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THE CASE FOR A
BASIC CORPORATE PRESENCE
WEBSITE
The importance of a clean,
easy to navigate and informative website is about more
than mere aesthetics - it's about establishing
credibility in the eyes of your prospective
customers.
Please read
The Top 10 Marketing Mistakes Made by
IT Companies,
and specifically note the mistake regarding "Website
Betrayal."
If your website is
attractive and impressive, and actually scores points
for you, that's wonderful. But at a minimum it shouldn't
undermine you and convince site visitors that you're
"not for real" or simply "not credible."
If you are a web-based
business - e.g. such as an e-commerce site or SaaS
vendor - your website must be top-notch. That
goes without saying. However, if you are a
business where business transactions occur offline, and
your website's purpose is for basic market visibility,
to explain who you are and what you do, and how to
contact you - then you have a Basic Corporate Presence
Website.
Your website may be much
more than that, but it must at least be that.
The sample website
illustrated (right), shows the basic pages that a good
Basic Corporate Presence Website needs:
The Home Page is your
"shingle" - your online storefront to the world.
In a single glance it needs to tell your audience who
you are, what you do, and give them some idea that you
might actually be good at it.
One of the important website
statistics measured is a site's "Bounce Rate." This is a
tally of how many people hit your website and then
immediately leave - i.e. coming to the conclusion that
your site wasn't what they were looking for; or perhaps
it was, but what they saw convinced them to look
elsewhere. You want a low bounce rate.
The Products and/or
Services Page needs to convey quickly and accurately
what it is you have to offer.
You may have separate pages
for each product or service you offer, but there needs
to be a master "Index" somewhere that gives a good
high-level overview of your portfolio.
Your product or service
Portfolio may be supported by other documentation,
downloadable Data Sheets, White Papers, or other
Collaterals, as desired.
Your About Page needs
to answer a very important question: Why You?
If someone is visiting your
website at all, and you are a vendor of products and/or
services, then they are likely trying to understand what
you have to offer, if it appears to be applicable to
their needs, and lastly whether YOU are a credible
supplier of what they are looking for.
Your About page needs to
help answer that question. Once again, you are
making an argument for CREDIBILITY.
Be professional. Craft
your text like you're applying for a job (which you
are!). This isn't your personal blog to talk about
your pets, last vacation, etc. It's your company's
profile page intended to impress and to DIFFERENTIATE.
The question "Why You?" is
more than about, "Are you competent?" but also about
"Why you and not the guy down the street?" Why are you
different? Why are you better? Why are you
the right choice? Give your visitors good answers
to those questions.
Your Contact Page is
pretty self-explanatory.
How does someone interested
in doing business with you, or who even has a question,
contact you?
Obviously, give your email
contact info, phone numbers, fax - whatever someone
might require. If you have physical locations/offices,
give the addresses, directions, or even maps. Make
it easy for the prospect to find you if they need to do
so.
NOTE: Avoid "Contact Forms."
Everyone tends to use them, but most real people in the
real world HATE them. They are often used to avoid
spammers who screen-scrape email addresses, but that is
easily mitigated by using JPEG images of your contact
info.
Forms often don't allow
attachments, and are cumbersome. Many visitors "Bounce"
the second they see one - and you lose a prospect.
FYI - an email with a Subject Line and Body IS A FORM!
There are better ways of
collecting Personal Identifying Qualification
information without driving away your "nibbles on the
line."
Your News or PR or
Specials Page is all about Real-Time information
that is updated and changes regularly. This is in
contrast to static information that rarely, if ever,
changes.
As you learn more about
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to drive search
traffic to your site, you'll come to appreciate the
value of Press Releases, Articles, What's New Updates,
etc.
Also, in time, your regular
site visitors will be conditioned exactly where to look
to find out relevant new information.
These first five pages make
up your core Foundation of must-have website pages.
After that, your
Supplemental Pages are wide open. You could have a
Blog, Forum, detailed product categories and pages, a
Resource Center of helpful information, whatever.
That's up to you.
What's important to remember
is that it all needs to conform to achieving the
objective of establishing credibility, informing simply
and easily, and hopefully conveying a compelling
presentation that inspires your website visitors to want
to do business with you.
Back to Top
Home |
Does your website look as
bad as this one page?
Actual IT
Company in Australia's Home Page
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ELEMENTAL DISCUSSION
Where do you start with this
one? Text only, no graphics, no theme, no style, nothing
eye-catching or informative. Basically, ugly.
This isn't a website that
would convey credibility, trust, and a desire to do
business with this company.
HINT: If your website looks
like it was done by a child, or someone who didn't take
it seriously - what does that tell prospects about how
you do business and how they are likely to be treated? |
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Actual
JPE Active Client's Home Page - a Florida IT Company
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CASE STUDY:
ELEMENTAL DISCUSSION
(Cont.)
This Home Page (left) is
clean, Web 2.0 styled, concise and eye-catching.
It is organized with
familiar, comfortable conventions such as a thematic
header, body, and footer.
On the actual site, the
monitor is a Flash module that scrolls visitor-oriented
messaging.
Note that there's a HUMAN
pictured, smiling, welcoming, conveying a warm human
touch, not that of only impersonal technology. This is a
company that prides itself on personal customer service.
Consistent Header and
Navigation.
Navigation on all pages is
clear and simple, featuring Dynamic buttons and drop
down menus.
The Graphic Montage is
prominently features as the "centerpiece" of the page to
let visitors know at a glance that this vendor provides
the exact services they are seeking.
Note the clearly delineated
contrast between consumer-oriented services and business
services. |
