Full Description

AEC Web Site Cookbook is the only book of its kind that’s geared specifically for architecture, engineering, environmental consulting, and construction firm leaders, information technology managers, marketing directors, and other AEC professionals. This resource will give you everything you need to know to create an effective web site for your design or construction firm.

AEC Web Site Cookbook focuses on the content, management, and organizational issues of creating an effective web site. The information is presented in a straightforward, easy-to-understand way, without any technical jargon.

This book will tell you seven things your web site should be doing for your firm. Learn how to use your web site to attract new clients, partners, and employees; improve your bottom line; boost productivity; and strengthen your company image.

Interested in redesigning or building your web site but don’t know where to start? AEC Web Site Cookbook will eliminate the guess work. You’ll get ideas on who should lead your firm’s development effort and who should maintain the site when it goes live on the web. Learn the pros and cons of developing a web site internally or using a consultant. Find out what hardware, software, and security you’ll need.

Don’t know what information you should be putting on your web site or how to organize it? AEC Web Site Cookbook has your answers. You’ll get tips on what content to post on your web site and how often you should be updating that content. Find out the best way to organize your site, and also get tips on how to design your site.

Putting the effort into creating a web site is wasted if visitors don’t know it exists and don’t use it often. AEC Web Site Cookbook will provide you with tips to track traffic to your site and tell you how to make sure current and prospective clients, partners, and employees visit your web site. And more importantly, it will tell you how to get these visitors to come back to your site in the future.

AEC Web Site Cookbook isn’t filled with theory or examples from unrelated industries. This resource will show you real-life examples of how AEC professionals are putting their web sites to work for their firms. Case studies in AEC Web Site Cookbook let you see design and construction firm web sites in action. The case studies profile firms of all types and sizes in the AEC industry so you can see how firms just like yours are using web sites to their advantage. And the case studies include screen shots of these web sites so you can get a better feel for their content, organization, and design.

What content do these firms post and how is it organized? Who’s responsible for maintaining the site? How much did it cost? How have they attracted visitors to the site? What benefits have they seen? What returns have they gotten on their investment? The case studies will answer these questions and more.

Plus, you’ll get helpful advice from the people who’ve spearheaded web site development and maintenance projects. They’ll tell you what pitfalls to avoid with your own web site project. The book includes a concise chapter on mistakes to avoid with your web site, so you don’t repeat the mistakes that others have made.

It’s time to take your web site to the next level. Make sure you have a web site that gets results. Order this book today.

Contents

Introduction

• Attracting new clients
• Enhancing your firm’s reputation
• Improving relationships with existing clients
• Attracting teaming partners
• Recruiting talented employees
• Improving productivity
• Reducing costs

• Is it time to overhaul your web site?
• Buy-in from senior management
• The project team
• The webmaster
• What’s the primary goal of the web site?
• Outsourcing web site development and hosting
• Web design costs
• Web site security

• Web site content
• Updating content
• Web site organization
• Web site design

• Tracking the numbers
• If they can find it, they will come

• AEC web site case studies
• Profiles of actual web sites from AEC firms of all types and sizes
• Additional sources of information

• 13 real-world case studies