Patent Grant
9087035
The present application contains subject matter that may be related to the subject matter in the U.S. application entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GENERATING A MODIFIED WEBSITE” (Ser. No. 13/077,683), filed on Mar. 31, 2011, and assigned to the assignee of the present application.
Many organizations (e.g., corporations, small businesses, non-profit groups, academic institutions, government bodies, households, individuals, trusts, estates, or other entities) may desire to create a website for various reasons (e.g., selling a product or service, advertising, obtaining customers, sharing information, etc.). In some cases, the individual(s) responsible for creating a website (e.g., users) may have little experience in website design best practices. In addition, the individual(s) creating the website may have little knowledge of how visitors that visit their website behave and how to maximize the chance of a visitor producing a desirable outcome (e.g., buying a product, becoming a member, clicking on an advertisement, etc.). Further, the individual(s) creating the website may be inexperienced with techniques such as search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) that may attract more visitors to the proposed website. Even individual(s) with significant experience in website design may have little knowledge of what techniques and website elements (e.g., layout, organization, content) are best suited for a particular type of website (e.g., online sales, corporate website, blog, etc.) in a particular category (e.g., business industry, blog type) and what volume of desirable outcomes (e.g., sales, profit, subscriptions, downloads, ad-clicks) can be obtained from the website.
In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a method for managing websites. The method comprises identifying a business category of a business related to a user. The method further comprises obtaining a plurality of website analytics data items from a plurality of websites related to a plurality of businesses in the business category. The method further comprises evaluating the plurality of website analytics data items to generate a plurality of website templates for the user. The method further comprises providing the plurality of website templates to the user. The method further comprises receiving a selection from the user of a website template from the plurality of website templates. The method further comprises receiving website content for a user website from the user. The method further comprises evaluating the plurality of website analytics data items and the website content to generate a plurality of recommendations for the user website. The method further comprises providing the plurality of recommendations for the user website to the user. The method further comprises receiving a plurality of recommendation approvals of the plurality of recommendations for the user website from the user. The method further comprises generating the user website based on the website content, the website template, and the plurality of recommendation approvals.
In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for managing websites. The instructions comprise functionality for identifying a business category of a business related to a user. The instructions further comprise functionality for obtaining a plurality of website analytics data items from a plurality of websites related to a plurality of businesses in the business category. The instructions further comprise functionality for evaluating the plurality of website analytics data items to generate a plurality of website templates for the user. The instructions further comprise functionality for providing the plurality of website templates to the user. The instructions further comprise functionality for receiving a selection from the user of a website template from the plurality of website templates. The instructions further comprise functionality for receiving website content for a user website from the user. The instructions further comprise functionality for evaluating the plurality of website analytics data items and the website content to generate a plurality of recommendations for the user website. The instructions further comprise functionality for providing the plurality of recommendations for the user website to the user. The instructions further comprise functionality for receiving a plurality of recommendation approvals of the plurality of recommendations for the user website from the user. The instructions further comprise functionality for generating the user website based on the website content, the website template, and the plurality of recommendation approvals.
In general, in one aspect, the invention relates to a system for managing websites. The system comprises a web analytics application configured to identify a business category of a business related to a user, obtain a plurality of businesses in the business category, evaluate the plurality of website analytics data items to generate a plurality of website templates for the user, provide the plurality of website templates to the user, receive a selection from the user of a website template from the plurality of website templates, receive website content for a user website from the user, evaluate the plurality of website analytics data items and the website content to generate a plurality of recommendations for the user website, provide the plurality of recommendations for the user website to the user, receive a plurality of recommendation approvals of the plurality of recommendations for the user website from the user, and generate the user website based on the website content, the website template, and the plurality of recommendation approvals. The system further comprises a data repository configured to store the plurality of web analytics data items and the plurality of website templates.
Other aspects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description and the appended claims.
Specific embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying figures. Like elements in the various figures are denoted by like reference numerals for consistency.
In the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known features have not been described in detail to avoid unnecessarily complicating the description.
