Go to your agency’s Web site and look at the home page. Put yourself in the mind of a random person who doesn’t know your agency from any other. Now look at the page and ask yourself, “What is it they want me to do?”
If you can’t answer that question immediately, your Web site needs work.
Most agency Web sites were originally created in the late 90s as a response to the growth of the Internet and search engines. Many people, including myself, said that an agency must have a Web site to create a presence on the Internet. In response, most agencies had a Web site created that was simply an electronic version of their printed agency brochure.
I would argue that even the term “agency Web site” needs to change. In today’s hyper-connected world, you need to create a strategy for your “online presence,” not just your “agency Web site.”
Your online presence will include a combination of multiple Web sites, an agency blog, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn presence for all producers and staff, a Twitter account for customer service, a YouTube channel for agency videos, Google Places for local search, and who knows what else in the next few years.
Although content is still what gets people to interact with you, it’s your ability to interact with customers and prospects via heightened functionality that kicks off the process of engagement — the new success metric. It’s not enough for your content to simply be there, flat and uninviting. It has to stand up and practically beg people to interact with it. Your Web site must be more Web app-like than browser-like.
What does this mean for your agency, you ask? Here are a few guidelines:
- Use blog software as the engine: Blog software, such as WordPress, essentially provides content management software with SEO, community, and syndication built in. I can think of very few instances where it wouldn’t make sense for an agency to use a tool like WordPress to run their entire Internet presence.
- Get feedback: People are getting used to sites that allow them to offer ratings and reviews. This type of functionality is easy to offer and can give social reassurance – if the reviews are good – to visitors considering your agency.
- Beef up your content: In terms of traffic, Google is the number-one search engine, but YouTube is number two. Adding video and audio content has become essential: visitors expect and consume it in ways that keep them on your site far longer than sites that feature only static text.
- Integrate Social Media: Adding Facebook “Like” buttons that allow visitors to share your content with their friends is an effective way of allowing Facebook visitors to interact with your site. Plug-ins (such as Sociable) make it very easy for people to share, subscribe, and bookmark content found on your Web pages.
Having an agency Web site just isn’t enough anymore. Creating a comprehensive strategy that integrates all aspects of your online presence will help you become more visible to prospects and retain clients.