Describe Your Website
Is it a Time Capsule or a Hoarding Clutter?
Co-Authored with Rana Severs, Founder of Markind Solutions
https://www.markindsolutions.com/
As a solopreneur, I crave opportunities for collaboration with aligned colleagues and peers. This week’s blog topic is a perfect opportunity for co-authoring, and there is no better collaborator on this subject than Rana Severs, Founder of Markind Solutions.
What the pandemic has exposed is a greater demand for a repetitive, dynamic, and brand unique online presence represented on professional social media platforms (at a minimum) and especially with the organization’s website. To comply with social distancing and personal safety, traditional networking activities have been cancelled. During the pandemic, our online presence has fundamentally become the most utilized manner for a company to garner awareness and provide status updates.
However, the challenge that occurs is that even though the internet is now almost 30 years old, most companies still have no strategy when it comes to their websites. A corporation’s website is an important tool in their sales toolkit, and as such, it should be a welcoming, active space that showcases what the company does and why they do it.
Unfortunately, our assessment is that most companies’ website strategies fit into one of two undesirable categories:
One and Done
This time capsule philosophy is such that the company realizes the need for a website and invests resources to it. However, once it’s up, it’s up and there is no routine maintenance to garner repeat attraction/visits to the site. We have observed that websites are like cars. They immediately depreciate once you drive them off the dealership lot.
More is More
Some websites have become a dumping ground, cluttered with too much information such that they are difficult to navigate and derive the information needed. You know those sites. The creators could use an intervention from the folks at the Hoarders reality show.
The solution to the first of these challenges is to create a website that has some ever-changing components to it so that it continues to drive traffic.
Whether it’s a blog/vlog area of the site, press room, upcoming events, feature completed projects, etc., some area of your website needs to be dynamically changing to encourage repeat visitors. Tying a digital marketing program which includes email mailers and social media to those updates of the site will continue to keep it fresh.
A marketing strategy called breadcrumb navigation uses links to tie similar information in different areas together and help users get to the information they need faster. This entices users to hang out on the site longer.
Watch Out
The watch out to all this data becomes the second challenge. As the website grows, it’s important to keep it user friendly. It is imperative to understand who your target audience is and what information is most interesting to them. An analytics tool like Google Analytics will provide this information. Organize the website menu to keep audience favorites within easy reach. If the website contains a lot of information, choose a menu layout that will categorize the information intuitively. Consider using a menu that fully opens so users can review all the sections of the website in a table of contents format. If the user is forced to spend more than a minute or two locating what they need on your site, they probably won’t.
Leave no audience member behind.
One of the greatest benefits of smart devices is that it allows the user to customize their experience with accessibility options for the visually impaired. Modern websites are incorporating accessibility options such as dark mode, font increase, and even a website’s design layout to enhance the viewing experience of their audiences. More and more websites also have multi-lingual options.
If it is good for them it is good for you.
Finally, your website should have the most current information about your company, so it’s a given that it should also serve as a sales tool for you. Help your clients with solid, reliable information that they can refer to 24/7 by sending them a link from your website to information they are seeking. Additionally, pull up a page of your site in a virtual meeting to add value to the conversation. This demonstrates that your company is well organized, and that you are armed with the tools you need to help your clients meet their goals.
As you can tell, Rana and I share many of the same philosophies both professionally and personally. We have often joked that she is the carrots to my peas and vice versa (a throwback reference to Forest Gump), but that’s another blog post entirely…
We write this not in judgment, but from an observation and education perspective. Even our own websites need a refresh now and then. Otherwise, we are living out the mantra that the cobbler’s kids have no shoes!
If we may be a resource to discuss your online corporate presence, please contact us at dlandry@authentzity.com or rsevers@markindsolutions.com.