While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
In general, embodiments of the invention provide a system and method to assist a user (e.g., a business owner) in creating and managing a website. Specifically, the website may be generated in an attempt to improve or optimize various website metrics (e.g., conversion rate, number of visits, etc.). To generate the website, web analytics data is obtained from websites in a similar category (e.g., industry, location, website content) as a proposed website of the user. The web analytics data is analyzed and, based on the analysis, website templates and recommendations are generated for the proposed website of the user. The user may then create the website using one of the website templates while also following the generated recommendations. Subsequently, the user may monitor and update the website using a performance analysis and updated recommendations, respectively, obtained from updated web analytics data collected at a later point in time.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) are stored on web servers (not shown) and connected to server A (118) using an Internet connection (via network A (122)). In one or more embodiments of the invention, some or all of the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) are stored locally on a web server that is the same device as server A (118), server B (119), or the user device (110). The websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may be owned or operated by various entities including large businesses, small businesses, corporations, partnerships, non-profit groups, individuals, service providers, retailers, academic institutions, government bodies, households, trusts, estates, and other entities. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that a website may correspond to many different entities. The websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may be of several types including business websites, auction websites, online shopping websites, social networking websites, blogs, message boards, information websites, and other types. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other types of websites exist.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user website (130) is owned or operated by any of the entities discussed above. Further, the user website (130) may be any of the types of websites discussed above. In one or more embodiments of the invention, several websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) are in the same category as the user website. For example, the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may be operated or owned by a businesses in the same industry as the business that owns or operates the user website (130) (i.e., the business category is the industry of a business). In another example, the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may operated or owned by businesses in the same location as the business that owns or operates the user website (130). In another example, the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may offer similar products or services as those offered by the user website (130). In another example, in the case that the user website (130) is a blog or an information website, the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) may have similar content to content on the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user website (130) may be a webpage or a profile on a social networking website (not shown). Generally speaking, websites may be categorized based on other characteristics or metrics that are relevant to the user website, including: customer base, volume of visits, size of a business, etc. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other ways of categorizing websites exist and may be used to relate one or more websites (e.g., website A (132), website N (134)) with the user website (130).
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, the web analytics application (140) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The web analytics application (140) may execute on server A (118) and perform the steps required to create and manage the user website (130), including collecting and filtering web analytics data, assembling website templates, providing recommendations before, during, and after the creation of the user website (130), and evaluating the performance of the user website (130). Although
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, web analytics data (not shown) is defined as data obtained from websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) and the user website (130) that may be used for web analytics analysis (for instance, by the web analytics application (140)). Web analytics data may include website metrics (176), such as number of visits, a click path made by visitors, percentage of visitors making purchases, conversion rate, etc. In the case that the user website (130) is part of a social networking website, the website metrics (176) may include any website metrics provided by the social networking website (e.g., number of “likes”, number of comments, and other relevant metrics). More instances of website metrics are further described below. In addition, web analytics data may include website elements (172), such as website content, layout, organization, pages, links, text, website templates, add-ons, color, etc. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other types of data obtained from websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134)) and the user website (130) may be used for web analytics analysis.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user device (110) is a computer system (e.g., a server, mainframe, desktop personal computer (PC), laptop, personal digital assistant (PDA), mobile phone, etc.) used by a user to create the user website (130). The user is an individual who creates, owns, or operates the user website (130), whereas a visitor is an individual who visits the user website (130). The user may utilize the user device (110) to connect to the web analytics application (140) via network A (122) and share data with the web analytics application (140). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user device (110) stores and executes at least a portion of the web analytics application (140) and stores at least a portion of the web analytics data in the data repository (170). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user device (110) is a web server that hosts the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user device (110) is a terminal directly connected to server A (118) or server B (119).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user website (130) is created to produce goal achievements for the user. A goal achievement (not shown) is a desirable outcome for the user based on the actions of one or more visitors. In the case of a business website, goal achievements may include selling a product on the website (e.g., generating revenue) or obtaining subscriptions from visitors (e.g., increasing the potential client base). In the case of a blog or informational website, goal achievements may include obtaining a certain number of visitors per month, obtaining subscriptions to the website, or receiving a click on an advertisement displayed on the website. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other goal achievements exist for various website categories.
