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July 27, 2009 By Leave a Comment

7 Habits of Highly Effective Websites

All websites are not created equal. At SpinWeb, we know this and take great care in crafting association and corporate websites that provide clear benefits to site visitors and assist our clients in meeting their marketing and communications objectives. So what makes an effective website?

1. Design. Good design matters. When prospective customers or members visit your website, they are making a snap judgment about your organization. I have lost count of how many times I have heard my friends say (when talking about an organization) “Have you seen their website? It looks terrible!” People notice your image. It matters and it makes an impression.

2. Content. Along with good design, quality content contributes to the impression your website visitors have of your organization. Not only should your content be grammatically-correct and well-written, but it should be current. If you are posting news items, blog entries, or time-oriented items, be sure that these areas are kept up-to-date. Otherwise, your organization looks stale. Consider hiring a content writer to ensure that your organization is presenting itself professionally.

3. Usability. Resist the temptation to cram everything on the home page. Instead, craft a logical navigation structure that allows your site visitors to progress through information in a way that makes sense to them. This can be done through a simple card sorting exercise or by consulting with your website design agency (who may use card sorting as part of their process).

4. Transaction-ready tools. Today’s websites must be far beyond the days of the “online brochure”. Site visitors today demand interactive tools that allow them to purchase items, register for events, get answers, communicate with others, pay bills, and acquire content. In order to be competitive, your website must provide these tools and process data in real time. These tools must also make it easy to capture information and process it for later communication so that you don’t lose touch with visitors. Don’t make visitors call to register, fill out a paper form, or wait three days for an answer. These activities must happen in a matter of minutes via your website.

5. Structural quality. Most people don’t ever see the code “under the hood” that makes up a website, but how that code is structured makes a difference in the user experience. Clean, well-crafted code will result in a website that loads quickly, is search-engine friendly, and is accessible to users with disabilities.

6. Social media integration. Today’s websites must integrate seamlessly into social media in order to have an effective presence. Be sure your press releases, blogs, events, and other content items include a “Share This” button to allow site visitors to easily share your content. Your website should also automatically post content to other networks to automate the distribution process (done via Ping.fm). After this, be sure your employees are re-posting and participating in the resulting conversations.

7. Search engine marketing. Where do people go to find information? You guessed it: Google. If you are not targeting topical keywords and aligning your website with these terms, you are missing a huge opportunity. Creating a well-structured website is one prerequisite, but your organization must also invest in a systematic search engine marketing strategy that targets your audience correctly and collects leads from the resulting traffic. Organic search marketing is the most effective but AdWords are also effective.

While not a comprehensive list, these are the minimum requirements for an effective website. Whether your organization is an association or a corporation, these guidelines will help maximize the effectiveness of your website.

Are there other habits that you would like to add? I would love to hear your comments.

Filed Under: Design, Marketing, Technology Tagged With: , , , , ,
July 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Use a System for Making Referrals

As a member of networking groups like BNI and Rainmakers, I have a strong commitment to producing quality referrals for members of my network. The “givers gain” philosophy is alive and well and I have seen it work wonders many times over for me and for my referral partners. Staying consistent is tough, however. It’s easy to get busy and distracted and therefore forget to make referrals or even miss opportunities that come up in daily interactions.

For this reason, I am careful to capture referral opportunities in my productivity system just like any other action. It doesn’t take much. All you need is a good todo list and capture mechanism. Personally, I use Things, because it the most GTD-like Mac application I have found and it syncs up with my iPhone. You can use a notepad, Jott, or anything that makes sense for you. The key is to capture opportunities as they occur and then process and actually make the referral later.

For example, let’s say I am talking with someone and learning more about his business and I find out that he is not happy with the way his IT is managed. This immediately prompts me to mention Scott Sells at Zing Technologies (a fantastic IT company, by the way!). It would be very tempting to just say “Scott is great, give him a call!” and maybe give him Scott’s phone number. However, I would want to take it a step further. I would capture an action that says “Do an email introduction between Scott Sells and Bob Smith. Bob is having virus problems on his server.” I might write this down on my todo list or call Jott to speak a note to myself. Now I can forget about it and go on about my day.

Later, when I am reviewing my todo list, I can look at this note and take the time to craft an articulate email introduction between Scott and Bob. I would start off talking about Scott’s credentials and why I trust him. Then, since I gave myself a specific need in the note, I could also write about a specific example in which Scott helped someone else with the exact same problem. I could send a link to Scott’s website. This personalizes the referral and makes it that much stronger.

By capturing referral opportunities as todo items like any other action, I ensure that I don’t miss opportunities to help my referral partners. It also gives me time to properly process and craft high-quality referrals because I am not rushed or distracted.

Whatever your system is, be sure you are using it to capture referral opportunities. Your network will thank you and your credibility and influence will increase.

Filed Under: Marketing, Productivity Tagged With: , , ,
July 1, 2009 By 6 Comments

Don’t Throw Your Business Card

I had a meeting with someone today and was turned off by a behavior that I sometimes see from people as they are networking. We had chatted for a few minutes and the conversation was progressing normally. When we got to the part where we exchange business cards, he pulled out his card and casually tossed it across the table to me. It was very dismissive and it gave me an unfavorable impression of him and his business. I thought to myself, “wow… he doesn’t think much of his business.”

In Japan, where improper business card etiquette can kill a business deal, they show respect for the process of exchanging business cards and take great care to give this ceremony the attention is deserves. I often wish we were quicker to show that kind of respect in this country.

Whether you think about it or not, how you treat your business card says a lot to other people. Your business card is part of your brand. At the same time, similar respect should be shown to the other person’s business card.

Take a cue from the Japanese and think about this next time you exchange business cards. How you treat it reflects how you represent your business. Don’t throw it.

Filed Under: Marketing Tagged With: ,