HomeMy WebLinkAboutFS 2009-11-17 Item 2A - Discussion - Tourism Website Redesign with EXCLAIM and Philip Hallstrom (Seattle Southside Visitor Services)City of Tukwila
INFORMATIONAL MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor Haggerton
FINANCE AND SAFETY COMMITTEE
FROM: Katherine Kertzman
TOURISM PROGRAM DIRECTOR
DATE: NOVEMBER 12, 2009
SUBJECT: SEATTLE SOUTHSIDE WEBSITE REDESIGN
ISSUE
Jim Haggerton, Mayor
Seattle Southside is recommending redesign of the current website www.SeattleSouthside.com
to match the new brand standards and increase functionality and usability by customers,
business associates and staff. Seattle Southside requests Council approval because the cost of
the proposed contract exceeds the Mayor's signing authority of $40,000.
BACKGROUND
The current website in use is now 7 years old and while it was innovative at the time of its
creation, it is now lacking in functionality for users and is not comparable to competitors.
DISCUSSION
Seattle Southside's website currently receives on average 14,346 unique visitors monthly since
implementing a new search engine optimization campaign in June; that is up 180% from the
same timeframe last year. With an updated website that utilizes the current standards for online
marketing built in to the backend these numbers will only increase.
The website is a component of the current brand enhancement project and will work in
conjunction with a new advertising strategy directing users to the website. An online visitor
guide will be another piece of the brand update that will help reduce printing costs and create
more tracking methods.
The enhanced website will greatly increase the end user's ability to search for relevant
information, create a visitor profile to encourage them to revisit, create travel itineraries and
utilize an interactive map. User stories, photo tour and a new events calendar will encourage the
user to stay in the website longer resulting in the increased likelihood of a booked vacation. The
new website will provide an internet booking engine through a GDS global distribution
systems allowing users to book hotel rooms and rental cars as well as airline tickets thereby
reducing staff time by managing availability, inventory and rates of different extranets in "one
go"
Phase 2 (not included in the contract) will allow for translations into Spanish and Japanese
along with a mobile version of the site
Exclaim will work alongside Philip Hallstrom for the creative design portion of the updated site.
Exclaim has been working on the brand refinement and in order to ensure continuity of brand
standards they will design the creative portion while Philip will do all of the web development.
INFORMATIONAL MEMO
Page 2
Budget impacts: There is no additional budget request for this item. The combined cost for this
website is budgeted within the Council approved 2009 -2010 Tourism Program budget; however,
because the proposed contract with Philip Hallstrom amount is over $40,000, it requires Council
approval.
RECOMMENDATION
The Council is being asked to consider this item at the November 23, 2009 Committee of the
Whole Meeting and subsequent December 7, 2009 Regular Meeting.
ATTACHMENTS
Philip Hallstrom Web Development Proposal
EXCLAIM Web Creative Proposal
Website Proposal Matrix
W InfoMemos\Memo to Fin Safety 2009 Website Redesign Final.doc
Website Proposal Matrix
Website
Web Design (Exclaim)
Web Design (Heckler Associates)
Web Production
Site Foundation
Data Migration
Site Testing
Server Setup /Provisioing
Content Management
SEO Enhancements
Photo Tour
Entity Management
Entity Enhancements
Radius Searching
Additional Tools
Google Entity Map
Photo Tool
Events Calendar
Booking Agent Integration
Advanced Search
Travel Itineraries
Blog
Business /Member Area
Visitor Profiles
E- Postcards
Calendar Widget
User stories
Total
!Philip Hallstrom
$17,000.00
Seattle Southside
Website Proposals
14,250.00
$12,800.001 $12,800.00
Setting up files for
development, testing,
$4,800.00 $4,800.00 proofing
Second round of file
$2,400.00 $2,400.00 generation
$4,000.00 $4,000.00
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
$3,200.001 s $3,200.00
$1,600.00 $1,600 00
$1,600.00 $1,600 00
$9,600.001 $9,600.00
$8,000 00 $8,000 00
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
Iw/ Exclaim Iw/ Heckler
1 $67,400 .001 $64,650.00
SEO Enhancements
