AIS website, John's Worksheet for web design

[Robert Pries <robertpries@embarqmail.com>]

B I think it would be helpful for everyone that can make comments on John's
web site design. I pasted my responses in this message they are in blue or
red. Perhaps this will stimulate some discussion. See Below.

Creative Worksheet for Web Site Redesign



Date:
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B 
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
 B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B 



Client: American Iris Society, Bob Pries





B 

A. B  OBJECTIVE



1. What do you want to accomplish with the web site redesign? What are your
specific goals?

B7 B B B B B B B B  Attract new members and service existing members.



B7 B B B B B B B B  To gain and hold members from web one needs to have
interactive activities that create participation in the society over the
internet.





B 

2. Which of the following are important to you:



X_ _ Developing a web strategy that supports your corporate and/or marketing
strategy



__ Repurposing existing content (such as brochures, data sheets)



X_ _ Creating a community of dedicated repeat visitors



X_ _ Quality execution (graphics, writing, navigation, etc.)



__ Ease of maintenance



__ Ability to make changes in-house



__ Doing better than your competitors on the Web



__ Demonstrating that you know the Web and use it appropriately





B 

3. How do you currently promote your site and encourage people to visit it?



Google Adwords, Notes in Bulletin





B  B. B  TARGET AUDIENCE




1. B  How do you currently get your patients/clients? How do they learn about
you?



Mostly local Iris Shows and Sales. We would like to get new members from
website, presently we have no data on how many are new joining from website or
are renewals.





B 

2. B  What types of visitors do you want to attract to your site? B  Describe
your ideal visitor(s).



Serious gardeners who might join and support Iris Society





B 

3. What are the main concerns of your target audience?



B7 B B B B B B B B  How to grow and choose Iris for their garden.



B7 B B B B B B B B  How to celebrate their successes





B 

4. How does your web site currently address those concerns?



It doesn't. Only peripherally by displaying award winners.





B 

5. B  What does your web site currently offer that is of value to visitors? B 



It is a great reference for phone numbers and e-mail addresses for conducting
business within the society. It is weak on other content. It provides some
limited historical data, some information on showing irises in the toolbox,
and the corporate actions of the society including minutes (dull but
necessary).





B 

6. What additional content can you add to your web site to provide even more
value to visitors?



1. An overall discussion of the diversity that makes up the horticultural
groups. What are the types of Iris and how do you grow them? Is probably the
main reason why a new visitor might come to the website. I doubt many people
come looking for joining a society.



2. Frequently Asked questions/ answers-----I would suggest a list of contacts
who would be willing to answer questions for their local area



3. A calendar of events, showing time place of local meetings sales etc.



4. A wikki providing the opportunity to share photos and information on
different cultivars. This could develop into an encyclopedic reference and a
fun interchange.



5. A chance to vote online for favorite Irises, (Symposium for visitors,
Symposium for members, Ballot for judges)



6. Award winners with photos and cultural information



7. Initial courses to become a judge,



8. Seminars on Iris topics.



Note, even though not all of these things can be accomplished at once they
should be part of a plan for the future . Also as we decline in membership the
net may need to take over many responsibilities that can no longer be
affordable to be done in the bulletin. A large complex site must have good
navigation so one can spend a short time at the site.

C. CONTEXT ANALYSIS




1. B  What is the context for your company in terms of your industrybs
history and the current industry situation? B 





B 

B7 B B B B B B B B  The society like most plant societies is in decline, as
measured by loss of membership. AIS used to be important in providing sources
for Iris, but this function has been taken over by the internet. Currently we
provide little information that is not available elsewhere on the net. We
offer no guidance on selecting plants.



B7 B B B B B B B B  Iris are not currently considered "hot" perennial plants
in the landscaping/nursery trade.



B7 B B B B B B B B  AIS is the worlds registrar for Iris varieties and an
archive of Iris information both scientific and historical.



B7 B B B B B B B B  Although the stated goal of the society is to promote Iris
we do practically no advertising accept for website and shows.





B 

2. Who are your main competitors?





B 

There is no competition except for other special interest plant societies. It
is likely that other plant societies actually expand every ones market by
enlarging the pie of horticultural interest. It is possible that groups could
tackle common problems together.





B 

Our most difficult competition is from Omnibus sites claiming to tell one
everything they need to know about gardening but lack the expertise of the
specialist societies.