As discussed above, the data repository (170) stores, for each website parsed (e.g. website A (132), website N (134), user website (130)), web analytics data including website elements (172) and website metrics (176) shown in
In one or more embodiments of the invention, website templates (174) may include generic sections of a website (e.g., header, footer, navigation bar, introduction, body, front page image space, etc.), website characteristics (e.g., background color, style, etc.) and a website organization (e.g., number of website pages, links, page hierarchy, etc.). The website templates (174) may be essentially websites that lack website content from the user; in other words, the website templates (174) may be filled in with website content from the user to generate the user website (130). Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that the website templates (174) may include many other sections that facilitate the creation of the user website (130).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, recommendations (186) are generated by the web analytics application (140) and may include proposed modifications to the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the recommendations (186) are generated based on a current state of the user website (130) (e.g., the website elements (172) of the user website) and stored in the data repository (170) for accessing later. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the recommendations (186) are not stored in the data repository (170) but are generated in real-time when the user is creating or modifying the user website (130). In general, the proposed modifications associated with the recommendations (186) may improve the website metrics (176) of the user website (130).
Generally speaking, a performance (182) of a website may be based on a number of goal achievements produced by the website in a certain time interval (e.g., one week). While the performance (182) of the website may greatly depend, for example, on the quality of content or the quality of products sold on the website, the performance (182) generally also depends on other factors such as website organization, layout, text, templates, add-ons, color, etc. To maximize the performance (182) of a website, the aforementioned website elements may need to be modified. For example, the number of purchases on a website of an online apparel store may be increased by advertising on-sale items on the front page of the website, thus increasing the number of goal achievements and the performance (182). Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other versions of calculating the performance (182) of a website exist and that the specific definitions above serve as examples. For example, the performance (182) of a website may be a number of visits (178) (e.g., the goal achievement for websites that advertise may be a obtaining a visit). In another example, the performance of a website may be a conversion rate (180).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, a number of visits (178) is defined as the number of page requests (e.g., loading the website for the first time, clicking on a link within a website, or refreshing the website) from a unique visitor within some specified time margin. For example, if the time margin is 30 minutes, then a visitor actively browsing the website for 45 minutes will most likely register two visits. In another example, a visitor pressing the refresh button on a browser multiple times for 10 minutes will still only register one visit. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that many other versions for calculating the number of visits (178) exist.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, a conversion rate (180) is defined as the ratio of a number of goal achievements to the number of visits (178). In other words, the conversion rate (180) is a measure of what percentage of visitors who visit the website “convert” into customers/consumers by buying a product or service, subscribing as a member, or obtaining some other goal achievement, as discussed above. For example, if a website's goal achievement is a sale of a product and 20 products are sold per day out of 400 daily visits, then the conversion rate (180) is 20/400=5%. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that although a specific calculation for the conversion rate (180) is given, many other versions of calculating the conversion rate (180) exist. For example, a conversion rate (180) may be a ratio of goal achievements to a number of visitors (not shown).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, rules (184) are parameters that direct and modify the functionality of the web analytics application (140). For example, the web analytics application (140) may deduce that a specific change to a website increases the conversion rate, this information may become an additional rule of the rules (184) and may be stored the data repository (170). Subsequently, this rule may be used to modify which of the website templates (174) and which of the recommendations (186) are provided to the user.
