requirements gathering for better web site conversions

Keep Your Ducks in a Row with Documented Web Site Requirements

Copyright 2009 Cre8pc.com SMX East NY 2009

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Kim Krause Berg, Web Site Usability and SEO Consultant

Founder/Owner:Cre8pc.com, est. 1996Cre8asiteforums.com, est.1998Usabilityeffect.com, est. 2002Akesana.com, est. 2009

Usability, Accessibility, Search Engine Optimization, Internet Software QA Testing, Requirements Document & User Manuals

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You Can Get A Horse to Drink….

“I want this!”

“I want that!”

“We need video!”

“Users can read that font!”

“Nobody has dial-up anymore!”

“They’ll never view our site on their cell phone.”

“Blind people don’t use our site.”

“I want lots of pretty graphics and JAZZ!”

“I can use it. So what?”


Line up your ducks…

1. Project management

2. Organizing and planning your web site

3. Napkins, sticky’s, whiteboard

4. Write everything down!

5. Team signs off

6. Test cases and guidelines

What Are Site Requirements?

It’s difficult to convert traffic to sales when you haven’t figured what your web site is expected to do and who will

use it.

What is a Requirements Document?

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Business Requirements (BR)


4BR1. Sell products onlineBR2. Provide information

on our companyBR3. Provide excellent

customer serviceBR4. Be accessible to

everyone

These are called “Parent” Requirements

Aid in IA

A business requirement is a goal or primary use

such as…

Provide servicesTo inform Offer search servicesGet sales leadsCreate communitySell products

BR2 .0 Provide Company InformationBR2 .0 Provide Company Information BR4.0 Sell Online BR4.0 Sell Online


BR2.1 About Us page BR2.1.1 Provide bios of staff BR2.1.2 Presidents message

BR2.2 Blog BR2.2.1 Global reach BR2.2.2 Host ads

BR2.3 Catalog BR2.3.1 PDF version BR2.3.2 Subscription

BR2.4 Social Network

BR4.1 Shopping cart BR4.1.1 Custom cart BR4.1.2 SEO-friendly

BR4.2 Marketing BR4.2.1 Insert and list the ways you

plan to sell online; i.e. user generated content, social media, weekly sales, coupons, online accounts, etc.

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Layout the BR

Functional Requirements (FR)FR1.0 Server

FR1.1 Describe server environment

FR2 .0 Performance Testing

FR2.1 Server

FR2.2 Browser

FR2.3 Mobile

FR3.0 Shopping cart

FR3.1 Php

FR3.2 User Friendly

FR3.2.1 CSS

FR3.2.2 Secure

Functional requirements refer to technical issues.

Derived from use cases, mental models, user personas.

Programmers’ domain

Determine specs for browsers, OS, accessibility, bandwidth, performance, platform, mobile use, programming

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Traceability of Children Req’s and Other Parent Requirements:FR, UIR, SER, SMR, UAR


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ALL of these MUST be traceable to Business Requirements

If you wish to write a solid Requirements Document orset of Web Site Guidelines, include:

UIR – User interface requirements (includes IA, design, fonts, images)SER – Search engine requirements (SEO, PPC, SEM, Linking)SMR – Social media requirements (blog, forums, social sites)UAR – Usability and Accessibility requirements (usability heuristics, mobile, Section

508, PAS 78)

Example: UAR1.0 Adobe PDF UAR1.1 Provide html version traceable to BR4 (Be Accessible to Everyone)

DocumentationDocumentation Why?Why?

Developer Checklists Programmer Checklists Create Stakeholder signoff doc’s Web site guidelines Test cases ex. tasks Test plans ex. heuristics Track enhancements Project management Bug management (because a

failed metric is a bug, defect, concern)

Benefits: Save money, team communication, validation, no surprises

Re-use on multiple sites Stakeholder sign off (comes in

handy when they question you) Analytics can show if

requirements are met or should be modified

Stuff You Can Do With REQ Doc’s


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Example of Web Guidelines and Heuristics Test Case


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Example of Tasks Testing


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SEL’s JUST BEHAVE Column

http://searchengineland.com/library/just-behave

“Dives deep into searcher behavior and how search engines constantly tweak their operations to improve user experience. The Just Behave column appears weekly at Search Engine Land.”


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