Photo Tour Selection
Custom Forms
Menus
Browser Compatibility
Front Page Slide Show
Printer Friendly Setup
Entity Enhancements
Radius Searching
1 $24,800.00 $24,800.00
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
$2,400.00 $2,400.00 Photo Tool
$2,400.00 $2,400.00 Enhanced Event Calendar
$1,600.00 $1,600.00 Booking Intergration
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
$3,200.00 $3,200.00 Travel Itineraries
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
$3,200.00 $3,200.00
$3,200 00 $3,200.00 Visitor Profile
$1,600.00 $1,600.00
$800.00 $800.00
$1,600 00 $1,600 00
Mobile Site
Green Rubino did not respond to RFQQ
Interviewed Vision Internet and they did not meet criteria as an ecommerce interactvie site
IData Imagery 1
$17,000.00
$4,750 00 $4,750 00
lw/ Exclaim Iw/ Heckler
1 $73,150.001 $61,900.00
1 $9,500.001 $9,500.00
I $26,150.001 $26,150.00
$2,300 00 $2,300.00
$4,750 00 $4,750.00
$3,600.00 $3,600.00
$4,750.00 $4,750.00
$6,000 00 $6,000.00
Annual Support Contract $3,600.00/yr
Licensing $3,600.00/yr
14,250.00
$12,000.001 $12,000.00
$8,500.00 $8,500.00
SSVS WeDslte Re
Prepared for: Katherine Kertzman,
Seattle Southside Visitor Services
Prepared by Philip Hallstrom
PJKH, LLC
Prepared on. October 14, 2009
A 3106 60th Loop SE Olympia, WA 98501 T 360.480.1209
ovatio
PJKH, LLC
E philip@pjkh.com W www.pjkh.com
T ary
PJKH, LLC
objective
Extend and enhance the existing seattlesouthside.com website to provide a richer experience for its visitors and increase
overall site utilization and visitor retention.
Timeline
The timeline for this project has not currently been defined and is dependent upon completion of website graphical
redesign.
Solution
Develop the website using the Ruby on Rails framework. RoR allows for very fast development and provides many nice
features that can be implemented easily. A general purpose content management tool for pages that are "mostly static"
will be built. Additionally, custom tools will be built for areas of the site that require them. The design will be executed by
third -party resources and will be implemented as part of this project.
A note on "Entities"
Throughout this document the word "entity" or "entities" refers to a restaurant, shop, hotel, attraction, meeting space,
transportation company, etc.
Re
ovato
rs
PJKH, LLC
General
Design of the website will be handled by a third party, most likely by internal committee resources.
Site will be developed using the Ruby on Rails framework (www.ruhvonrails.nrn).
Hosting will be managed by a third party provider I will provide recommendations and oversee site deployment.
All forms will use a captcha system to reduce the amount of spam (www.recaptcha.net)
Site will be tested for compliance against the Firefox 2.0, IE6, IE7, and Safari web browsers.
Graphical Refresh
The current look and feel of the website, while having served its purpose well, is beginning to show its age. It has been
requested that a new design be implemented to bring the site up to date with current design practices. While the final
design will be a result of interaction between the designer and SSVS staff, the following goals should be realized
Widen the overall page width from it's current 730px to 900px. Currently 95% of visitors have a screen width of
1024px or greater This will provide more room "above the fold" for valuable content.
Create two distinct areas; one for the general public, one for businesses and press. The latter would contain the
majority of information currently residing in the right navigation bar.
Make it more apparent to visitors where and how they can interact with the site (i.e. newsletters, RSS, travel itineraries,
trip advisors, user stories, etc.)
Make the entity directories less like a directory listing and more categorical and browsable. One way to do this would
be to create a page for each entity "feature" (i.e. /hotels /with pools/ would list all hotels with a pool).
Organize packages based on category and have featured ones that rotate on the home page.
Brochure and info request needs to be more compact and customizable.
Have feature stories on local people, business, stores, festivals, activities, artists that rotate on the homepage with links
to an archive.
Photographic tour of the area. Allow staff to upload images, set captions, determine the order System will generate a
slideshow of uploaded photos.
