APRIL 29 - Soul Chain website update

Work has begun on the Soul Chain website. From today's class, Team C accomplished:

• Deciding on a final website design for Soul Chain
• Looking at all photo CDs and dividing up minor photo-touch-up work for each group member.
• Putting together final list of what the group needs from Mona for website (list of businesses she sells to, what items go into collections, etc)

OVER THE WEEKEND:
• Email Mona about LunerPages & price breakdown, list of stores Soul Chain sells to, and also reminding her to have photos by Monday!
• Nail down what's going on About and Events pages
• Do photo corrections to set of images the group has picked (to be divided up amongst the group members)
• PUSH THE WEBSITE FURTHER!!

Our meeting with Mona will be MONDAY, MAY 4 @9:00am in Neuberger Hall Room 251

At our meeting on Monday, we will be:
• Showing the final design we have chosen for Soul Chain
• Ask her about EVENTS page

Soul Chain website production has begun!

Starting tomorrow Team C will officially kick off production on Soul Chain Boutique.

Plus, the group leadership reins will be handed off to Liz Bucher!

Stay tuned for updates!

Soul Chain client meeting RESCHEDULED

Team C's meeting with Mona this week has been rescheduled to:

Wednesday, April 22 @ 9:30am.

Website production begins this week!

Soul Chain Client meeting!

Team C will be meeting with Mona Monday, April 20 at 9:30 in the Neuberger Hall computer lab (Room 251). We are going over EVERYTHING with Mona (website mock-ups, site map, etc, etc).

Soul Chain illustration website example - Nicole Gerrard

An example of the illustrated look Team C is striving for the redesign of Soul Chain.

**Website layout created by Team C member Nicole Gerrard**

**NOTE: Ignore the horizontal cyan guide!**

UPDATE: Soul Chain website mock-ups - Illustration inspiration

During today's class meeting, Team C got together and discussed the idea of creating web-mockups using illustrations. Team member Nicole Gerrard came across some inspiration images that could give the new website a fresh look—and would stand Mona above some of her boutique competitors. Here are the inspiration images:

REVISED Soul Chain site map

Here it is! The revised site map for Mona and Soul Chain. This, along with website mockups, will be presented to Mona Monday April 20!

Soul Chain mockup website ideas - Part 3

Website mock-ups from Nicole Gerrard!

NOTE: Images on website mock-ups are stock photos. THEY WILL BE REPLACED once the client Mona gives us images to use!

Soul Chain mockup websites - Part 2

More website mock-up from Liz Bucher!

NOTE: Images on website mock-ups are stock photos. THEY WILL BE REPLACED once the client Mona gives us images to use!

Soul Chain website mockup ideas - Part 1

Here are three website mock-up ideas from Team C member Scott Bryant! Ideas from Nicole Liz coming Monday! Please be aware images will be placed soon!

**Revised site map coming soon!**



TOP: Mock-up #3 - About Page, BOTTOM: Mock-up #3 - Main Page



TOP: Mock-up #2 - About Page, BOTTOM: Mock-up #2 - Main Page



TOP: Mock-up #1 - About Page, BOTTOM: Mock-up #1 - Main Page

Team C - Soul Train production schedule

Here is Team C's estimated production schedule for the term

• April 8 - Create site map and assign all group members to create 3-4 website mock-ups (home page and sample page) for Monday. All three group members create illustrated flourish ideas for Monday.
- LIZ: Currently researching analytical information and will create an outline for Mona
– Try email communication with Mona in the next day or two!

• April 13 - Nicole, Liz and Scott bring in 3-4 website mock-ups & determine the final four to show Mona on April 20; go over site map and make any changes?

• April 15 - Make tweaks to site map and/or website mock-ups, prepare items for April 20th meeting with Mona; get in email contact with Mona.

• April 20 - Meeting with Mona @ 9:30am - Neuberger Hall 251 (small lab)

- Have Photoshop mockups & site map for Mona to approve
- ask her if there is any existing materials (business card)?

- Catalog - how will that correlate with the online store? How is it different?
- any sort of press?

- Misses vs. Women - does she have lots of products geared to misses and women? Get age demographic information from Mona

- Outline analytic information (Liz Bucher is currently researching and will create an outline for April 20 meeting)

- list of stores Mona sells her products to currently (Timberline Lodge, etc)

- Mass emailing - what could she do to promote herself (fashion shows, brochures)

- address photo due date (April 30) to Mona -- check on progress!

- Mona needs a business form for retailers -- does she want to include Federal II to prove they are a business?

