If you’re reviewing your own site—or working on one for a client—I encourage you to consider the following points.
1. Take your eyes off your competitors and put them where they belong: on your customers
Sure, you should take a glance at your competitors (hopefully, a backward one) from time to time. But too many enterprises initiate their Web efforts by reviewing their competitors’ sites.
Without critical information about how well these sites perform, how can you know what’s worth retaining or rejecting? Worse, competitor sites can be downright misleading. Too often, I’ve seen people reject exciting, potentially lucrative new ideas precisely because “no one else is doing it.” Well, maybe that means it’s a foolish idea. But maybe it means you can seize an opportunity others have overlooked.
The only way to know, or to make a reasonable guess, is to look at your customers—and I mean closely. How do they shop? How do they conduct research? What information do they need before they’ll act, or even show interest? Which authorities do they trust? What encourages confidence and trust? Where do they “live,” not just in flesh-life (hangouts, associations, communities) but in virtual-life? What media, traditional and online, do they read? Which bloggers do they follow? And where do they like to gather online (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)?
2. Your Web presence is much bigger than just your website
The truth is, your site isn’t the only resource your prospects have for investigating your products or services. People are talking—on blogs, on forums, on online media sites, on open community forums and “closed” proprietary sites (often built around industries or interests). What’s said there is every bit as important, perhaps more important, that what’s expressed on your own site.
You can choose to ignore those alternative locations (and judging by most sites, that’s what many companies do), but your customers do not.
How will you manage those other sources? Will you monitor, listen and, when appropriate, respond? How will your site relate to those other sources? Can you develop content that can be spread and shared across the Web? Are there opportunities to encourage links back to your site? Will you cultivate relationships, among communities and with key thought leaders, that can stimulate more interest in your business?
When you keep the big picture in mind, then it makes sense to think of your site not as an island on the Web but as a crossroads where important connections can be made and sustained.
3. What’s the underlying business model?
Turning your corporate capabilities brochure into a Web site is not a business model; it’s merely the illusion of having an online presence when, in fact, all you’ve created is a reason for potential visitors to ignore you.
Instead, you should think of your site primarily in terms of not what you want to say but what you want visitors to do.