Hotel reservation button on home page with search for all different aspects. Search will utilize the Jack Rabbit
reservation system.
Create "printer friendly" version of all pages.
Photo Tool
Redo the existing photo tool to streamline the administrative process and ease of use for the end user.
PJKH, LLC
Entity Enhancements
Create system to allow SSVS staff to associate entities with one another to indicate a relationship between them. On
the entity detail page these related entities would appear in list format and be linked to their own detail page.
Enhance the current entity models to allow an unlimited number of photos to be attached These photos would
display as a slideshow on the detail page.
Enhance the current entity model to allow an unlimited number of YouTube videos to be attached These videos would
display as a slideshow on the detail page (perhaps via an overlay similar to how many Apple movie trailers play)
Create RSS feeds to provide information on new entities, updated entities, promotions, coupons, etc.
Have different sections for groups and meeting planners.
Add functionality to handle transportation needs via a 'Need Transportation' link/button.
Free e- postcards.
Jack Rabbit booking agent.
Improve entity searching to utilize full text and fuzzy match algorithms.
Allow for multiple languages. This will require the assistance of a third-party translator.
SEO Enhancements
Dynamically generated sitemap.xml file used by search engines in real time.
Ensure that every entity has fields that apply to the page title, meta keywords, and meta description.
Modify all URLs to include entity title in SEO friendly format (i.e. "Family Fun Center" attractions /family- fun center
Radius Searches
Using the address information provided for each entity create search mechanism that can answer the question "What
is near my hotel Allow user to filter on restaurants, attractions, and shops.
On hotel detail pages automatically show several nearby restaurants, attractions, and shops.
Create a single "map" page which would show all entities in an embedded Google map. Allow user to filter types of
entities shown (i.e. "show only restaurants This may require some testing to determine feasibility due to density of
entities in /around Westfield Southcenter.
Staff would upload a single high resolution JPEG image, provide meta information (title, description, category, etc.).
System will generate appropriate thumbnails for end user browsing.
End users, once authenticated, would be able to download high resolution JPEG images after answering a simple
questionnaire about the intended usage.
This questionnaire would be purely for informational purposes and would not prevent the download.
Create RSS feed to alert users to new images.
PJKH, LLC
Events Calendar
Update the events calendar UI to encourage users to book a hotel for the duration of the event. System could display
hotels physically near the event itself Alternatively, if legal, the list could be generated from a list of featured hotels. Or
the list could be comprised of hotels that meet a certain AAA rating.
Create an embed -able calendar widget that other sites could use to quickly and easily have a Seattle Southside events
calendar. All links in widget would take user to SeattleSouthside.com.
Create an RSS feed for upcoming events. This could be used by the general public as well as embedded into other
sites with links back to SeattleSouthside.com.
Allow users to indicate a desire to be reminded about specific events before they happen. User would be able to
specify their email address and how early to be reminded (i.e. one day one week one month An email would
be sent at that time reminding them of the upcoming event.
Visitor Profile
The visitor profile would let end users register for a SSVS account and provide information that would tailor their
experience by auto suggesting entities that may be of interest to them. A small set of questions would need to be asked
to determine their preferences (i.e. "Do you like small and quaint or large and luxurious which would be applicable to
every entity type. Entities would then be similar tagged and /or rules would be built in (i.e. All hotels whose nightly rate is
$200 or higher is "large and luxurious This information would then be used to build a user specific page with
recommendations for entities that user might be interested in. Additionally this information could be used to send emails
about upcoming events that match their preferences.
Travel Itineraries
Create a system that allows registered users the ability to add entities to an itinerary and provide notes for each.
Users would be able to save these itineraries as well as print them.
Integrate Google Maps to plot entities on the itinerary and provide driving directions from one to the next.
System would allow SSVS staff to easily copy a user's itinerary, make changes, and publish it to a central location for
other users to see.
User Stories
There might be an issue with allowing users to write comments about a specific entity due to legal ramifications and the
need to be an unbiased source of information User stories are an attempt to circumvent that while still providing
valuable user generated content and source of interaction.
