Website strategy
Defining online presence
Before starting the process of creating an official Airbus website independent of airbus.com, it is important to be familiar with the following elements of an effective online presence.
Website
A set of related, publicly accessible web pages that are organised under a single domain name. Web pages can include a wide variety of content, including images, video, text and more.
Domain name
A domain name is your website name and address, and where Internet users can access your online presence. It also is used for finding and identifying computers on the Internet. Example: www.airbus.com
Subdomain name
A subdomain is an additional part to your main domain name. Subdomains are created to organize and navigate to different sections of your website. You can create multiple subdomains on your main domain. Example: skywise.airbus.com
Vanity URL
A descriptive, memorable and pronounceable URL usually used to redirect URLs from one location to another. The simplest explanation is that a vanity URL is a long URL that has been converted into a customized short link. Example: https://www.airbus.com/a320neo.html
Application (app)
Digital publication apps are software applications used to deliver branded content and business communication. Accessible from any device with an internet connection after download from an app store. Apps can vary in their specific purposes and executions. Typically designed to present a look and style consistent with the identity of a brand.
Social media
Separate description and guidelines are available in the Social Media guidline
The rule
It is mandatory that all of Airbus’ online content is hosted under the central website: www.airbus.com. Exceptions are made on a case-by-case basis.
The benefits of your content being on airbus.com
There are a wide range of advantages for having a website that is part of airbus.com
These are:
- Associated brand value
- Large audience: 38M page views and 16M visitors a year
- Online coherence (We are one)
- Search Engine Optimization
- Constantly optimised User Interface
- Responsiveness
- Accessibility
- Inbuilt security of the platform
- Maintenance and costs is taken care of
- Frequent site revision and evolutions
- GDPR compliance (CNIL)
- e-reputation management
- There’s also the possibility to go straight to your page using a vanity url
Criteria to be considered for an official Airbus website independent of airbus.com
If you still wish to establish an official Airbus website independent from airbus.com, the following information needs to be consolidated for assessment:
- Goal of the website
- Target audience(s)
- The need for specific engagement away from the main website
- Key messages
- Landscape analysis of competitors’ digital presence
- Nomination of an appointed focal point/person in charge for the website – A Full time employee
- Details of permanent Internal resources for website maintenance
- Available marketing materials
- Budget for new content creation
- Budget for the promotion of the new website
- Run mode view e.g. volume of expected new content, frequency of updates & content quality control process
- Editorial calendar
- Domain name (to ask and be granted one from the brand centre)
Request and review process for granting an independent website outside of airbus.com
The following steps constitutes the request, review and if successful, the validation process for an official Airbus website.
- Fill the request form available on the Brand Centre website: https://brand.airbus.com/brand-guidelines/websites-and-domain-names/request-form.html
- A review team made up of representatives from the Digital Communications Team + Branding Team, will evaluate if the request needs further investigation.
- If yes, a list of elements will be sent to the requestor for them to collect answers. In parallel, a meeting will be organised to address those elements.
- The requestor will be asked to fill-in an additional form with more details. This form will be sent to the requestor by email.
- The review team will then evaluate and decide on an outcome. Timing for decision will be about 3 business weeks after submission of follow-up form.
Guidelines to adhere to upon being granted an independent website
All independent websites will need to be part of the Webfactory.
Benefits of the Webfactory:
- Pre-configured platform
- Built-in user management
- Designs & template in-line with company branding
- Ready-to-use web components
- Integrated search engine
- Comprehensive analytics
- Search engine optimized
- Secured platform
- Optimized for World-wide delivery
You will in addition need to adhere to the following content guidelines:
- Editorial style & tonality: check on guideline in hub (link)
- Avoid duplicating the content from airbus.com
- Once the website is live, the Digital Communications Web Team will be available to advise on the latest web best practices