Don Nicholas Managing Partner
Mequoda Group, LLC

Workshop Title: Website Design for Publishers—the 14 criteria for designing user-friendly media websites

Description: In Website Design for Publishers, Don will describe how the best publishers are making money online. He will provide an overview of the website archetypes and how they are used to meet publisher and user goals. He will also reveal the 14 guidelines we've developed for designing user-friendly websites. Don will also discuss the right and wrong methods of designing websites through 42 magazine and media website reviews, as well as on-the-spot website reviews.

Workshop outline and agenda

This workshop can be customized to address your specific concerns and requirements. In general, Website Design for Publishers—the 14 criteria for designing user-friendly media websites is presented in the following format.

Morning: Three-hour tutorial encompassing Website Design for Publishers lecture and discussion

In the morning session, Don will detail the 14 criteria for designing user-friendly media websites and share case studies that demonstrate each best practice.

Here's an overview of the 14 best practices you'll explore:

Best Practice #1: Strategic Intent

It should be immediately obvious what a user can do, see or find when landing on your homepage.

Best Practice #2: Content Webification

Publishing on the Internet is not the same as publishing a book, magazine or newspaper. Learn ways to take advantage of the multimedia the Web offers.

Best Practice #3: Relationship Building

Website success depends hugely on providing incentives that encourage visitor email registration. Without it, users may never revisit and generate more revenue.

Best Practice #4: Community Building

Websites that promote a feeling of belonging and offer users a way to be involved are effective at encouraging return visits.

Best Practice #5: Persistent Navigation

A website’s navigation structure should be consistent and easy to follow.

Best Practice #6: User Task Depth

Users commonly want to complete five or six tasks on your website, and those tasks differ between the various website archetypes.

Best Practice #7: Affordance

Tools should behave the way users expect them to. Learn the industry standards that indicate how websites should work.

Best Practice #8: Labeling and Language

Too many websites use language that is better understood by their publishers than by their audiences. Learn tips for avoiding this while improving search engine optimization.

Best Practice #9: Readability and Content Density

Gestalt principles of continuity, similarity and proximity become even more important online, because users do not read online—they scan.

Best Practice #10: Organization

Eye-tracking tests have revealed that people use a "F" shaped scanning pattern when scouring Web pages. Learn which links should go "above the fold."

Best Practice #11: Content Freshness

A website’s credibility plummets if its homepage looks stale. The Internet is a 24/7 medium. Learn the accepted minimum and recommended frequency for updating sites.

Best Practice #12: Load Time

Broadband users expect rapid load times and will depart when their expectations are not met Discover ways to decrease your website's load time and retain more customers.

Best Practice #13: Aesthetics

The average user expects websites to be clean, information-rich, and intuitive. Your website’s design does not need to be pretty, but it needs to be appropriate to your audience.

Best Practice #14: Brand Preference

Websites often have a strong brand with roots in the physical world, but brand can also cause confusion. In a search-driven world, brand preference is crucial to success.

Afternoon: Three-hour interactive session applying the 14 criteria for designing user-friendly media websites to your business

In the afternoon session, Don will lead an interactive Q&A devoted to using the Mequoda Website Scorecard and the 14 design criteria to critique one or more of your websites.

Objectives and outcomes

1. Incorporate user goals, business needs and organizational awareness into your website’s design process.

2. Explore new methods for organizing your website logically and profitably.

3. Learn specific website design techniques that improve the users’ experience and create a single consistent online branding message.

Who should attend

Publishers, editors, journalists, copywriters, circulation directors, website architects, website designers, HTML programmers, website content loaders, usability engineers, creative directors and others responsible for website design, website content, Internet strategy and online marketing.

Pricing details

The price for this workshop within the United States is $7,200 plus travel expenses. Please call us for international pricing.

Price includes a digital site license to duplicate both the PowerPoint presentation and the companion course book and notebook, for distribution to your staff.

Accepted forms of payment

• Check in U.S. dollars

• Bank transfer

• Credit card number sent by mail, fax, or phone (VISA, MasterCard, American Express)

• Purchase order, followed by payment in one of these forms.

We can also mail, email, or fax you a paper invoice that you can provide to your accounting department to initiate payment.

To learn more

If you are interested in additional information or would like to schedule this workshop, please contact Julie Ottomano, Client Services Manager, Mequoda Group, LLC, 508.435.1005, or click the link below.

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Contact Us

About Mequoda—Who we are, where we've been, what we do

About Don Nicholas—Profile of Mequoda's Chief Information Architect

Sample Don's Presentation—See a representative video clip from a Mequoda workshop