So you’ve got a company, and you’ve got a website.  Unless you’re a web-based company you probably hope that people will find your site either by advertising or search engines directing them to your site and that the site visit will lead to business for your company.  This describes the standard passive web site.  It sits there and waits for someone to visit it, hoping to help in the process if it can.

An active site offers something to visitors.  It doesn’t stay the same all the time and is updated to encourage regular visits.  It supplies information that may be helpful to visitors.  These updates don’t have to be drastic or even design changes.  Blogging, social media integration, photo galleries of projects that your company is involved in, or even links to stories from your industry create change and can help drive users back to your site for return visits.

Updating your site (if you even have the ability) in simple ways to provide tools, information or updates to your current or potential clients is a great way to turn your web site from a passive tool in your marketing, into an active one.  Having a site that is a destination as opposed to a stop-through can give your business a leg up in becoming the expert that your clients are looking for and the name that they will remember.

Over the last two months, millions of Americans were captivated by a sport that most of us hadn’t given a single thought to since a penalty kick 12 years ago.  The US Women’s soccer team began winning their games.  Winning wasn’t exactly unexpected, but how they won drew the attention of the American public unlike any women’s sport has ever done.  Capped by the last minute, short-handed goal against Brazil in the Quarter Finals, America was hooked and the US Women’s soccer team became “our girls.”  Twitter exploded setting a new record for tweets per second, and viewership grew exponentially for the teams next two games of the World Cup. 

Although the team didn’t bring home the cup, America was interested and Women’s soccer in America’s brief window of opportunity to take advantage had begun.  Three days later a record crowd showed up in Rochester New York for a Women’s Professional Soccer match that was supposed to involve several of the heroes of the World Cup team.  Only one problem, none of those players actually played in that game.

...Two weeks later most Americans can no longer name any of the members of that team.

When the right client or company hears about your organization, are you prepared for them to find you online?  Are you proud of what they will find there?  Or, by the time you get ready to take advantage of the new found notoriety have they moved on to the organization that was prepared?  Having a web presence that makes you easily found online and represents your company well, once found, can mean the difference in a new client or a new skeptic. 

Are you prepared to be found… or forgotten?

I am seeing more and more media outlets jump on the Twitter bandwagon in an attempt to utilize the latest web trend. However, while many see the obvious opportunity, few actually use it effectively.

Two local news stations here in Nashville are on Twitter: WSMV (an NBC affiliate) and WKRN (an ABC affiliate). Even though both stations utilize Twitter, the differentiation between the two is huge.

Station 01: WSMV

This station has 5,770 tweets at the time of this post. However, despite the high frequency, EVERY SINGLE tweet is a link back to an article on their website. No replies. No personality. No face to this station. WSMV is using Twitter for the sole purpose of pushing people to their website. Lame.

This strategy misses the sweet spot of Twitter: to participate in the conversation. For WSMV, it is merely a one-way conversation with self-centered objectives.

Station 02: WKRN

WKRN, on the other hand, gets what Twitter is all about. Despite less activity on the account (only 26 updates), each tweet is engaging the users. In addition, they have experimented with using reply tweets in their nightly broadcasts - brilliant.

Instead of taking advantage of Twitter like their counterpart, they are utilizing it to connect to the audience. They are joining in the conversation and engaging users, which is what social media is all about.

Additionally, they actively follow 90 other Twitter users (compared to the 0 users that WSMV follows).

Unfortunately, for whatever reason, the most recent tweet from WKRN was over three weeks ago. I hope they have not dismissed Twitter as a viable communication outlet. If they stick with it, they will find it to be rewarding to their station and their audience. Come on, WKRN - keep it up.

Follow WSMV on Twitter
Follow WKRN on Twitter

Any readers see other news organizations that utilize Twitter effectively?

Navigation should not be taken lightly since it is the most important interfacing utility on your website. Many times, people throw in whatever they think is important on the site. This is almost like going to the fridge and throwing together everything you like into one salad - it is just not effective and will probably leave a bad taste in your mouth.

1. Think

Navigation should be thought through carefully. When considering the top level navigation, it is usually better to cut out options than add them. Sit down with a pen and paper and map out each section and page that needs to be in the navigation (notice I did not say “that you want to be in the navigation”).

2. Prioritize

This fits hand-in-hand with the first tip. Determine the options in which your user will be most interested. What are the sections most used on your site? How do users flow through your site? Do they check one section first, then another? How can you arrange the navigation and options to improve the user experience?

3. Group

Try to group items into logical contexts. If it does not fit in the group, then it needs to go somewhere else. Many links live perfectly fine in the footer. Don’t think that every single section/link/page needs to be in the main navigation cascade.

4. Optimize

More times than not, the first stab at a navigation is not the most effective. Analyze your traffic flows and adjust accordingly. If you find that your users are not clicking on the “About Us” page, then it may be better to link to this page in the footer. You goal is to create the best navigation interface possible for the user. Give them what they need to make browsing the site most effective.

Video Link

Now that more and more people are jumping on Facebook these days, it is becoming increasingly difficult for professionals to separate their online business life from their online personal life. As the video clip above proves, the convergence of these segments in social media are starting to cause problems for professionals.

Which brings up a good question: Should your business life and personal life really be segregated?

Whatever you do in your free time is a reflection on you, right? You are you. Your actions on the weekend reflect on your 9-to-5 life and vis versa.

If you like to go out and party on the weekends, be ready to take responsibility for images that may be posted of you on Facebook. Be ready to have friends write things like “you were totally wasted last night” on your wall. These are reflections of you. You should not feel that you need to hide that, and if you do try to hide that, you are not being true to yourself.

Facebook has allowed anyone that you befriend to journey with you in your personal life. They are able to see where you go, follow what you do, and monitor who you hang out with. You are not able to separate these and exist effectively in the social media world.

The only way to keep embarrassing content from showing up on Facebook is to realize that your business life and your personal life is one. And people will respect you if you act accordingly. If you do not place yourself in potentially embarassing situtations, you have nothing to worry about. A little integrity can go a long way.

Itegrity in your personal life = interity in your business life.