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, the tracking engine (142) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The tracking engine (142) may visit websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the category filter engine (144) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The category filter engine (144) may use information about the proposed user website (i.e., in cases when the user website (130) is not yet created) or the user website (130) (i.e., in cases the user website (130) has already been created), obtained from the user (e.g., by using a questionnaire, by parsing website content from the user, by parsing the user website (130), by parsing financial records of the business of a user, and other methods), and first categorize user website (130) into one or more categories as discussed above. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the information about the user website (130) may include business information about the business of the user (e.g., the industry of the business, the products or services provided by the business, the size of the business, and other relevant information). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the category of the user website (130) is manually inputted into the category filter engine (144). The category filter engine (144) may then filter web analytics data based on the category of the user website (130). For example, if the user website (130) is owned or operated by a business of the user, the category filter engine may only retain website elements (172) and website metrics (176) from websites in the same industry as the business of the user.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the web analytics data extraction engine (146) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The web analytics data extraction engine (146) may first aggregate web analytics data, removing unnecessary data to facilitate further processing and analysis. For example, the web analytics data extraction engine may remove spam on a message board of one of the websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, the traffic improvement engine (150) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The traffic improvement engine (150) may analyze web analytics data by finding correlations between website elements (172) and website metrics (176) for each website (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the website template generation engine (152) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The website generation template may use website elements (172) and the results of the analysis performed by the conversion improvement engine (148) and traffic improvement engine (150) and generate website templates (174) for the user. The website templates (174) may be generated specifically to maximize performance (182) of the website (e.g., achieve a high conversion rate and a large number of visits), as discussed above. For example, the website template (174) may be generated based on website design best practices such as proper browser compatibility, organized page layout, clearly labeled navigation links, proper color contrast, working hyperlinks, and other website design best practices that the user may not be aware of when creating the user website (130). Further, the website templates generation engine (152) may incorporate features into the website templates (174) that are specific to the category of the user website (130) and achieve high performance (182). For example, website templates for a small business selling shoes may incorporate layouts for large images of on-sale products, whereas website templates for a medical professional may include space for an extended text section and contact information.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the recommendation generation engine (154) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The recommendation generation engine (154) may use website elements (172) and the results of the analysis performed by the conversion improvement engine (148) and traffic improvement engine (150) and generate recommendations (186) for the user. As in the case for website templates (174), the recommendations (186) may be generated specifically to optimize website metrics for the user website (130) (e.g., achieve a high conversion rate and a large number of visits), as discussed above. Recommendations (186) may also follow website design best practices and incorporate features specific to the category of the user website (130), as described above for the website templates generation engine (152). Further, updated recommendations may be generated based on updated web analytics data collected after the user website (130) has been created.
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, the website modification engine (158) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The website modification engine (158) may modify the user website (130) based on recommendations (186) from the recommendation generation engine (154) and website elements of the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the website modification engine (158) makes modifications to the user website (130) directly and without user intervention. In one or more embodiments if the invention, the website modification engine (158) may require approval from the user before a modification is made. For example, the website modification engine (158) may detect that the header of a website was unintentionally deleted and fix the error automatically, informing the user afterwards of the correction.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the performance analysis engine (160) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The performance analysis engine (160) may compare the performance of the user website (130) with a performance of other websites (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the reporting user interface (162) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The reporting user interface (162) may obtain analysis results of performance (182) from the performance analysis engine (160) and report the analysis results to the user. For example, the reporting user interface (162) may display the ranking of the user website (130) with respect to the other website (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, the A/B testing module (166) includes any combination of software and software components (e.g., data structures, algorithms, procedures, libraries, modules, interfaces, frameworks, applets, web applications, desktop applications, browsers, etc.). The A/B testing module (166) may modify a portion of the user website (130) to obtain a modified user website (131). Subsequently, the A/B testing module may perform A/B testing on the two versions of the user website (i.e., user website (130) and modified user website (131)). The process of A/B testing includes directing a portion of visitors to the modified user website (131) and comparing website metrics from the modified user website (131) to the website metrics of the original user website (130) to deduce whether the modifications improve the performance (182) of the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, instead of modifying the user website (130), two versions of a test website are created to test a modification of a certain website element. The test website may be created specifically for A/B testing or may be any other website (e.g. website A (132), website N (134) in
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In one or more embodiments of the invention, website content (112) may include website elements (e.g., text, images, content, links, or other elements) required to fill sections of a website template (e.g., header, footer, navigation bar, introduction, body, front page image space, etc.) with information relevant to the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, a website template selection (114) is a selection, made by the user, of one of the website templates (174) shown to the user on the user website design user interface (156). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user selects portions of several website templates (174) to form the user website (130). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the user modifies the website template after making the selection (114). In one or more embodiments of the invention, a recommendation approval (116) is an approval of a recommendation that was generated by the recommendation generation engine (154). In one of more embodiments of the invention, when a user sends a recommendation approval (116) to the website analytics application (140), website elements associated with the corresponding recommendation (186) may be automatically changed. Conversely, a user may also send recommendation refusals (not shown) in case the user does not agree with the corresponding recommendations (186).