B 

3. How do you compare to your competitorsbboth strengths and weaknesses?





B 

We are one of the leading plant societies. All suffer from the same problems
and none have yet developed a winning strategy. Each has parts that they do
well. Recently other plant societies have been moving more aggressively on
their virtual presence. AIS is about 2 years or more behind other groups in
internet sophistication.





B 

The omnibus sites are often the most visited when one googles a specific type
of Iris or cultivar. We do not have this type of information up on the net and
are loosing our natural place on the net as a expert resource on Iris.





B  D. COMPANY PROFILE / UNIQUE MESSAGES




1. B  Main benefit: What are the major products/services offered by your
company? B 





B 

Information and fellowship around Iris. Our most important service is
maintaining the Iris registration. This is an esoteric benefit not understood
by many gardeners.





B 

2. B  How do they benefit your patients/clients? What problems do you solve
for them?



Everyone benefits from the registration system by not having different plants
with the same name or vice-versa. It was the driving force for the formation
of AIS.





B 

The society can broaden the knowledge of the diversity of Iris and help them
find the best and the most interesting plants for their garden.





B 

3. B  Secondary benefits: B  What are the other selling points of your
company/practice?





B 

B7 B B B B B B B B  The society is a repository of information about Iris and
a source of fellowship in sharing that information.



B7 B B B B B B B B  The society aids in the exchange of plant material through
Iris sales, passalongs, etc. especially at the local affiliate level. This
aids members in finding new and rare Iris plants.



B7 B B B B B B B B  AIS makes modest contributions to research on Iris helping
to maintain a connection between current science and our membership . Although
a primary mission of the society according to our bylaws we are not the
sophisticated scientific group that we were at one time.





B 

4. How would you describe your companybs personality? Compared to the
competition? Stodgy, slow to act, mostly reactive, rarely proactive. Generally
officers and members have no goals set for the society that have been
communicated effectively throughout the society. B  We are a group of
individualists doing our own thing and have trouble working as a group. Other
plant societies have similar problems.





B 

5. What key message(s) do you want visitors to take away from the site?



B B B B  Irises are beautiful and interesting plants that can be enjoyed to an
even greater degree through participation in the Iris society. It is worth
supporting the Iris society to maintain the task of registration.





B 

6. B  What action do you want from visitors to the site?



B B B B  Support for the society.





B  E. CURRENT SITE ANALYSIS




1. What do like about your current site? B  What is working well?



It is an excellent reference for links to other sites and as phone book. We do
a good job of sending someone somewhere else.





B 

2. B  What do you want to change about your current site? B  What is not
working?



First page of website is not intriguing to make one want to explore further.
Site is not exciting. It does not bring visitor into site with compelling
photos and information. Presently the site has few pictures and is difficult
to navigate. Navigation is not intuitive. Site needs more interactive
activities;





B  F. COMPARATIVE SITE TOUR




(The more thought you can put into this section, the more your site will
benefit.)



1. Please list your favorite web sites and their urls. What do you like about
them?



Following other sites is not a recipe for being a leader, but only a program
for being a me to. I have yet to see a Plant Society site that works great,
perhaps this is why they are all failing. Few really try to create a virtual
community, or have any interaction that could bring in members from their
websites. Most do not do well on all counts but may have good points here and
there.





B 

Competitive site is Dave's Garden where currently people can find more
information about Iris cultivars than on the AIS site even though it is
generally not particularly good information. See
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ The Iris Society is forfeiting its natural
function as Iris information source by not acting.





B 

The Rose Society has a search function for finding their local affiliates at
http://www.ars.org/Districts/findsociety.html and a Shopping area for unique
products at http://www.ars.org/index.php B B  Two features that would enhance
the AIS website.





B 

The Passion Flower society offers a way to ask questions
http://www.passiflora.org/contact/ and a way to make contributions
http://www.passiflora.org/contributions/





B 

The Daffodil Society offers a frequently asked question page
http://www.daffodilusa.org/daffodils/faq.html





B 

Several Plant societies offer a way of verifying information on cultivars
including pictures see Daffodil Society http://daffseek.org/ or Hemerocallis
Society http://www.daylilies.org/DaylilyDB/ or Pacific Bulb Society
http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/HomePage. The Iris Society
could provide something similar with a wikki. This would be monitored but
created by members and would be a fun way for them to show off photos and
horticultural prowess.