- get email communication with Mona situated!!

- GO OVER EVERYTHING!!

• April 20/21 - May 3 - WEBSITE PRODUCTION TIME

• May 4 - Meeting with Mona @ 9:30am - Neuberger Hall 251 (small lab)

• May 5 - 17 - WEBSITE PRODUCTION TIME

• May 18 - Meeting with Mona @ 9:00am - Neuberger Hall 251 (small lab)

• May 19 - last day of class - FINAL PRODUCTION & WRAP-UP & DEPLOY WEBSITE!

• LAST DAY OF CLASS (June) - Present website to Mona! =)

Web Marketing research

As Team C dives into site map creation for Soul Chain this morning, team member Scott Bryant took some time to research web marketing and how other users/companies use to market their website.

One of the ideas brought up in discussions from Monday's class included having Soul Chain registered on websites such as Yelp! and/or Twitter. While Yelp! is an online reference guide (just like CitySearch), Twitter is a social networking site where people—even businesses such as Powell's Books,

POTENTIAL SOUL CHAIN SITE ADVERTISING WEBSITES:

• Yelp! - http://www.yelp.com/portland

• Citysearch - Portland, OR Metro City Guide - http://portland.citysearch.com/

• Twitter - http://twitter.com/

EXAMPLE USERS

Powell's Book - @Powells
Portland Spa & Boutique - @portlandspa
Oregon Tails - @oregontails
West Cafe Portland - @westcafepdx
Luxual Boutique (Toronto) - @luxualboutique
Lindsay Lou Boutique (Arizona) - @Lindsay_Lou
4NXC Boutique - @4NXC

WEB MARKETING RESOURCES

•Small Business Web Site Marketing Top 10 - http://www.pawprint.net/internet-marketing/small-business-web-site.php

• The Web Marketing Checklist: 32 Ways to Promote Your Site - http://www.wilsonweb.com/articles/checklist.htm

• 101 Web Marketing Ideas and Tips - http://www.seopedia.org/internet-marketing-and-seo/101-web-marketing-ideas-and-tips/

• Twitter Marketing Guide - http://www.toprankblog.com/2007/11/twitter-guide/

Team C Soul Chain schedule

COMING NEXT CLASS (when we create the site map for Soul Chain)!

**Watch this post for team schedule!**

Soul Chain Client Profile

After meeting with Mona McDonald today, Team C has compiled a client profile of Soul Chain boutique.

CLIENT PROFILE

BUSINESS NAME: Soul Chain Boutique (as of today's meeting, Mona is dropping "boutique" from the name)
BUSINESS OWNER: Mona McDonald
BUSINESS ADDRESS: 146 NE 146th Place, Portland OR 97230

PHONE: 503.243.5060
EMAIL: Mcdonald3315@comcast.net
WEB: www.soulchainboutique.com

OVERVIEW

PRODUCTS / SERVICES: fashion line of hand made and knit machine apparel, home decor and accessories.
TARGET AUDIENCE: Women ages 19-50

PHILOSOPHY / MISSION: Soul Chain's mission is to provide high quality, original hand crochet/knit machine clothing, home decor, and accessories and to provide superior quality and service to our customers at comparable prices.

YEARS IN BUSINESS: 8 years (since 2001)

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: Local small business, clothing and accessories appeals to women of all ages, active in trade shows, wholesaler (works with businesses), items are individually crafted and designed; garments and home decor all made from the finest fibers imported from every corner of the world.

BUSINESS OBSTACLES: limited budget, existing website not used effectively (as online sales tool) not well-known as other boutiques, no actual physical "shop" (Mona works out of her house?).

EMPLOYEES: Mona is the sole operator/employee of Soul Chain boutique.

PRIMARY MESSAGE: to provide high quality, original hand crochet/knit machine clothing, home decor, and accessories.

EXISTING MARKETING MATERIALS: Website

PROPOSED DELIVERABLES: Website, entry on Yelp?, presence on Twitter?

RESEARCH

LOCAL COMPETITION: Lille Boutique Lingerie - www.lilleboutique.com/

NATIONAL COMPETITION: Elyse Allen Textiles - http://www.elyseallentextiles.com/

TECHNOLOGY OVERVIEW
• Soul Chain needs more exposure; ways to drive traffic to website
• Search engine
• Analytics (tracking website traffic, etc)
• Presence on social networking sites like Yelp! Portland and Twitter could increase awareness—and traffic—to Soul Chain boutique.