Users would be able to write a story/anecdote about their visit to the area. The idea is that this would be similar to the
guest books found in many bed and breakfasts where people indicate why they were there (i.e. it was our 10th
anniversary and we stayed at and had a wonderful dinner at after which we went dancing at
These stories would be submitted to SSVS staff for review and possible publication.
SSVS staff would be able to edit and associate the story with related entities (for cross linking purposes)
Once SSVS staff approves the story it would appear in a blog like format in a dedicated section of the website.
Additionally it would appear as a link on all entity detail pages it is related to.
PJKH, LLC
c cet
c.
Site Foundation
Data Migration
Site Testing
Server Setup /Provisioning
Entity Enhancements
Jack Rabbit Integration
SEO Enhancements
Radius Searching
Google Entity Map
Photo Tool
Events Calendar
Advanced Search (full text, phrase matching, etc.)
Travel Itineraries
Blog
Business /Member Area
Optional Functionality
Visitor Profiles
Photo Tour
E- Postcards
Calendar Widget
User Stories
Subtotal
Total including optional functionality
PJKH, LLC
$4,800
$2,400
$4,000
$1,600
$8,000
$1,600
$1,600
$1,600
$1,600
$2,400
$2,400
$1,600
$3,200
$1,600
$3,200
$39,200
$3,200
$1,600
$1,600
$800
$1,600
$50,400
Co
PJKH, LLC
3106 60th Loop SE
Olympia, WA 98501
T 360 480 1209
philip @pjkh.com
www.pjkh.com
tact
or
atio
PJKH, LLC
PROJECT PROPOSAL October 16, 2009
2125 Western Ave
Suite 302
Seattle WA 98121
CLIENT:
Seattle Southside Destination Marketing Organization
Katherine Kertzman
Program Manager
14220 Interurban Ave. S.
Suite 130
Tukwila, WA 98168
206.575.2489
PROJECT:
Website
Phone 206 368 0121
Fax 206 368 0130
www exclaimllc com
OUR COMMITMENT
We are committed to creating new possibili-
ties for our customers. These possibilities occur
through strategic graphic design, brand defini-
tion and project management. We align with our
customers, helping them focus on programs
that solidify their brand and create pathways for
growth.
EXCLAIN4Lc
Website Development
We think of websites as windows creative windows to your brand. As
such, we make sure that looking through that window results in your target
audience coming away with a clear understanding of who you are and what
you stand for. EXCLAIM designs websites, HTML emails and banners that
support your positioning and are designed to dispense information and
get viewers clicking through your site. Your project begins with concept
development for a home page and secondary page (two concepts of each)
to give you the feeling of the site.
Southside website deliverables include:
Develop sitemap and navigation
Develop look and feel of website
Design layout of homepage and major pages
Set -up HTML templates
Develop site management system
Development Services Setup, design integration, flow copy
EXCLAIM will work closely with Seattle Southside to develop new and
exciting copywriting. This is intended to help promote the `practical traveler'
feel from the strategy that was developed previously.
Content Management
Site Templates
We will start building your site by taking your new design mockups and
creating the site templates. We'd recommend this design to be 960px in
width which fits the 1024px minimum width of most screen resolutions. We
will build site content with alt text for visually impaired, but you also will
have the ability to manage or set this content in the future through our page
editor.
Content Management
You will have the ability to add or delete pages on your site. Additionally, you
can easily edit the content of the pages through our online editor. You can
easily add content, pictures, links or other dynamic compontents on a page.
Menus
All menus will be dynamically generated based on your page structure. You
can set pages to be active or not in the menu.
Photo Tour Section
We will build a photo tour section that easily allows staff to upload pictures
with captions that will automatically get generated into a picture slideshow
on the website.
Custom Forms
We will create a brochure and info request page using our form building
tools. You will have access to our forms module to manage fields on these
forms, or even setup new forms in the future to collect other types of
information.
E CLAt 1 Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 16 2609
Browser Compatibility
We will test the site to ensure compatibility with all major browsers (Internet
Explorer 6 Firefox 3 Safari, Opera). We will build the site to comply with
World Wide Web Consortium standards (W3C Compliant) and style code
and javascript will be placed in separate files to speed load time for visitors
and page indexing by robots.
