Write a paper assessing the online presence of 2 Alberta-based businesses

Mark 468 Final Project Guidelines
The assignment consists of assessing the
online presence of 2 Alberta-based businesses, and making recommendations based
on these assessments. These are all
retailers that have indicated an interest in but have not yet committed to
participating in, the Digital Economy
Program (DEP) initiative, which is funded by the Government of Alberta, in
partnership with Digital Main Street and Business Link.
Improving the online presence of local
retailers was important before COVID-19, but the pandemic has greatly increased
the urgency of this area. The
assessments and recommendations you provide in this assignment will be used by
DEP to help these companies. The dual goals of this assignment are, therefore,
twofold: using experiential learning to help you to develop assessment skills
while helping DEP to help local businesses. In order to maximize the impact of
your work, the written component will be uploaded in a google form https://forms.gle/9KSdAzKguL1Nxto97,
which can be used to assist DEP in helping the businesses.
Please note that while we hope most or all
of your assessments and recommendations will be useful, there is no guarantee
that DEP will share your assessments and recommendations with the client
organizations. There is also no guarantee that any or all of your
recommendations will be used by the client companies. We, therefore, ask that you DO NOT contact the companies in any way
during the project. These
companies have all expressed interest in the program, but have not yet
committed to adopting the services offered. The last thing we want to do is
harm the potential relationship between the client and DEP. I am grateful to DEP for giving us this
opportunity for experiential learning.
Please respect their wishes and do not contact or approach the businesses
in any way.
In addition to the written component, you
will also develop 2 sets of presentation slides based on a provided
presentation template. You will choose one of these for an actual 6-8 minute
presentation to the class outlining your key findings and recommendations. This is intended to help you develop your
presentation skills in the online meeting environment. The class will have 3-5 minutes afterward to
ask questions. On your assigned day, the professor will give you the ability to
share your screen on Zoom at the start of class so that you can give a
presentation to the class using PowerPoint, Prezi or any similar software you
like. Please arrive on time (or a few minutes early if possible) on this day so
that the professor can give you this ability in zoom.
Both the business you will assess and the
date of your presentation will be determined at random by the professor. If you
have any conflict with any of the businesses to which you are assigned (e.g.
you have a relationship with the business, such as working there, knowing the
owner etc.) please let the professor know right away. Failure to disclose
preexisting relationships with the assigned company could be considered
academic misconduct.
Written component
1-Analysis
1)
Google the business by name.
1a.) Copy a
screenshot of what comes up, attach the screenshot to “Company Name Google
search results”.
1.b.) Assess the
quality of what comes up. What comes up
first? Is it their business? If not, what is it? What about the rest of the first page of the
results? Can you access their webpage
easily from the results? If they are not on the first page, how far down do you
have to go to get to their business?
Link each
relevant assessment component to a point on the screenshot. (maybe a, b, c,…).
This goes for the rest below.

2)
‘This type of business’ near me. If you have access to the neighbourhood where
the business is located, go to that area and google the type of business near
me. To do this you will have to figure out a search term or two (maybe
differing levels of specificity, e.g. restaurants near me, Japanese restaurants
near me).
Does the business come up?
2.a.) Search
term/s used
2.b.) Take a
screenshot of what comes up and
2.c.) Assess the
quality of the results for that business (do they appear, if so in what
position? If not, what comes up?)*. If their business comes up, great,
otherwise try to find their google profile (Google My
Business).
● Is the address correct? Is the phone number correct? Are the hours
listed?
● If applicable, are there links to delivery services (Skip the dishes
etc.)? Is there a link to their webpage?
Does the link work? If a restaurant, is there a link to their menu? If it is not a restaurant, what is the primary information
the business needs to present? Can you find it easily?
● Are there lots of questions and answers about the business (how
many? Are the responses positive?)? If there are, did the business answer the questions?
● Is there enough data to show “popular times? If so when are the most
popular times, according to google?
● How many google reviews do they have? What is their star rating? Did the business respond to the reviews?
2.d.) What are
the photos like (if any)? Assess the
quality in general. Specifically, assess the presence/quality of pictures of:
●
The outside
of the business (View from the street so people recognize it on approach) If
yes, are these google street view captures or proper photos of the outside of
the business (google street view is better than nothing but not great)?
●
The inside
of the business (too few, just right, too many) Do they give a good idea of
what it is like to go to this business? Do they have Google 360 photo (if not,
you would recommend it)?
●
The product
or service. Are they professional? Do they look appealing?
●
Customers.
Are they professional? Do they look appealing?
●
Employees.
Are they professional? Do they look appealing?
*NOTE: If you are not in Edmonton or going
to this particular neighbourhood would be difficult for you, simply state that
this aspect of the assessment was not doable for you, due to, for example, not
being located in Edmonton, no access to a car and business is far away, etc.).
You should be able to find the google listing another way.

