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Who
Stepped In It
Old Information Hurts Corporate Image: Many businesses and non-profits think if they put a website on the Internet their work is done and the world has what it needs. Actually, that kind of thinking makes it easier for the rest of us to excel at public relations and marketing, but I'll address it anyway.
If you pull into a gas station that looks like it hasn't had a customer in two years and is still advertising events that happened three years ago, chances are your instincts will kick in and you'll take your business to someone you can trust. Someone who appears to be on the ball.
That's the same way your website design works. If your site is dated because of its content, potential customers will pass through quickly on their way to the next stop -- which is only a click away.
For example, if a Memphis citizen was looking to join a service organization, he or she would come across the East Memphis Kiwanis Club's website. That's a good thing. However, as the reader perused the homepage he'd see the prominently placed "Club Announcements" of June 19, 2006 and April 23, 2006. If that didn't scare him off, he'd find other pages highlighting events from 2004 and 2005. The club is still active, but the site has not been updated for years. That's a bad thing.
If the person moves to another Kiwanis website and finds the same situation, the entire corporate image comes into question. All of a sudden having something great (a website), turns into something harmful to the bottom line. If an organization is this far behind in its public relations, marketing and Web site design, it must be behind in other things too.
Some PR tools to fix this include:
- Remove all dates and make the site look generic and present. At least that will soften the impression that your organization is stagnant.
- Run a ticker that scrolls onto your homepage and relates to your product, service, issue or cause, and update it weekly.
- Place a live time stamp on your homepage.
- Have a section on the homepage where you list something by date to give readers a feel of immediacy - - speaking engagements, product launches, key dates, upcoming events, and more. In a world where information is moving quicker than ever before, if someone feels your site is out of touch, they're moving on. "Adios" is a popular term among web users.
- If you redesign your website, make sure you redirect or update old pages that have been referenced by major search engines. Otherwise, web users will pull up pages from three years ago and you'll look dated. Old business lives forever on the Internet unless it's taken care of.
Websites are important PR tools for successful marketing. They need constant upkeep and attention. If someone with minimum public relations and marketing experience is in charge of updating your website -- have them search the web for some PR tips so your business and organization can stay ahead of the pack.
When a potential customer clicks on your website, does the homepage information create a sense of immediacy and being on the ball?
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