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By: Steve Duell Introduction This document is meant to assist a local ASIS Chapter in gauging the success of their Chapter website. Similar to the way a business needs to meet a profit margin for their Internet investment, a Chapter website also needs to stay within a budget and show a profit. Unlike a business though, a Chapter website is intended to provide value to its members rather than value for the benefit of its sponsors. In gauging a Chapter's Internet success, there are a few genuine units of measure and many other factors that are entirely up to the opinion of the local membership. What may be a useful feature for one Chapter may not have the same value for other Chapters. Therefore, gauging Internet Success depends on a combination of several progress indicators. Progress Indicators
Web Log Statistics Web logs can provide very detailed reports of your website's activities and visitor interaction however they can also be deceptive if they are analyzed incorrectly. Looking at raw web logs can easily give the impression that a website is considerably more active than it really is. Therefore, the only web log statistic that is of any usefulness in gauging the website's success is the number of visitors. Visits vs. Hits Misunderstanding the raw web logs can really skew one's perception of the
website's success. The key is to understand what counts as a "hit". A hit occurs
anytime there is any activity involving your website's files. For instance,
visiting a single web page that has 4 images on it would count as 5 hits; 1 for
the web page and 1 for each of the 4 images. A single visitor going to all of
your web pages could accumulate dozens or even hundreds of hits during their
visit.
A Visit is generally considered to be all of the requests coming from a single Internet point (ex, one person sitting at one computer and browsing through your website) that occur within a 30 minute period. If a visitor looking at your website, finishes after around 5 minutes, and goes off to other websites before returning to your website within the remaining 25 minutes, any new requests for your website content from that person will be considered to be part of their original visit. If they came, they left, and they returned, all within 30 minutes, it will be tallied as one visit. * 30 minutes is an industry commonality but the actual time range used may vary in some cases. Member Feedback Listening to member feedback about the website is a great way to judge the success of the website. If the members are using the website and getting the information that they need when they need it, then the website may be considered a success. It should be noted that member feedback should always be put into context before using it for gauging the website's success. There will always be a few members who will either resent using the website or who wish that it worked differently from the way that it does work. A Chapter website cannot "be all things to all people" and there will always be someone who will have something to complain about. Ability to Attract Sponsors A minor method for gauging a website's success is its ability to attract new sponsors and to keep current sponsors. Attracting sponsors is a good indicator that the website is professional in appearance and that the sponsor recognizes the value in supporting the local ASIS Chapter. It should also be noted that there are several other factors that may directly influence a website's ability to attract sponsors. In particular are the sponsorship rates and the efficiency of the Chapter Website Committee. Both of these factors can make a poor website seem attractive or make a great website seem less appealing depending on how well these items are handled. Website Usefulness to Members This may be the most important gauge of all. Simply put, if the members are not using and will not use the Chapter website then it should be discontinued. Usefulness beyond this becomes a matter of how much the local Chapter values the usefulness that is being provided by the website. It should also be noted that a Chapter's website usually gains in usefulness the longer it is around and as long as it remains up-to-date. Once members discover that they can rely on the website to always be current, its usefulness becomes more evident and begins to increase in direct proportion to the trust level that it earns. Costs Common sense should be the guide when gauging a website's costs versus its value. A good example of this would be in judging the costs of producing the Chapter's newsletter on the website versus a printed/mailed version. In the worst case, the website version could cost as much as the printed version however if there is a substantial change in the information provided, reprinting and mailing an updated version would be expensive versus making a change on the website. Chapter website costs should be proportionate to the value being obtained from the investment. The example of the reprinted newsletter is an example of good investment value. Posting daily photographs of all the local members would be an example of wasted investment value. The choice of website content generally determines the cost/value of the website to its members. In a productive scenario, the Chapter website sponsorship will cover the entire costs of the website and the Chapter will be able to operate the website at a profit for the Chapter both monetarily and in value to the membership. Extra website sponsorship funding can be reinvested into additional Internet services or other benefits for the local members. Awards A minor gauge for judging a website's value is the number of awards that it receives. It is conceivable that a Chapter could have an incredibly beautiful and efficient website that routinely wins awards. However, if the members are not using the website and it becomes more of a value to the sponsors than to the local members then the value of the website should be deemed a failure. The most important award that a Chapter should pay attention to is the one given by its own members in the form of their continued support for keeping the website. Summary The bottom line when it comes to judging a Chapter website's worth is a direct comparison of the website operation costs versus the value being received by the local members. As long as the website costs do not overwhelm the Chapter's budget, then it remains up to the individual local Chapter to decide whether or not their investment is paying off for them. Gauging a website's success can also vary from year to year based on the following factors:
This document has briefly outlined many of the concerns and considerations that a Chapter should think about when determining the value of their Chapter website. The content discussed within should serve as a good foundation for developing guidelines towards a standardized approach for evaluating ASIS Chapter web sites. |