Initially, before a user creates a user website, the category of the user's proposed website (i.e., proposed user website) is identified (STEP 202). As discussed above, one example of a category may be an industry of the user's business. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the category of the user website may be further divided into subcategories. For example, a website may be categorized as an online apparel store and further categorized into a subcategory including small businesses or a subcategory including sales of high-end brands.
In STEP 204, web analytics data is obtained from websites that are of the same category as the proposed user website. In one or more embodiments of the invention, web analytics data is first collected from websites of various categories and stored in a data repository (e.g., a data repository). Subsequently, the web analytics data in the category of the proposed user website may be accessed from the data repository and used for further processing.
In STEP 206, the web analytics data is evaluated and website templates are generated for the proposed user website. As discussed above, web analytics data may be used to derive website metrics for websites in the same category as the proposed user website. Further, as discussed above, the website templates may be generated based on website design best practices. Further, as discussed above, the website templates may be based, at least in part, on high performing websites (e.g., websites with high conversion rate). In one or more embodiments of the invention, a high performance is a performance exceeding a performance threshold (e.g., a conversion rate threshold).
The performance threshold may be set in several ways. In one example, the performance threshold may be manually set by the user or an administrator. In another example, the performance threshold may be based on the performance of websites in the same category as the user website (e.g., based on top ranking websites in the same category). In one or more embodiments of the invention, the generated website templates are based, at least in part, on websites with a high increase in performance (e.g., websites with a high conversion rate increase). In one or more embodiments of the invention, a high performance increase is a performance increase exceeding a performance increase threshold (e.g., a conversion rate increase threshold) in a certain time interval. The time interval may be any reasonable amount of time to evaluate changes in performance (e.g., one week, one month, one year, etc.). In one or more embodiments of the invention, multiple time intervals and thus multiple performance increases and performance increase thresholds may be used. The performance increase threshold may be set in several ways. In one example, the performance increase threshold may be manually set by the user or an administrator. In another example, the performance increase threshold may be based on the performance increase of website in the same category as the user website (e.g., most improved websites in the same category).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the website templates generated for the user website are based on results of A/B testing, which is further described below. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the website templates are generated based on historical patterns in the web analytics data for other websites (e.g., have the website templates consistently led to high performance websites, have the website templates improved conversion rates of other websites, have there been any drawbacks associated with the website templates to other websites, etc.) The final decision on how the website templates are to be generated or which website templates are to be provided to the user may be based on a weighted average of website templates of high performing websites, website templates of websites with high recent increases in performance, A/B testing, and historical patterns. After the website templates are generated, the website templates may be provided to the user via a user interface.
Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that providing the user with a template that is optimized for performance may increase the number of goal achievements (e.g., business sales, advertising revenue, etc.) for the user. Although a poorly performing website may be corrected after the website has been created (e.g., by making significant changes to some or all of the website elements of the poorly performing website), the process of doing so may be difficult and expensive. As a result, presenting the user with a high performance website template during the website creation process may save the user considerable resources in the future.
In STEP 208, a user selects a website template from the provided website templates. After the selection is made, the user populates the website template with website content (STEP 210). For example, the user provides the necessary website elements (e.g., website content, layout, organization, pages, links, text, templates, add-ons, color, and other website elements) to effectively change the selected website template into a user website.
