Web Site Project Plan

for Problem Child Films

Prepared by Pam Van Londen for Martin Van Londen

Mission

The mission of the Problem Child Films site is to build an online presence for Martin Van Londen's new freelance videographer/producer business in Beaverton, Oregon.

Goals and objectives of the site

  1. Increase awareness of a new company in the greater Portland area.
    1. Promote the site on major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN.
    2. Research free and paid online advertising opportunities on industry-related directories.
    3. Promote the site via business cards and CD/DVD Labels.
    4. Exchange links with related service providers in the market and location.
  2. Tell potential clients about the services and pricing structures.
    1. Describe services and prices in a matrix, which is printable on one page.
  3. Describe Martin's high-quality design and production cab abilities.
    1. Display a resume with education and work experience.
    2. Display video clips of student projects and recent freelance work.
  4. Keep potential clients well informed.
    1. Add news and recent project clips periodically.
  5. Communicate with potential clients.
    1. Provide a detailed inquiry form that mails to Martin's email account.

Audience for the site

The audience for this site are potential clients needing videography, animation, and post-production assistance. Potential clients will use the design and content of the site to make hiring decisions. Some niche markets include people needing these services:

Inspirational sites and sites of competitors

Key Players

The videographer and designer will work together to design the site to reflect the level of quality, niche markets, and services to be provided by the business:

Scope and Priorities

Phase 1

Produce up to 5 pages in a visually-appealing user interface on a free server by August 1. Fill the site with thought-provoking content, including call to action, description, and at least 5 media clips.

Phase 2

Add new media clips, fresh home page news, and a poll by September 1.

Hook to encourage return visits

Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro, and Gresham provide immense competition for Martin. With Mt. Hood Community College graduating many trained videographer/editors each year, the market may be saturated. Some ways to differentiate from the competition and provide a hook to get return visitors to the site include:

  1. Add new clip or animation sequence each week or month
  2. Offer a poll relating to customer values and needs. For instance:
  3. Provide a "extranet" section for proofing clips, color schemes, animations, etc.
  4. Link to related sites such as wedding planners, still photographers, and equipment suppliers, venue addresses.

Functional Requirements

Suggested color scheme
#663333 #CC6633 #6666FF
#330033 #CCFFCC #66FFFF
#00000 #FFFFCC #669933

Visual scheme (color and style)

Employ a grunge style with muted color scheme. On second thought, I doubt if wedding parties are interested in a grunge style. Another idea is to use icons to represent each audience menu item. Perhaps a black and white theme would work for all audiences. The icons could employ up-scale clipart all in the same style.

Domain names desired

Because the company name includes at least one keyword, I recommend using ProblemChildFilms.com, .net, .biz, .org, .us in addition to the following:

Other options reviewed:

Navigation schemes

One navigation scheme will include Audience/Event page names, the other will include Business-related page names:

Technical Requirements

Site hosting services available at not cost include the Wordpress.com free blog site.

When we purchase a domain name, we'll switch to Bluehost.com which costs $167 for 2 yrs. Bluehost uses an Apache server and quick installation of Wordpress for Content Management System using a MySQL Databases. Martin will make his own content updates beginning January 1, 2007. Bluehost.com can serve up small media clips without extra charge.

Site structure (navigation items, folder names, files names, etc...) includes folders for: Worpress administration, database configuration, classes, and content. Content includes the theme, images, and page code. Data will reside in the database and media clips will reside in the wp-content directory.

Browser compatibility needs include Explorer and Firefox versions at least 2 yrs old. Platforms include Windows, Macintosh, and LINUX/UNIX.

Promotional needs

What keywords and phrases will maximize search engine listings?

These keywords and phrases will be included in the content of the site in addition to the meta tags, menus names, and alt and title tags of images and clips: video production portland oregon, video production beaverton oregon, film production, video production, videography, video, film, films, weddings, parties, concerts, events, churches, synagogues, Bar Mitzvah, Bat Mitzvah, Christenings, baptisms, record, Genealogy, family history, martin van londen, martin, mt hood, mt hood community college.

How will you promote the site in print and online?

The web site address will be listed on Business cards, CD/DVD labels, major search engines, and directories such as ProductionHub.com, FreelanceDesiginers.com, and State of Oregon.com. All print marketing materials including future brochures, flyers, bookmarks, ads, clothing, and vehicles will include the site address.

Immediate opportunities

Lots of network marketing happening now and in the near future provides an opportunity to hand out business cards and demo CDs.

A visit to the Portland BizCenter would help start networking opportunities; after a hour of free consulting.

It's still wedding season, so Martin could promote himself on local bulletin boards at wedding stores.

Potential pitfalls

Martin's time to prepare content and media clips is limited.

Budgets

Schedule phase 1

  1. July 17 Get Martin's approval of the plan
  2. July 24 Prototype the page layout and navigation
  3. July 31 Add content to the site
  4. August 1 Launch and promote the site.