B 

2. Please list the urls of your competitorsb web sites. What do you think is
effective about each of their sites? What doesn't work well?



The Daylily Society has a very attractive front page that changes each time
one goes to it with a different picture. It also has a rich set of
navigational tools that link to the parts of the sight. The Daffodil Society
has done a nice job of clustering their navigation links into topics that are
clear. On our present site links are in non intuitive clusters.





B 

3. Please find and list the urls for some high-quality web sites that
exemplify what you would like to see for your site in the following areas:



- appeal to same target group of customers B 



http://www.daylilies.org/- colors, Has a nice first page which changes each
time one returns to it



- colors, look-and-feel, user interface, layout



B 

- size of site



If we are going to develop a virtual Iris Society we are going to have a
massive site but if it is well organized it need not be intimidating .



- quality of content





B 

- quality of graphics

G. CONTENT / LOOK & FEEL




1. What exiting content do you want to keep in the redesign?



I would not eliminate any portion of the present website but rearrange or
modify and add to it.



2. B  What specific contentbtext and graphicsbcan be added to your site to
attract visitors?



Initial pages could have more pictures and be clearer on directing to areas of
interest. A short selling statement on behalf of the society would be
appropriate. Presently we ask for someone to join but give them no reasons or
benefits .



3. What existing content supports the main message(s) you want to communicate?

B  Areas speaking to activities of the society help encourage membership,
example AIS toolbox, info on conventions, etc. Award Winners speaks to
choosing iris but does not provide pictures.





B 

4. Does additional content need to be added to support your main message(s)?



Definitely





B 

5. B  What image do you wish to convey for your practice/company through this
site?



A serious plant society working to promote and improve Iris while having fun
doing so.





B 

6. B  Are there any design elements (logos, fonts, images, colors, etc.) that
should be retained to maintain consistency in your corporate image?



No





B 

7. Are there cultural factors that will affect the interface design (i.e.,
language issues, age level)?



Elderly population of members





B 

8. Are there any legal issues that need to be considered when redesigning the
site?



Depends

H. INFORMATION STRUCTURE / FUNCTIONALITY




1. What are the major content areas (i.e., About the Company,
Products/Services, Client List, Portfolio of Work, Contact Us. etc.) on your
existing site.





B 

1. Links and phone numbers of Officers, related organizations, sources



2. Iris Registration Lookup



3. Society business, minutes, etc.



4. Society activities.



5. Iris information, Award Winners etc.





B 

2. Under the major content areas, there are often sub-areas (i.e., under
bAbout the Company,b could be history, management, press releases,
licenses/patents held, etc.). Please list any sub-areas currently on your
site.



We were supposed to have a private area for garden writers with press releases
but this has not been achieved





B 

3. What additions and/or changes, if any, do you want to make to the basic
structure (main content areas and sub-areas)?



Perhaps members only area, with archived bulletins etc.





B 

4. How often do you need to update the information on your site or add new
information?



at least twice a year. For phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Contact
information would be best if replied to quickly.



5. Do you want or need to be able to do this yourself in-house?



B B B B  In House



6. Do you want to collect data from visitors, for example by having them
register to enter certain areas?



B  It would be beneficial for understanding what new visitors find of
interest. We had the ability to do this with Adwords but found it too much
work





B 

7. Do you want to have links to other sites? If so, which ones?



B B B B  Many, most already present.





B 

8. Please list any other special functional requirements for your site (such
as, download areas, e-commerce shopping cart, registration forms, links to
PDFs).



B  1 . The wikki will need to be a special area



2. The ability to join as is done presently .requires a special area



3. If we are to sell things online we need a shopping cart. Maybe this would
be planned for future.





B 

9. Who is currently hosting your web site?





B 

10. What is the user name and password to access and upload files to your
current site?





B 

11. B  Are you happy with your current web hosting company and can they
support your future requirements, or will you need to get a new one?





B 



B 

12. Who currently updates and maintains the site contents? And do you want
them to continue to do so?





B 



B 



B 



B  I. B  CONTACTS / APPROVALS




1. B  Who is the reference source for further information on this project?





B 

2. B  Who needs to approve the design and content for the web site redesign?



AIS Board



3. B  In scheduling approvals, on what dates will key people be unavailable?





B  J. B  SCHEDULE




1. B  What is the desired completion date for this project?





B 

2. Are there any industry, client or product-release events to consider when
scheduling this project?

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