In STEP 212, the web analytics data and the website content added by the user are evaluated and recommendations are generated for the proposed user website. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the recommendations are generated and provided to the user while the user is adding the website content to the website template. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the recommendations are provided once the user website is complete. As in the case for website templates, the recommendations may be based on high performing websites and on websites with a high performance increase. Further, as in the case for website templates, recommendations may be based on the results of A/B testing and based on historical patterns in the web analytics data for other websites (e.g., whether the recommendations consistently led to higher performance of other websites, whether the recommendations improved conversion rates of other websites or increased the number of visitors to other websites, whether the recommendations led to any drawbacks to other websites, etc.). The final decision on which recommendations are generated may be based on a weighted average of the website elements and performance of high performing websites, changes in the website elements and changes in performance of websites with high recent increases in performance, A/B testing, and historical patterns. After the recommendations are generated, the recommendations may be provided to the user via a user interface (e.g., a website design user interface).
Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that providing recommendations to the user during the website creation process may improve the resulting user website and thus increase the number of goal achievements (e.g., business sales, advertising revenue, etc.) for the user. In addition, the user may gain insight into the website category of the user website before actually launching the user website, allowing the user to better plan a strategy or course of action (e.g., business strategy, advertising partners, website content) for the user website.
In STEP 214, recommendation approvals corresponding to the recommendations given are received from the user. The user may choose to approve all, some, or none of the recommendation generated. As discussed above, when recommendation approvals are received, website content associated with the recommendation approvals may be changed automatically. After the website template is chosen, all of the website content is added, and all of the recommendations are considered (e.g., with either recommendation approvals or recommendation refusals), the user website is generated (STEP 216).
After the user website has been generated, updated web analytics data may be obtained from websites in the same category as the user website (STEP 218). In addition, now that the user website is created, updated web analytics data may include web analytics data from the user website. In one or more embodiments of the invention, web analytics data is collected continuously and thus the updated web analytics data may be immediately available after the user website has been created. In one or more embodiments of the invention, web analytics data is collected periodically and may be available at a point of time after the user website has been created.
In STEP 220, the performance of the user website, relative to other websites in the same category as the user website, may be extracted from the updated web analytics data. As discussed above, the performance may include a ranking of the user website by various website metrics (e.g., number of visits, conversion rate, etc.). In STEP 222, the user is notified of the performance of the user website. The notification may be done by various means (e.g., mail, email, telephone, webpage, and other methods of communication).
In STEP 224, the estimated performance of the user website may be extracted from the updated web analytics data. In one or more embodiments of the invention, the estimated performance is an extrapolation of the performance of the user website based on which recommendations are approved or refused. For example, if a user refuses a recommendation to change the color of a website, the estimated performance may be lowered because the current website color is not ideal for the category of the user website. The magnitude of how much the estimated performance is raised or lowered may be based on the importance of a particular recommendation. In one or more embodiments of the invention, estimated performance is calculated based on actual performance changes of websites in the same category as the user website that received similar recommendations in the past. By looking into this historical data, one can evaluate the importance of each recommendation and thus deduce an estimated performance. In STEP 226, the estimated performance and the performance of STEP 220 may be shown to the user at the same time, thus providing a user with a comparison between current performance and the estimated performance that can be obtained based on the recommendations.
Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that sending the user an analysis of the performance of the user website, as well as a detailed outline of which recommendations may change the performance most significantly, provides many benefits for the user. For example, the user may gain more insight into the website category of the user website by understanding where the recommendations come from and what the actual impact of each recommendation is. In another example, analyzing the impact of each recommendation helps the user decide which recommendations to approve and which recommendations the user can afford to refuse.
In STEP 228, one or more modifications may be performed to the website to obtain a modified user website (e.g., a modified user website). Following the modification, A/B testing may be performed on the user website and the modified user website (STEP 228), as described above. The results of the testing may be viewed by the user and by an administrator. In STEP 232, verification of the modification is performed. In the case that the modification improves the performance of the website (e.g., yields a higher conversion rate), the steps for evaluating web analytics data (i.e., STEP 206, STEP 212) may take into account the improvement of the modification. Similarly, if the modification reduces the performance (e.g., yields a lower conversion rate), the steps for evaluating web analytics data (i.e., STEP 206, STEP 212) may take into account the drawback of the modification. As discussed above, instead of using the user website for A/B testing, a test website may be used instead.
