Your Website: How to Click With Your Audience

A few more (see July 16 blog – Communications that Click) quick points to think about BEFORE you create a website

Let’s start with the bottom line:
MAKE YOUR SITE A WIN-WIN: Your website must have mutual benefits to both the end-users and your company. You BOTH must benefit. Most sites favor the company, not the potential customer. Don’t be one of them.

TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMER BEFORE YOU BUILD: Find out what’s important to them – what do THEY want to see on your site? Trust me, no one wants to see your Mission Statement.
And while you’re listening and building, keep these points in mind:
• Your website is often the first and possibly the only contact a customer has with your company
• People “see” your website before they read it. Make the design simple and appealing
• Keep the look and feel of your site consistent on site and with your offline corporate ID
• Minimum information segments are: About Us, What We Offer and Contact Us.
• Engage the visitor with more than marketing speak (just talking about yourself). What are you doing for them from their point of view?
• Know what your competitors are doing online – which competitor sites work and which don’t
• Define your criteria for success before you develop the site. That might be helpful if you’re looking for a return on your investment
• Check the search engine placement of your site – monthly

Here are some examples of websites that do it right (they are not all “pretty” but they are extremely effective):
google.com
weather.com
monster.com
thomasregister.com
lsc.org
Email me ([email protected]) for another outstanding site that I cannot post publicly.

Sandra Holtzman teaches CEO 035: Licensing.