Introducing Mellors Consulting on the Internet

Jenna Doucet (2009).

Introducing Mellors Consulting on the Internet

Mellors Consulting is a hospitality recruitment services agency that is currently undergoing a business reengineering process. The company, formally introduced as Lougheed Group has been prominent in the Toronto market for over thirty five years, however, their aspirations to grow both nationally and internationally have inspired the company’s restructuring and new name (Mellors, 2009). One of the company’s most important strategies in developing worldwide brand recognition is to create a well-articulated plan as to how the company should proceed in introducing Mellors Consulting on the Internet. The company’s strategy will reflect the unique trends that affect the web as a medium and the website’s functionality requirements.

Trends affecting the web
As described by Dholakia & Rego (1998) “ the web represents a relatively easy an extremely inexpensive way to advertise” (p. 724). While Mellors Consulting will certainly take advantage of the web’s low cost to advertisement they will be faced with a reduced effectiveness in marketing if their website gets lost in the clutter of countless other web pages offering similar services (Dholakia & Rego, 1998). To address these issues Mellors Consulting must establish a strong web presence and take measures to ensure that potential customers can easily access their website in popular search engines.

Developing Strong web presence
Mellors Consulting wants to present its customers with an image of professionalism and of connectivity in the industry. The Company is seeking to differentiate itself from common unspecialized recruiting companies and job search engines by establishing a strong web presence that promotes the company’s values of loyalty, confidentiality, discretion, responsiveness, and reliability in order to attract elite clientele (Mellors, 2009). Part of this Key process is to create a website that is visually appealing, easy to navigate, grammatically correct, and returns strong search responses.

Developing strong search responses
In order to address the effectiveness with which a website appears in a search engine, it is important to note how search engines provide users with the resources they are searching. Ohtaguro, Makato, Nakashima & Ito (2004) write that an ordinary search engine, such as Google rank websites according to the degree of closeness between the results and the query that are found using a keyword matching technique. Google also measures the popularity of each website and uses that information in its calculation of rankings. In order to take advantage of Google’s ranking information it is essential that Mellors Consulting identify what words potential job seekers and customers will input in the search engine and conform their website and search topics to contain those key words. Essentially, Mellors Consulting will ensure that meta-tagged descriptions and keywords are added in the creation of their website. Another tactic would be to purchase advertisement spaces at the top of Google’s search result pages.

Web page functionality
In addition to creating strong web presence and easy search features, Mellors Consulting must focus on the functionality requirements of the website which are the ability to easily add and edit job postings, and the ability for users to upload resumes and apply for potential positions. Furthermore, the company will enhance its services by providing a client area for online statements and customer service (Mellors, 2009). Based on the complexity of the website’s functionality features, Mellors Consulting has opted to purchase web designing and hosting services. In order to ensure the website’s success in handing off the project to professionals, Mellors Consulting has also created a list of design, interface and application requirements.

Webpage design
First and foremost, Mellors Consulting require the incorporation of their company logo in the website. Additionally they have established that they want their front page to contain animated graphics with links into the website. One idea is to use a windowpane approach and rotate graphics into the panes with two of the panes being used as links into the website (Mellors, 2009).

Interface requirements
There are many interface technologies to choose from when designing a website. “ Not all pages require the same functionality or deliver the same type of information and therefore require different technologies within them. One of the functionalities to consider is how “to translate the design and intended functionality of the pages into an interface that is usable on the web” (Rayport & Jaworski, 2004). The are a number of different languages that the interface may make use of, however Mellors Consulting has decided to use mainly Java format for its compatibility advantages (Stair and Reynolds, 2006), HTML, and Wireless Markup Language (WML) in order to extend their customers the flexibility of viewing the website on their PDA’s and other mobile devices. Another important functionality to is the display and manipulation of information that appear on the website which stream from various sources. While it is possible to build web pages that are static, it is more common for the content of a webpage to be stored in a database rather than on the page itself (Rayport & Jaworski, 2004). Mellors Consulting currently stores large amounts of information relating to potential job candidates on a database system, thus some thought will need to be given as to how the website and the database will interact.

Application requirements
The application development involves identifying what functions the website needs to perform. These functions include expecting that when one click’s on a link that the application will take them to another pre-determined page and defines complex relationships such as how a user performs a search for an item. A functionality matrix is one that lists all of the capabilities a website needs to have as well as an indication to where these functions can be found (Rayport & Jaworski, 2004). Thus, Mellors Consulting has developed a detailed site map as provided in the appendix.

Conclusion
Introducing a company on the Internet can help grow and expand a business, although a seemingly simple task, it involves careful planning and consideration on the company’s part, even when involving professionals. In order to maximize the web designer and web host’s services and to facilitate the project Mellors Consulting has formulated a list of the requirements they wish to incorporate in their website. The company has carefully considered trends affecting the web as a market and has developed strategies to overcome specific challenges. Furthermore, Mellors Consulting has highlighted specific functionality requirements such as web page design, and interface and application requirements.



References

Dholakia, U. & Rego, L. (1998). What makes commercial web pages popular? European

Journal of Marketing, 32 (7/8), 724-736. Retrieved from ProQuest database.

Mellors, L. (2009). Website and branding brief. Mellors Consulting.

Rayport, J. & Jaworski, B. (2004). Introduction to E-Commerce (2nd ed). New York:
McGraw Hill companies.

Sato, k., Ohtaguro, A., Makato, N., & Ito, T. (November, 2004). The effect of a website directory when employed in browsing the results of a search engine. Department of Computer Science and Intelligent Systems, Oita University. Retrieved from ProQuest database.