In STEP 234, updated website templates may be generated based on the updated web analytics data. Since the user website has already been created, the updated web templates may be used by other users who will use this process for creating websites.
In STEP 236, the updated web analytics data is evaluated and updated recommendations are generated for the user website. As in the case for the original recommendations, the updated recommendations may be based on high performing websites and on websites with a high increase in performance. However, as updated recommendations are generated at a later point in time, high performing websites at this point of time may be different than the high performing websites from the point of time when the original recommendations were generated.
Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that providing the user with updated recommendations after the website is created allows the user further improve the performance of the user website. Further, updated recommendations allow the user to keep track of recent trends, innovations, changes in visitor behavior, new competitors, and other important events that may require a response from the user (e.g., by making changes to the user website to maintain the performance of the user website). Updated recommendations may also allow the user to see what the user's competitors are doing and how the actions of the competitors affect the performance of competitors' websites.
In STEP 238, the updated recommendation approvals corresponding to the updated recommendations given in STEP 236 are received from the user. As discussed above, the user may choose to approve all, some, or none of the updated recommendations. Further, when the updated recommendation approvals are received, the website content associated with the updated recommendation approvals may be changed automatically. After the user responds to all updated recommendations (e.g., with either updated recommendation approvals or updated recommendation refusals), the user website is updated (STEP 240).
After STEP 240, the process ends. Alternatively, execution of the process may be continue by returning to STEP 202 (e.g., for another user or for creating another website) or STEP 228 (e.g., for the current user updating the website).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, before creating the website, the user may obtain access to a portion of the web analytics data and a portion of the calculated website metrics. The user may then use this information to determine the expected number of goal achievements (e.g., revenue, profit, subscriptions, etc.) of websites in the same category as the proposed user website to determine whether creating the user website is a right decision (e.g., whether the website would be financially profitable).
In one or more embodiments of the invention, the category of the user website or the subcategory of the user website may be added or modified after the user website is created or during the creation of the user website. The category may be modified by parsing the website content of the user website as it is being added or modified and determining a category or subcategory based on the website content. For example, a user may begin selling shoes for the first time on the user website, and as a result a category or subcategory may be modified appropriately (e.g., subcategory may become “shoe store”). As a result, website metrics, website elements, and comparisons of performance to other websites may be modified as other websites may be added to the analysis because they are now in the same category or subcategory as the user website. Accordingly, the websites that are compared to the user website with respect to performance and generating website templates and recommendations may remain relevant to the user website despite changes in the website content of the user website.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, several other website metrics, including a click path, an engagement time, a bounce rate, and a frequency, may be used by the system in
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In the example, a recommendation A (422) alerts the user that a navigation bar is too cluttered and suggests implementing a pull-down menu instead. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that a cluttered navigation bar may frustrate some visitors and thus negatively impact the conversion rate and increase the bounce rate. In the example, a recommendation B (423) alerts the user that images used on the user website (400b) are too large and suggests compressing these images. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that large images may cause visitors to leave a website because the website takes too long to load. In the example, a recommendation C (424) may suggest to use keywords relevant to the business of the user and the content of the user website (400b) on the front page. In addition, the recommendation C (424) informs the user that a proper fix may increase website traffic. Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that having proper text on a website may improve search engine ranking when potential visitors search for keywords relevant to the website. In the example, a recommendation D (425) may alert the user that a subscription sign up button, likely one of the goal achievements of this user website (400b), is too small and suggests making the button and the associated text larger. In addition, the recommendation D (425) informs the user that a proper fix may increase the conversion rate of the user website (400b). Those skilled in the art, having the benefit of this detailed description, will appreciate that having proper visibility of critical links on a website (e.g., links taking a visitor closer to a sale) may increase conversion rates.
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While the invention has been described with respect to a limited number of embodiments, those skilled in the art, having benefit of this disclosure, will appreciate that other embodiments can be devised which do not depart from the scope of the invention as disclosed herein. Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be limited only by the attached claims.
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