Success Through Strategy!

Strategy Matters delivers news, tips and strategies for effective communications through traditional and social media. 

How Does Your Web Site Stack Up?

The yin/yang of the 21st century marketplace is that consumers can find, and form impressions of, you online without ever having to encounter you either face-to-face or voice-to-voice. That can be a good thing if, through those encounters that you may never physically take part in, their impressions are positive.

 

It can be a very bad thing if they're not. And, sadly, you may never know the difference.

 

We were working with a client recently on a web site analysis. Through that process we:

  • Identify the key words/phrases that the client wishes to be known for (and found based on)
  • Identify their competitors
  • Analyze how organic search impacts a prospect's ability to find the client and their competitors
  • Analyze the "top of mind" impressions likely to be formed
    when the site (or social media profile) is found
The results are often striking. In this recent incidence, they were very much in our client's favor. Their site is clean, well organized, attractive to look at and easy to navigate. Their top competitor, by contrast, has a web site that looks like it was developed when the Internet first emerged. Cluttered, low-contrast color choices, unattractive and poor quality images, errors in content, etc., etc., etc.

  

That's not always the case. When it's not, your web site can work against you. If you don't have a good idea of how your web site stacks up against your competition--and how your prospects might perceive you in contrast to your competitors--it's important to take the time to find out. 

 

When your prospects go online to look for what you have to offer, what are they seeing? How does your web site stack up?

Word of Mouse! What Others Say May Be Hurting You...
 

It used to be that consumers shared opinions about products and services at the water cooler or over the backyard fence. While their word-of-mouth was (and is) valuable, the reach they could achieve in the "old days" was minimal. 

 

Today that's not the case. Although there is still plenty of old-fashioned word-of-mouth taking place in break rooms and backyards around the country, the power of technology has amped up the ability to spread messages-for good and ill! Marketers need to be taking steps to address both sides of this issue.

 

Consumer review sites are common these days from Amazon book reviews to Angie's List and Yelp! While some of these sites, and the posts they contain, have come under fire based on their veracity (or lack thereof), their power to influence still remains. 

 

Arguably more important than these managed review sites, though, are the grassroots comments being shared 24/7 by consumers through email, social media sites and communication channels like Google Hangouts and Skype. 

 

There's ample opportunity these days for consumers to hear about the latest and greatest new technology, new toy or new vacation destination spot--or to learn about the best doctors, dentists, consultants and other advisors. 

 

There's a flip side, of course. Not all comments shared are positive. How are you being impacted by "word of mouse"?  

 

Learn more here. 

The Yin/Yang of Finding (or Being) an Online Expert

 

We use ProfNet and HARO often, both when looking for sources and when hoping to gain exposure for our clients. Recently an editor shared a perspective that we've also held for quite some time now: "Be careful about the sources you find here; not all are legitimately experts." 

Whether you're seeking expertise, or hoping to position yourself as an expert--or both--there are some important lessons to be learned here:
  • While you may be able to fool some of the people some of the time, it's not likely that you will be able to fool the most important people much of the time at all. Discriminating prospects, savvy journalists and others are increasingly looking beyond the "smoke and mirrors" to dig into the backgrounds and credentials of those they will trust as consultants, sources and service providers.
  • If you truly are a legitimate expert, and have the background and credentials to prove it, but haven't been able to gain traction online, maybe what's been holding you back is the persona you are projecting. Compare your online presence to your competitors. What do you see? Better yet, seek a third party perspective on how you stack up. These days that online perspective is all your potential clients may ever know of you.
  • Build your credibility the old-fashioned way--earn it. I've been burned by both sources and service providers whose online presence reflected a higher level of expertise than they were able to deliver. I'm sure others have been too. The danger these "charlatans" face, though, is that if they're not able to back up the promise of their expertise through real action, word will spread. And, with the advent of online communications, it will spread quickly and far.
  • If you are looking for experts to providing consulting expertise, as sources or as potential partners, do your due diligence. Don't be overly enamored of a flashy online presence. Dig beneath the surface by conducting broader online searches, critically evaluating LinkedIn information (e.g. who are they connected to, who has provided recommendations and referrals, what evidence can you find of what they have actually done), and seeking recommendations and referrals.
  • Don't dismiss the value of the "old gatekeepers" when vetting someone's credibility. Academic and trade sources can still be a good way to discern expertise.

As with most things, the cycle of easy online expertise is swinging toward greater caution and discernment, we think, and for good reason.

 

Be careful out there!
We Invite You to Join Our LinkedIn Group!  
We recently launched a new LinkedIn group -  
 
Let's Get Strategic About Communications! that we're hoping will generate some good discussion and sharing of best practice insights among communication professionals. It's a closed group, meaning that we are carefully monitoring participation and limiting it to those who are committed to opening sharing information in a non-promotional manner.
 
We hope you'll join the conversation! 
Volume: 5 - Issue: 12
December, 2013
Strat Comm logo
In This Issue
How Does Your Web Site Stack Up?
Word of Mouse
Finding (or Being) an Online Expert
We're In the News! 





 
Research Matters
Some recent news and  research you may be interested in--we were!  
 


 Fast Company: 10 Surprising Social Media Statistics

(We're #27!)