10 Hard-To-Face Truths About Corporate Websites
Face it: You pretty much can’t have a serious business these days without having a website. I know that when I deal with new people, I always check their website (either one in the email/signature or backtracking the domain in the email); I expect just about everyone else to do the same. So, here are ten things to remember when looking at building a website for a larger business.
Large organisations do a lot right in the running of their websites. However, they also face some unique challenges that can lead to painful mistakes. Resolving these problems will involve accepting mistakes have been made, overcoming internal politics, and changing the way you control your brand. However, doing so will give you a significant competitive advantage and allow your web strategy to become more effective over the long term.
After the jump are previews of the ten points from Paul Boag. Pay special attention to #6 & #10.
- You need a separate web division. “In most organisations … the website is managed by either the marketing or IT department. However, this inevitably leads to a turf war and the site becoming the victim of internal politics.”
- Managing your website is a full time job. “Not only is the website often split between marketing and IT, it is also normally under resourced. Instead of having a dedicated web team, those responsible for the website are often expected to run it alongside their ‘day job’.”
- Periodic redesign is not enough. “Because corporate websites are under resourced they are often neglected for long periods of time. They slowly become out of date both in terms of content, design and technology.”
- Your site cannot appeal to everyone. “One of the first questions … is ‘who is your target audience?’ Too often [the reply] includes a long and detailed list of diverse people.”
- Your site is not all about you. “A surprising number of organisations choose to ignore their users entirely and build their websites entirely around an organisational perspective. This typically manifests itself in inappropriate design that caters to the managing directors personal preferences and content full of internal terminology and jargon.”
- Design by committee brings death. “The ultimate expression of a larger organisations approach to website management is the committee. A committee is formed to tackle the website because internal politics demand everybody has their say and all considerations are taken into account.
To say that all committees are a bad idea is naive and to suggest that a large corporate website could be developed without consultation is fanciful. However when it comes to design, committees are often the kiss of death.” - You’re not getting value from your web team. “Web designers are much more than pixel pushers. They have a wealth of knowledge about the web and how users interact with it. They also understand design techniques including grid systems, white space, colour theory and much more.”
- A CMS is not a silver bullet. “Many of the clients … with have amazingly unrealistic expectations about content management systems. Those without one think it will solve all of their content woes, while those who do have one moan about it because it hasn’t!”
- You have too much content. “Part of the problem with content maintenance on larger corporate websites is that there is too much content in the first place. Most of these sites have ‘evolved’ over years with more and more content being added. At no stage has anybody ever reviewed that content and asked what can be taken away.”
- You are wasting money on social networking. “Corporate twitter accounts and posting sales demonstrations to YouTube miss the essence of social networking.
Social networking is about people engaging with people. Individuals do not want to build relationships with brands or corporations. They want to talk with other people.
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