? Across countries?) |
Is it consistent and across different media? |
Conventions
(how does it comply with users expectation e.g. Menu choices, search, sitemap) |
Comparison with what other sites do and what research indicates is a good way of doing it. |
Customer focussed – 5 IS –
(different websites for different groups e.g. current students, future students, current customers, new customers , investors, etc, media: special section for the press, press releases, archive, as reported in the press) |
Who are possible target markets – how are the 5 Is addressed |
Community
(the way the site enables user to user communication) How is social networking used? How well is the site represented in terms of blogging and on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and Youtube, Foursquare, Instagram etc? |
Is there a community, how active? What type of community, you need to explore as many as possible |
Customisation
(site’s ability to allow users to personalise the site or adapt itself to different users) |
How well does the site adapt itself to customer needs? |
Communication
(how the site enables site to user , user to site and 2 way communication, newsletter, subscription, RSS feeds, Email – browser default or custom form) is social networking, Blogging Twitter used? |
How well are the various elements researched and presented? |
Connection
(how the site links to other sites) |
List of links, comments on links |
Commerce
(how the site enables transactions- and how the site generates income e.g. subscription, membership, sale of products either from the site or linked to intermediaries |
Description of activities, documentation of commercial transactions, trial |
Convergence
(integration with other media e.g. Mobile, RSS feeds) |
Description and documentation |
Cross promotion
(of products and services by associated companies) Use of viral marketing |
What products, how? |
Compliance
(with disability (W3) and Privacy legislation) |
Detailed analysis of W3, examples |
Currency
(up to date information) |
Date stamps, other evidence of time relevance |
Corporate
(history of company, mission statement organisational structure, names and details of CEO and managers, address, maps, link to suppliers, dealers, intermediaries, current and future employees) |
Detailed list and comparison of the various elements. |
Corporate responsibility
(citizenship, membership of Global Compass, GRI, Sustainability etc., nature of reports. |
Where, how, to what extent, comparisons |
Investor relations
(share price, annual report, links to regulators, analysts, comparisons with industry sector). |
How well are the elements analysed? |
The marketing mix
(Products, beta, merchandising, services, downloads), Price ( clearly displayed, add-ons, delivery), distribution ( links to dealers and intermediaries, service centres, branches), promotion ( sales promotion – specials, contests, public relations, testimonials, experts, advertisements of the company and others, trade fairs, conference attendance and conventions) |
How well are the elements analysed and described? |
Apps | Are apps available? On which platforms?
Free/ paid? |
Mobile | Is site accessible via mobile phone and how well is it integrated |
Clicks
(how long does it take to get to specific information) |
List of major clicks to get to sections of the site |
Other – by looking through the sites you will identify new categories not listed above | Have new categories been identified, what effort was made?
Q codes, etc.
|
Scoring scheme | How well developed is the analysis tool used? |
Research, referencing
Exploration of other ranking, rating, benchmarking and scoring schemes. |
How well is the information referenced,
How much research was done, what quality is the research ( various sources, use of reports etc.) |
Presentation of report | Written clarity,
Visual presentation, bound |
Provided peer assessment? | Need to provide peer assessment sheet |
Oral presentation | Clarity of slides, referencing, team work, completed on time |
You may rate the performance using a simple scheme like 0= not evident 1= evident, average execution, 2= superior
You might also want to weight the various factors above and research other ranking, rating, benchmarking and scoring schemes
You will be judged on: the extent and quality of your research (40%) your analysis of the research that you have conducted (30%) and your presentation of the results, including the framework that you have developed to analyse the sites (30%).