Website As A Product Product Camp Mn

Your Website asProduct

ProductCamp

Mike Ellsworth

Linked InSolutions

www.LinkedInSolutions.com

http://www.linkedinsolutions.com/

2

About ME

• 15 years at Nielsen Co.• 6 years as IT strategy consultant• 3.5 years at State of Minnesota

– Program Director of CareerOneStop

Copyright © 2010, StratVantage Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved

http://www.careeronestop.org/

What is a Product?

• A Product as in a product you can buy?• A Product as in something produced by an

organization and managed by a product manager

Copyright © 2010, StratVantage Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved 3

Your Website as Product

• Is your Website:– An Advertising Method?– A Branding Method?– Your Corporate Underpants?

• Or is it a Product?– A product is a solution to a customer problem


What’s the Difference?

• Ancillary Websites:– Exist to increase impact of your

brand/business and raise awareness– Just another channel

• Selling Websites:– Supplemental – can be an afterthought to

bricks and mortar– Primary – delivers the ROI for the

organization; thus should be a product


What’s the Difference?

• In our case, the entire reason for our existence


Why a Product?

• Management of the site is different if it’s a product

• Use the Four P’s• Have a lifecycle• Have a roadmap


Duties of Web Product Manager

• Idea: Hey, kids, let’s build a site!• Product strategy: Goal of site, fit with the

overall strategy, business case • Product planning: What does the market

want? Where is the site going?• Product definition: How site will solve

market problems. Required functions, business processes



• Launch planning: Steps required to develop content and applications

• Launch: Marketing and communications • Day to day management: Reporting,

analytics, financial drivers, refining and managing product lifecycle



• What else?


So What’s My Problem?

• Program Director of CareerOneStop.org Website

• History:– Started in 1998– Three Sites– One to Three Brands– Two Development Teams

• Goal: One Product, One Brand, Managed


Need To:

• Consolidate three sites into one• Consolidate three brands into one• Change the orientation of the teams

– America’s Service Locator becomes Geolocation Team, Database Team

– America’s Career InfoNet becomes Web Tools team


Your Ideas?


Thank You!

You are welcome to connect with me:• Mike Ellsworth• Twitter: @MikeEllsworth• LinkedIn: www.LinkedIn.com/in/MikeEllsworth• Facebook:

www.facebook.com/MichaelJEllsworth • Google Mike Ellsworth and check the bottom of

the first page• [email protected]• 952-373-1006Copyright © 2010, StratVantage Consulting, LLC. All Rights Reserved 15

http://www.linkedin.com/in/MikeEllsworth

http://www.facebook.com/MichaelJEllsworth

mailto:[email protected]

Website As A Product Product Camp Mn

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