Is Your Site Stale, Part II: Things to Do

The Internet has transformed into an interesting playground. Various tools – or toys depending on how you look at it – have enabled people to generate creative streams of content. From the now widely accepted blog to increasingly popular tools such as YouTube, your web site is your canvas. So, what are some "brushes" to paint your canvas with? Below are the top five methods of freshness that we like to advocate to our clients.

The Blog is Your Friend

If someone told you in 2002 that you needed a blog, you’d probably think they were insane. Zoom forward six years and blogs are everywhere. Indeed, blogs are beginning to take over mainstream media. A blog is a great way to keep your web site from getting stale. It provides you with an avenue to keep content flowing on your site. However, there are many things to consider before starting a blog, which we’ll probably have to cover in another series of postings. For instance, what is the point of the blog? To inform prospects about what’s going on inside your organization? Or, maybe you want to be more progressive by giving tips and advice to your web visitors. The best way to get thinking about this is to look at other businesses similar to yours that already have blogs. See what they’re talking about and create a laundry list of potential topics for your new blog.

Capture it on Camera

Videos are the new up-and-coming area of the Internet. Just look at the YouTube craze. People want to see moving pictures and imagery. Videos are also a bit harder to do. You can do it on your own or you can invest a few hundred dollars into buying your own equipment. There are a multitude of services out there that let you post your video on the web and link to your site including YouTube and Vimeo. The content of your video is where you can get creative. You can do an inside profile of your company, interviewing various employees. Or, you can do video testimonials with clients. Take a look at the testimonial we did with the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas / Prince William County.

Time Sensitive Deals & Specials

Simple and fresh, posting time sensitive specials on your site also gives visitors an incentive to act. Post coupons, banners or text that offers a deal. And make sure you change them out when the time’s up. If effective, people will continue checking back on your site for the latest offerings.

A Media Room is Not Just for Fortune 500 Companies

A media room is a part of your web site that really holds a variety of fresh content. Some aspects of a media room include:

• Press Releases
• Events
• Image Galleries
• Articles and Awards
• Fact Sheet

While a media room is generally meant for the press, regular visitors will likely stop by as well. It’s a place where you can talk candidly about your company and display your accomplishments. Press releases are probably the most important to consider. Continue posting news about your organization. Your visitors want to know if your company is bursting with activity or just another stale chip from the bag. Check out MyMediaRoom, Cavendo’s own little media room tool.

Getting More Out of Your Most Valuable Asset – Your Clients!

Finally, another simple method of freshness is keeping your site current with client spotlights and testimonials. The benefit of this is two-fold. First, it keeps your site up-to-date and shows that your company is actually completing projects and doing things. Second, it gives prospects an obvious reason to consider using your company – you do good work! The hard part is getting the testimonial from clients. Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth. It’s not that they don’t want to give them – they’re just usually really busy. Send them a quick note or give them a call and ask for it. Make it easy for them by providing examples and guidelines.

There’s more to keeping your site fresh, so stay tuned. Hopefully, you now have at least some basic ideas for what it’s going to take to inject energy into your web site. Keep thinking about it. Write your ideas down. And pretty soon, you’ll be implementing them.