A case study presentation for a guest lecture at the University of Ulster, showcasing what Pierce Communications did for the JNWine.com website and what the results were.

2. James Nicholson Wine
A case study in design & usability,
SEO, and web analytics

3. Shameless self-promotion
Pierce Communications
• Marketing services agency with emphasis on branding,
design, and digital
• Emerged from RW Pierce group in 2008
• Twitter: @PierceComms
Barry Adams
• Dutch (yes really) digital marketer with specialisation in SEO
• Previous employers include: Philips Electronics, Honeywell,
Quotezone, Independent News & Media
• Twitter: @badams (parental warning: explicit content)

4. Agenda
JNWine.com case study
• Design & Usability
• Internet Marketing
• The Results

5. Web Usability in a nutshell

6. The old design

8. The old design
• Based on “search for wine” use case
– Wine search function is most prominent feature of
the site
– Additional functions in top navigation – but not
always clearly named
• Many core features and promotions linked in
images

9. Redesign by
Pierce Communications
• Part 1: Start with the user
– Identify the most common use cases of the
JNWine.com website’s target audience
1. Users want professional advice and
recommendations
2. Users want special offers
3. Wine search turned out to be tertiary use case

10. Redesign by
Pierce Communications
• Part 2: Make the navigation and structure as
self-evident as possible
– Name things how the user expects them to be
named (Information Architecture)
– Tell the user what they can do on the site
• Strong calls-to-action

11. Information Architecture
for websites

12. Redesign by
Pierce Communications
• Part 3: Make it pretty
The “look and feel” of a website has the greatest impact on
users’ credibility assessments, with professional site
designs heavily influencing credibility perceptions.
Once users have seen a web page, it is difficult to overcome the
first impressions they form based on the professional
appearance of a page’s design.
[Fogg, B.J., Soohoo, C., Danielson, D.R., Marable, L., Stanford, J., and Tauber, E.R. -How do users
evaluate the credibility of Web sites?: A study with over 2,500 participants. DUX 2003, 1-15.]
[McKnight, D. and Kacmar, C. -Factors and effects of information credibility. ICEC 2007, 423-432.]

13. The New Design

15. Cleaner look
More white space
Stronger logo font-type
Simpler layout

16. Emphasis on JN Wine’s expertise
Recommended wines
Wine tastings
Blogs and videos about vineyards, wine production, events, opinion, etc.

17. Simpler navigation
Self-evident navigation items
Less clicks to reach intended target

18. Strong product pages
Vivid descriptions of the wine
Strong calls-to-action
User-generated content: reviews

19. Multiple conversion points
Mailing list
Social Media
Tasting events
JN Club

20. But…
A great-looking and effective website is
meaningless…
Unless you get traffic to it.

21. Traffic Generation via
Internet Marketing
The four most effective tactics are:
• Search Engine Optimisation
• Email Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Pay Per Click Advertising

22. Search Engine Optimisation
SEO is a three-step process:
1. Keyword Research
2. On-Site Optimisation
3. Linkbuilding

23. SEO - 1. Keyword Research
Finding the right keywords to optimise for
What keywords are users typing in to Google
to find wine merchants?
Which keywords have sufficient search volume
to make then worthwhile?
Which keywords are feasible to compete on
with SEO?

24. Selected keywords
buy fine wine online
fine wine merchants
fine wine merchants uk
fine wine online
independent wine merchant
online wine merchants
wine gifts online
wine merchants uk

25. SEO - 2. On-Site Optimisation
• Title tags
• On-page content
• Meta description
• Image alt attributes
• Internal links

26. SEO - 2. On-Site Optimisation
• Optimised site structure for full indexation
Technical constraint:
website platform
Workaround:
HTML sitemap

27. SEO - 3. Link Building
• Launched the JN Wine blog and filled it with
great content
• Approached other wine bloggers and asked
for input and, eventually, links
• Basic linkbuilding: directory
submissions, article marketing, social
bookmarking

28. Email Marketing
• Emphasis on building
the email database
• Fresh new design
• Content focused on
recommendations
and events
• Regular schedule

29. Social Media Marketing
Twitter:
• Focus on James
Nicholson’s personal
reputation and
expertise.
• Engage in conversations
– never a one-way
stream.
• Utilise popular #tags

30. Social Media Marketing
Facebook:
• Basic page with regular
updates on events and
offers, as well as
general engagement
content.

31. Summarised
• Website Redesign with greater emphasis on
wine expertise and recommendations
• Search Engine Optimisation on a set of 10 core
keywords
• Email Marketing with a strong design and
regular fresh content
• Social Media Marketing on Twitter and
Facebook

32. Did it work?

34. Your turn
1. Think of 3 Social Media Marketing campaign
ideas for JN Wine
 More Twitter followers & Facebook likes
 How to monetise this traffic?
2. How would you further improve the JN Wine
website (UX, SEO, aesthetics) and how would
this contribute to the site’s performance?