Front Page Slideshow
We will setup our slideshow module to give you the ability to add feature
stories on local people, business, stores, festivals, activities, artists that
rotate through at set intervals.
Printer friendly Setup
We will use the style sheets of the site to setup printer friendly versions of
the pages.
SEO Enhancements
You will have the tools to be able to enter page title, meta keywords and
meta descriptions per page in our page manager tools. When editing the
content of pages, you will be able to specify headings up to six levels
(h1,h2,h3, ect). Our software will dynamically generate a sitemap.xml file
used by search engines in real time. Before launch, we will also setup
permanent redirects based on a list of pages you provide us from your old
website.
Entity Management
Entity relationships
We will set up our contact module to give you the ability to associate
contacts (entities) with each other. These entities will then be rendered on
the entity detail page on the website, with a link to view that entity's detail
page.
Entity slideshows
Our slideshow module will be set to be associated with entities. Optionally,
you can set up entity owners to be able to login and update their own
slideshows.
Entity videos
Our videos module will be setup to be associated with entities. Optionally,
you can setup entity owners to be able to login and update their own videos.
Entity blog
Our blog module will be setup to be associated with entities. Optionally,
you can setup entity owners to be able to login and update their own blog
entries for news and for posting coupons.
Entity stories
We will setup the ability for site users to write a story/anecdote about their
visit to the area. Once a story is submitted, SSVS is notified and can review
the story to make changes. Once SSVS staff has completed edits, they can
post the story to any number of entities or to the SSVS blog.
EXCLAIM I Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 16 2009
Entity searching
Our entity searching will allow partial text searching to match entries that
contain "like" text.
Radius searching
On the entity detail page, we will setup a google map based on their address
and display other entities based on type. Users can filter the type list (ie
restaurants, attractions, shops). Using the address information provided
for each entity, we will create a search mechanism that can answer the
question "What is near my hotel allowing the user to filter on restaurants,
attractions, and shops.
Entity directory
The directory will list entities by category for easy browsing. Also, on the
directory, there will be a single "map" which will show all entities in an
embedded Google map. The user can filter types of entities shown (i.e.
"show only restaurants
Additional Tools
Booking integration
We will integrate the Jack Rabbit booking agent.
EXCLAIM l 1 Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 16 2009
Photo tool
We will build a tool that allows for the upload of high resolution images and
the entry of meta information (title, description, category, alternative text for
visually impaired visitors, etc.). The tool would create a thumbnail version
for end user browsing. End users can fill out a form and then gain access to
this library of images. End users could also subscribe to an RSS feed to be
alerted when new images are created.
Enhanced events calendar
We will create an enhanced events calendar to encourage users to book a
hotel for the duration of an event. The list of hotels can be sorted by rating
or by price. The calendar will also be able to be embedded on another site,
with links coming back to SeattleSouthside.com. All events will be available
through an RSS feed. Users can enter their email address to be reminded
about specific events, and they would be able to specify the amount of time
ahead they want to be notified. They would then receive an email on their
predetermined notification period.
Visitor Profile
We will create a visitor profile tool that will let end users register for a SSVS
account and provide information that will tailor their experience by auto
suggesting entities that may be of interest to them. A small set of questions
will need to be asked to determine their preferences (i.e. "Do you like small
and quaint or large and luxurious which will be applicable to every entity
type. Entities will then be similarly tagged and /or rules would be built in
(i.e. All hotels whose nightly rate is $200 or higher is "large and luxurious
Additionally this information will be used to send emails about upcoming
events that match their preferences.
Post Launch Development Support
Travel Itineraries
We will create a system that gives registered users the ability to add entities
to an itinerary and provide notes for each. Users will be able to save these
itineraries as well as print them. Google Maps will be used to plot entities on
the itinerary and provide driving directions from one to the next. SSVS staff
can easily copy a user's itinerary, make changes, and publish it to a central
location for other users to see.