CONTENT RECOMMENDATION
• more elegant gallery feeling/design and less-Amazon.com like
• edit & compact links into four to five general link categories
• new photos for website
• put products on website IN ORDER OF COLLECTIONS (Mona's intended goal)

BUDGET: Mock budget

CLIENT PRESENTATION DATE: first week of June or earlier

DELIVERABLE DATES:
Client - TBD
Designer / Developer - TBD

SITEMAP CREATION: Coming next class! (Wed. April 8)

SITE CONCEPT & GOALS
• make Soul Chain website more inviting, elegant and professional-looking
• increase web presence for Soul Chain through other means of web marketing (i.e. Twitter, Yelp!, mass e-mail, etc)
• make the Soul Chain products the star of the show on the website!
• make the website simple and easy for Mona to update
• stand Soul Chain apart from the other competitors

UPDATE: Soul Chain client meeting - Mon. April 6

On Wednesday, April 1, Team C got in contact with Mona McDonald, owner of Soul Chain boutique.

On Thursday, April 2, Team C sent out an email to Mona regarding the meeting time we set up with her on Wednesday. Below is the email sent to Mona:

Hello!
We are so glad that you will be able to meet with us on Monday. Our class starts at 9am, so if you would be able to meet with us at 10am, that would be wonderful. We would like to get some basic information about your business and what you would like for your website.

Shattuck Hall (SH)
1914 SW Park Avenue, Portland, Oregon 97201
We're located in the Room 107 in the 1st floor/basement.

Above is the actual address, but the building also faces SW Broadway and Hall St.
There is paid parking on the street and in the parking structure (lower level) kiddy corner from the building.
If you have any trouble finding us, you can call me on my cell phone (503) 548-8290.

Thank you again for taking the time to meet with us and we look forward to meeting you.

Sincerely,
Nicole Gerrard
Liz Bucher
Scott Bryant

As a group, we are very excited to work with Mona. We hope with all of our hard work we can help Mona have a website that'll stand out from other boutique shop competitors.

Team C Leader Tentative Schedule

**Leader schedule subjected to change**


Rough estimated leader schedule

Scott Bryant - Week 2-4
Liz Bucher - Week 5-7
Nicole Gerrard - Week 8-10

Schedule coming after meeting with client!

MEETING WITH CLIENT - Monday, April 6 - between 9am & 11am - Shattock Hall computer lab (SH 107)

April 1 - Soul Chain overview

Day one of the Soul Chain project started with further analysis of boutique websites and initial breaking-down of the Soul Chain website itself. Below is highlights of our analysis of the Soul Chain website and potential needs/changes. Most of the potentials changes addressed today will

CURRENT WEBSITE: http://www.soulchainboutique.com/

Breakdown of Soul Chain

PAGES
• HOME
• SHOPPING CHART
• ABOUT US
• OTHER LINKS
• PRODUCTS
• CUSTOM DESIGNS
• Ordering
• Reseller (Wholesale)
• Customer Testimonials
• Contact Us
• Mailing List ==> How big?

WEBSITE HAS:
• Shopping cart

NEEDS / CHANGES FOR WEBSITE
• Center container on home page
• No link for shopping cart ==> should be an icon in the right corner of website
• Rollover image links for ABOUT US, OTHER LINKS, PRODUCTS and CUSTOM DESIGNS
• Merge CUSTOM PRODUCTS under PRODUCTS
• Merge MAILING LIST under CONTACT US
• PRODUCTS page ==> rollover images
• Tag line links home unnecessary
• Giant Search Box vs Small search box at bottom?
• Shopping Cart at bottom of page?
• Website needs a theme ==> what is it? Retro? unique? handmade feel?
• LOGO ==> come up with mock-ups for client ==> type-based!!!!
-discuss with client about her vision
-want to be flexible w/ client; build around her intended vision
• photos ==> scarves on dress forms?
• restructure sidebar

POTENTIAL THEME
• Clothes line (accessories)
• Yarn font (decorative font)
• Handcrafted feel

QUESTIONS TO ADDRESS WITH CLIENT
• How long using logo?
• Interested in exploring other logos?
• We have to recreate it ==> finding the exact typeface
• Consistency for website (photos, theme, logo)
• Emphasize your products
• Gallery vs. shopping cart
• Bringing out textures in fashion pieces for website background

RESOURCEFUL WEBSITES FOR INSPIRATION
• Lille boutique (Portland, OR) - www.lilleboutique.com/
• Elyse Allen Textiles - http://www.elyseallentextiles.com/
• Close Knit Portland - http://closeknitportland.com/about