Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Website Design + Analytics Update!

Hello again hoopla-ers! Bri here! I am back again to talk about the website and mobile website presence of Scripps Networks Interactive.

Now let’s get to it!

Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. Website Design

The Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. website consists of content that the majority of most corporate websites would include: about the company, the brands it owns, investor relations, career opportunities, and corporate social responsibility. Something that I absolutely love about the website is the simplicity and organization of it. There is not tons of information on the landing page, but I think this is beneficial in the sense that it is easy to find where you are trying to navigate quickly.







Something else that is notable about he website is its clear spotlight on the brands it owns. The landing page has options to click through the brands as well as the option to “connect now” which will easily take a visitor directly to the brand (i.e. the pictured brand is Food Network).

Website design principles are thoroughly met. The call to action for each brand is clearly stated in a contrasting button that reads, “CONNECT NOW.” As discussed before, due to the few options on the landing page, the site is very navigable.

The site also uses a visual hierarchy to attract visitors to the area that defines their business objective. In this case, the objective of the corporation is to direct visitors to their brands that generate revenue. The largest image being the brand, then all else in surrounding header and footer bars. These bars also create beautiful design proportions on the website that are visually appealing.

The Scripps website also follows Hick’s Law that says, “with every additional choice increases the required time to make a decision.” The simplicity of the website and the small amount of clickable options helps users narrow in on where they need to navigate to.

All of the design principles are clearly and beautifully met. However, the mobile website is another story.

Improvements For Scripps Mobile Site


Scripps can better utilize the space and proportions of their mobile website. The design is consistent with the desktop website, but does not seem to be optimized for small screens on mobile phones. The brand photo is too large, but all other tabs to navigate to are practically impossible to read. Therefore, they are limiting the amount of traffic that come to the website to seek information about the company, career information, investor relations, etc. They should proportion the space being used to display the brands and optimize the website for mobile use, which would then increase traffic.

On a scale of 1-5, I would rate the desktop site a 5 and the mobile website a 2.




Google Analytics Update

As of now, my blog could use some improving. 65.8% of visitors are new and 34.2% are returning. With that being said, some component in my blog is not making visits recur. Average session duration is less than a minute, which means people are either scanning, or not completely interested in reading through my blog. I need to lower the bounce rate and will be doing research on how to make people hang out longer on my blog.

Something I find interesting is that the largest percentage of visitors are from Russia. Cool!

85.26% of visitors are using a Google Chrome browser, which means the rest are on Safari or other browsers. It would be interesting to do some research on how a blog or website can be designed or built to appeal all computer or mobile users.

Sunday, November 15, 2015

(Ad)ding Value To Your Site

Good evening fellow marketers!


Tonight I am discussing and analyzing different ad formats on entertainment-based websites. I have been analyzing the strategies of three different companies: Time Warner, Inc., Scripps Networks Interactive, and The Walt Disney Company. However in this post, I am going to discuss the brands that they own because those are the websites that feature ads.

Ads

Cartoon Network


Time Warner Inc. umbrellas Turner who owns the Cartoon Network brand. The home page of Cartoon Network is featured below. The ad shown is for a Lego product. This is a banner ad that expands when the cursor is rolled over it. As for the mobile website, the same type of ad format exists, except there is no rollover interactivity with the banner.


Food Network


Scripps Networks Interactive brand, Food Network, features a Chevrolet Equinox ad that is half the web page. I was able to close the ad into banner size with a simple click of an “x” at the top right corner. This ad took up half the viewing area of the site therefore eyeballs could not miss the Chevrolet product being advertised. This is a form of a “Rising Star” IAB ad, this follows the guidelines of a Pushdown ad. This unit “pushes” the page content down rather than expanding over page content (the IAB guidelines will be discussed later). The Food Network mobile site ad format is parallel with that shown and discussed for Cartoon Network; this banner ad is for www.Cafe-Tables.com. Unlike Cartoon Network, they do not offer a direct option to get the Food Network app upon opening their home page (which I think they should).


Disney 

Disney.com is used as a reference for The Walt Disney Company ads. On this home page, a very traditional, simple ad is displayed. There is no interactivity or animation with this Star Wars Day at Sea advertisement. However, I would say that Disney has the best mobile advertisement. To me, they made the Ant-Man advertisement easy to mistake as cohesively being a part of their mobile page (other than the word “ADVERTISEMENT” being underneath it). I think this is a smart move because generally, people are less likely to click on something that looks like an advertisement. Disney seems to be doing some tasteful reverse psychology here.    


On a side note, I really like how there is consistency between the desktop and mobile sites!



IAB Format Guidelines


As promised, it is time to discuss the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Display & Mobile Advertising Creative Format Guidelines. Below are clippings of the Quick Reference Guide that advertisers can use to better format their advertisements to optimize the conversion outcome. This guide is very important to refer to for the advertisement to reach its potential. Consumers want information that is relevant to them when they want it. Creating interactive advertisements increases the likelihood of a consumer to click the advertisement and therefore would increase chances of conversion. The Rising Stars of the guidelines, I think, are the most successful types of advertisements. Cartoon Network, Food Network, and Disney should optimize their sites to follow these guidelines and formats to increase overall interactivity with the consumer.






Online & Video Marketing Strategy In Light Of Current TV Trends


Aside from advertisements, Cartoon Network, Food Network, and Disney do incredible jobs of marketing themselves. This is reflected in their video and online strategies. The majority of video strategies are best explored via on-air television spots. Remember in my first blog post how I analyzed a Food Network promo? Yeah, those! Ultimately, knowing that the television trend is moving from cable to streaming, it is interesting to see how these promotional strategies will change. I think that interactivity is the best step forward. Imagine being able to interact with a Food Network promo? Maybe picking which ingredient they leave out and seeing how the meal is affected? Did you burn the pasta? I think that evolving online and video strategies to make a consumer feel like they are included and being individually paid attention is where marketing and technology should be challenged.



Cartoon Network | Free Game, Online Videos,... (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.cartoonnetwork.com

Disney.com | The official home for all things Disney. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://disney.com

Food Network - Easy Recipes, Healthy Eating Ideas and Chef Recipe Videos. (n.d.). Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://www.foodnetwork.com


IAB Display Advertising Guidelines. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.iab.com/guidelines/iab-display-advertising-guidelines/

The All-New 2014 IAB Ad Portfolio. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2015, from http://www.iab.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IAB_Ad_Unit_Poster.pdf