Web Works
by Bob Andelman

THERE ARE SOME AWFUL BUSINESS WEB SITES ON THE Internet. Everyone knows a few of them. You visit once, scratch your head because they lack useful information about the company, or are impossible to navigate. Many fail to indicate their telephone number or even what city they are in. You never visit them again and they never know you were there in the first place.

Businesses that run bad Web sites will never know how much potential business they have lost by coming across as Web amateurs. Businesses that run good Web sites, on the other hand, generate leads and real dollars.

As president of the Boston-based Web Marketing Association– producer for seven years of the WebAwards (www.webaward.org) and the Internet Advertising Competition (www.advertisingcompetition.org), which debuted in 2003 – William Rice has seen the good, the bad and the coyote ugly, Web sites so nasty surfers yearn to cut the cord on their Internet connection.

“In Corporate America today,” Rice says, “you need a presence on the Internet no matter what your business is.”

Evaluating the quality and usability of your own site isn’t that hard. Rice recommends applying the following standards:

To illustrate the notion that it is possible to generate commerce from quality Web sites, we asked four bay area site developers to each recommend two outstanding business sites, one they designed, one someone else designed. (We confirmed their success by spot-checking with a few clients.) Here are their thoughts.

GRAVITYFREE.COM

“The challenge with flowers sales is customer retention. This site has unique tools for that. It includes a program so that when you order flowers, you get points for free stuff. We also have a ‘Win a Dozen Flowers’ contest. Anybody who registers is entered. ‘Lucky Stems’ is a program that when you receive flowers from Beneva, you get a number to enter at the Web site and you can win stuff. An express checkout allows customers to type in their user name and password and the computer already has their ordering details, which speeds up the process. The site has a complete customer service piece; it is basically a flower store in a box. Customers can enter birthdays and anniversaries that then generate e-mail reminders. That’s a popular tool. We partnered with Beneva and now we’re jointly selling this application to other florists.”

Arthur Conforti is the president of Beneva Flowers (Sarasota), which he says is now the sixth-largest florist in the United States: “These guys at GravityFree – it’s amazing we found them right here in Florida. You usually find either a tech guy who doesn’t have an imagination or wonderful creative people whose sites don’t work for commerce. There is nothing yet that I’ve asked GravityFree for that they haven’t been able to produce. The site definitely paid for itself.”

Villares recommends www.flausa.com
“This site has good content; the information architecture is good. I look at this site and go, ‘Wow, I wish we did this.’ It has a ‘My Trip Planner’ where you can plan your trip to Florida and ‘Hot Deals’ that let you check out specials at hotels. It’s like a Florida search engine. It also offers the entire site in French, German, Japanese, Spanish and Portuguese, which is pretty amazing.”

>>Ask The Experts

“How does a business generate best results from its Web site?” Jeff Reid Web sites are generally only part of the marketing mix for most businesses. Your online presence should help people obtain basic information, ‘window shop’ your products/services and (ideally) be persuaded to buy. Don’t expect your Web site to significantly decrease the need for effective salespeople, good inbound call management or consistent, compelling advertising. Your Web site should communicate in succinct, plain English: Who your company is and what you do. How/where/when to buy your products/services and contact you. Key benefits, points of difference and proof statements (testimonials are great). People also appreciate maps, pricing, promotions, product specs, guarantees and staff pictures. Stick with simple layouts, gentle colors, limited graphics and fast-loading pages. Your Web address (URL) should be easy to recall (12 characters or less). Help people find you online. Paste your URL on every ad, sign, package, printed piece and company vehicle. Also consider search engine optimization, which can help your Web site score higher in online search results. You can also ‘pay for position’ in search engines. Google.com, for example, offers a simple program. Realistically, your online investment should support core business functions, not replace them. Jeff Reid Growth Power Consulting Tampa, FL www.GrowthPower.com

COMPUTER LEARNING CENTER
“This site (West Pasco Board of Realtors) eliminated a monthly printed newsletter. The public can access the site, but it’s most useful for members who can see exclusive features. The clients don’t have to know anything about Web design. The site has a program that automatically decides what photos need to be uploaded to the Web based on the articles the board adds to its database. I also gave them the ability to sell ads online. The next big thing will be paying dues online; that will really save some time and money.”

Don Hale is the technical director and a past president of the West Pasco Board of Realtors: “Thom has done a nice job for us. The Web site is updated daily. We put our contracts there, as well as property descriptions and mapping. Now it provides links to our MLS for our members. The newsletter savings alone paid for the Web site the first year.”

Boglino recommends taxcollector.pascogov.com “It’s simple. Really. A lot of sites are confusing. Some site developers put their emphasis on what they’re capable of and lose sight of what its purpose is. This site looks like the developer was interested in satisfying the public. There are simple hyperlinks; nothing that requires downloads. I’m reassured by using this Web site that I’m getting accurate information. It’s excellent.”

SK MEDIA SOLUTIONS
“CrossLink Powder (Clearwater) has an environmentally friendly powder coating that has taken off for them. They came to me with a logo and a bad color scheme. I told them how a site could work for them and give a professional look. Most people think they need a storefront to sell their products, or that they need a big database costing tens of thousands of dollars and requiring daily upgrades. That’s not what most small companies need. I’m into a minimalist thing. Get past the flashy look and right to the content. That’s where the usability research is going. Relevant content, content that updates. It’s a reason to come back.” Karabenick recommends www.stehlikphotography.com “This is a good example of minimalist design. There’s an elegance in minimalism if you do it right. Everything is right there. This site is more about the content and getting to the meat of what you want to tell people about the business.”

SITE DYNAMICS
“The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wanted people to come online and select their seats at Raymond James Stadium – and be able to see the view of the field from their seats – renew their seats, get on the waiting list. They also wanted suite owners to be able to go online and order their game-day menus and put in special requests. They wanted fans, no matter where they were in the world, to go to this site first for team news. The team makes coaches and players available to Scott Smith, their Internet manager, literally before anyone else gets the information. At their ‘Game Day’ site, Scott writes a play-by-play narrative from the press box and posts pictures from the field in real time. They receive a lot of mail from servicemen stationed around the world whose only way of following the team is online.”

Duper recommends www.techdata.com “The Tech Data Web site is fully integrated into its business model. Very clean, very corporate looking. It’s a highly topical site. The volume of information presented here is impressive. It’s structured so you can search Tech Data worldwide and go to country-specific information. This is a company that gets the Internet and is clearly at home in the online world. The same feeling I get with Amazon.com is the feeling I get here.”