Mobile Site
Unfortunately there is no simple way to make a site look good on mobile
devices, it takes thought and energy to figure out what you want on your
mobile site. We will design a simple mobile template and create a mobile
site that gives users access to a subset of page content. On this site, they
will also be able to search or browse entities.
Annual Support Contract
Data Imagery provides an annual $3,600 /year hosting and support package.
This includes one hour per month of software support. This package also
includes regular software upgrades. This means that as new features
are added to Associo Software, you receive these feature updates for no
additional charge. Additionally, the Data Imagery service agreement includes
full server site hosting with 1 gb of server space, 100 gb of bandwidth and
server support.
Licensing
Client receives the right to use Associo Software for an unlimited number of
users granted the support contract is current. This license is not transferable
nor is the application or any code within sellable or transferable.
!AIM 1 Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 16 2009
Proposal Summary and Pricing
Web Design*
EXCLAIM will design three concepts for your home and
secondary pages. Five rounds of revisions.
Remaining site design (custom elements /pages)
Web Production
Setting up files for development, testing, proofing
Second round of file generation where required
Content Management
Menus
Photo Tour Section
Custom Forms
Browser Compatibility
Front Page Slideshow
Printer friendly Setup
SEO Enhancements
Entity Management
Entity relationships, slideshows, videos, blog, stories
searching, directory
Radius searching
Additional Tools
Booking integration 3,600
Photo tool 2,300
Enhanced events calendar 4,750
Visitor Profile 6,000
Travel Itineraries 4,750
Mobile Site 4,750
Post Launch Development Support
Annual Support Contract (direct to Data Imagery)
Licensing (direct to Data Imagery)
*This bid does not include copywriting at this time.
Accepted for Client Date
EXCLAIM Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 1e 2009
17,000
12,000
8,500
9,500
Total 73,150
3600 /yr
3600 /yr
Taxes, shipping, printing, manufacturing and photography are not included in this estimate. More information is necessary before
prices are available.
TERMS CONDITIONS
1. Time for Payment
EXCLAIM LLC (Agency) will bill you (client) for 50% of the total price, due upon
signing of contract. Monthly billings for completed work will then follow, and
are due within 21 days of invoice date. The balance of the final project is net 30
days from delivery date. A 2% monthly service charge is payable on all overdue
balances.
EXCLAIM I Seattle Southside PROPOSAL
Ocotober 16 2009
2. Changes
Client shall make additional payments for changes requested in original
assignment. However, no additional payment shall be made for changes required
to conform to the original assignment description. Client's approval shall be
obtained for any increases in fees or expenses that exceed the original estimate by
15% or more.
3. Expenses
Client shall reimburse Agency for any out -of- pocket expenses related to client's
project(s). Actual quantity delivered and invoiced may vary or 15
4. Cancellation
In the event of cancellation of an assignment, ownership of all copyrights and the
original artwork shall be retained by the Agency, and a cancellation fee for work
completed, based on the estimated price and expenses already incurred, shall
be paid by the Client. The Client has the right to terminate this agreement by
providing written notice 30 days prior to the cancellation date.
5. Ownership of Artwork
Client retains unlimited usage rights on all selected materials developed by EXCLAIM.
This does not include specific licensing agreements, such as photography, illustration
or stock video. Unless otherwise specified, the Agency retains all ownership rights to
original artwork produced on the clients behalf. The Agency retains ownership of all
creative concepts and artwork developed on behalf of the client but not selected by the
client. The Agency also retains the right to use artwork for purposes of self promotion in
their portfolio or as a link to their website.
6. Releases.
EXCLAIM LLC accepts no liability, nor makes any claim to be a legal expert with regard
to matters of regulatory or governmental compliance. Client should always consult with
their own legal counsel to ensure compliance with all laws and regulations governing
advertising or marketing programs created on behalf of the client. Client further agrees
to hold EXCLAIM LLC harmless from all legal claims with regard to any marketing
programs created or managed by EXCLAIM LLC on behalf of client. In the event of any
action to enforce or interpret the (Contract for Services), or for any remedy on account
of any breach of the (Contract for Services), EXCLAIM will be entitled to recover from
Client their costs, disbursements and reasonable attorney fees.
Accepted for Client Date