3)
Their web page.
3.a.) How does the first page look? Do you think the first page
shows primary information that customers would
look for (menu or delivery/pickup for restaurant, booking system for hair
salon, etc.)? Can you see any buttons that link to the primary information? Is
the website mobile-friendly? Are there any
glitches? Is the address correct? Is the phone
number correctn(if the same as google profile do not call again)? Are the hours listed?
What are the photos
like (if any)? Assess the quality in
general. Specifically, assess the presence/quality of pictures of:
The outside of the business (View from the street so
people recognize it on approach) If yes, are these google street view
captures or proper photos of the outside of the business (google street
view is better than nothing but not great).
The inside of the business (too few, just right, too
many) Do they give a good idea of what it is like to go to this business
The product or service. Are they professional? Do
they look appealing?
Customers. Are they professional? Do they look
appealing?
Employees. Are they professional? Do they look appealing?

Are there any testimonials? If
so, do they sound appealing/credible?

Is there a booking system,
online store or any e-commerce elements (if applicable)? If so, are they
user-friendly? Do they present enough information, such as photos, price, etc.?

4) For their delivery/pickup service such as Skip the Dishes and Uber Eats (if
applicable):
Do they use a
delivery/pickup service? If so, how does it look like in each platform? How is
the rating?
Do they show photos on
the menu? Do they look appealing?
Is the address correct?
Is the phone number correct? Are the hours listed?

5)
For their Yelp page (and trip advisor page if
applicable):
Is the address correct? Is the phone number
correct? Are the hours listed? How many reviews do they have? What is their
star rating?
What are the photos like (if any). Assess the quality in general. Specifically,
assess the presence/quality of pictures of:
The outside of the business (View from the street so
people recognize it on approach) If yes, are these google street view
captures or proper photos of the outside of the business (google street
view is better than nothing but not great).
The inside of the business (to few, just right, too
many) Do they give a good idea of what it is like to go to this business
The product or service. Are they professional? Do
they look appealing?
Customers. Are they professional? Do they look
appealing?
Employees. Are they professional? Do they look appealing?

6)
Assess their presence on Social Media
Go to their social
media such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram (and any others you can
find).
What kind of social
media do they use? Do you think they use effective ones for their industry?
Would you say they have too many platforms, need more, or about right?
Do they have an
appealing profile? Do they show their photos/logo/any visual elements in the
profile (or ‘About’ page if applicable)? Is there a link to their website in
the profile?
What kind of content do
they post? Do the posts look appealing?
Do they post on a
regular basis? How often? Are the posts consistent with a unified brand both within the platform and across platforms?
If inconsistencies exist, what are they and how might they be better unified.
Provide examples if applicable.

7) Assess their overall online
branding:
What kind of branding
elements are visible (logo/main colour/font/etc.) in their online presence? If they have some, do
they look appealing? Are the elements consistent? If not, screen capture and
present ones that you think are inconsistent with their overall brand as
concrete examples.

2-Observation
Summary (bullet points)
Given all of the things you have written
above, what are the most important/relevant to your assessment of this
business? What are the 8-10 most important observations you have made about
this business. These observations are likely to form the basis for your in-class
presentation.

3-Recommendation
(Top 3)
Based on three of the important
observations above, make 3 specific recommendations about how to improve the
business’s online presence. Here you should try to identify a peer or aspirant
company that is doing it better (not necessarily perfectly though). Screenshot
that company’s web page/social media presence etc. for comparison. Try to find the best peer or aspirant
organization you can, given your recommendations. For many companies, this will be in the same
industry sector in Edmonton, but if you find a really great example from
another sector and/or region, that is fine too.
Just don’t pick an organization where the business would not have the
resources to match their effort.
Make sure you justify why you think these
are the 3 most pressing online concerns for the company.

Presentation
Using the
template provided by SBC, create 2 presentations for the 2 companies. These
template presentations may be used, in whole or in part, by SBC for client
pitch meetings. Upload these two
template-based presentations to the google form to be provided. Please try to
be less critical and more encouraging than you may have been in the google
form. After doing this, pick the one company that you think is most
interesting to share with the class.
Develop an engaging 6-8 minute talk to share with the class based on
these slides. For the in-class
presentation you may considerably diverge from the template, adding and
deleting as you wish. You can think of the in-class presentation as a pre-pitch
internal meeting of other consultants without the client present. You will want to practice this presentation
several times and adjust for length. The presentation should be engaging and
hold audience interest. Make sure you give the class an idea of the business’s
current situation, and what you think should be done to improve it. You may use
any software you like for the in-class presentation.

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