PR Perspective: Websites as Personal Assistants

by Jane Baxter Lynn, Principal

JBL Public Relations Strategies

jbl@jblprstrategies.com

In March this year, Ann Wylie, president, Wylie Communications, brought you perspective on "What World-class Websites Do That Yours Doesn't Do?" She gave you six techniques for good online communications: be comprehensive; make your site searchable; get the word out fast; make it interactive; give them only what they want (in reference to e-zines); apply media richness (podcasts, virtual tours and so forth), and look at other sites to get ideas on how your site could be presented.

In this month's Perspective we're going to focus on the role of a website as a personal assistant, not only as an important marketing tool. Most companies, organizations and independent operators these days understand that they have to have a website if they are going to be competitive. However, many of them do not recognize that their website can be a valuable, cost-effective employee.

With PR and communications departments being so small these days, developing a website to address as many of the issues that people are likely to want to know about and keeping it current, adds a 'person' to the team. Then it's just a question of promoting the URL in everything and very soon your site becomes the place to go.

At the Long Island Wine Council, we had a perfect example of how websites can be invaluable assistants. As the first executive director, I was chief cook and bottlewasher, developing the strategy, running the business and doing all the work too. At the beginning we couldn't afford an assistant and I realized very quickly that I needed help so I turned to the Council's website. The existing one was pretty but very limited in terms of content and unique visits were extremely low. Within a year after we turned it, at relatively low cost, into a practical tool, with our own administration capability, and included the URL in all marketing and communications activities, unique visits had increased over 300%. They have continued to grow year after year ever since. After three years, once we were sure what we needed and could afford it, we undertook a complete redesign to the look they have today www.liwines.com. In addition the architecture, as my web designer called it, could no longer handle the ever growing demands we had on the site as our assistant.

There is no excuse today not to have a website if you're in any kind of business. Even the technically challenged like myself can present a clean, professional, if somewhat simple website, by following the instructions on a host server like Network Solutions. Once you're absolutely sure of your key messages and what you want the site to do for you, then you can consider hiring a professional web designer to create a new site with more of the bells and whistles.

A colleague of mine is a top flight travel journalist. As an expert in her field she is available for interviews on radio and television, she does media tours on behalf of clients and writes special travel supplements for some major national newspapers, among other things. However, she does not have a website to which the media or travel companies can turn when looking for travel spokespeople. Unless you know her name she does not come up in a search for travel spokesperson. Most of her work comes through referrals, which is great but not very good in terms of developing new business. As a sole operator, she needs an assistant, someone (or something) that is going to make her look good, provide the relevant information and enable potential clients or media to contact her. This would free her up to be out there doing the actual work. At very little cost, a website can be that assistant for her. She can even provide examples of her articles, clips from her television and radio appearances, and have a link to her blog.

Check list:

1. Obtain a relevant domain name:
   
   • If you don't already have one, secure a domain name relevant to your business. That might be your name if you're an independent operator or the name of your company or service. There are people out there who make a business of buying up domain names and then selling them back to the people who have the right to them. If you can, avoid doing business with them but, if you have to, as long as the price isn't outrageous, it will be worth the investment in the end.
   • Stay on top of renewal dates too. If you think you're going to be in business for a while and can afford it, secure the name for a reasonable period of time, rather than running the risk of losing it if you forget to renew it after a year.
   • You might also want to consider buying a couple of different versions of the domain name and then having them automatically link to the main one.
2. Keep your website current:
   Once you have your domain name and have either built your own website or had a designer build one for you, the most important action of all is to keep your website current - didn't you love that quote in Ann Wylie's article from John Gerstner, ceo of IntranetInsider.com "What do you call a website that never changes? A cobweb!". That is so true. An outdated website can be the kiss of death if someone is looking to hire you. Make sure no matter how simple it is that you keep it current and that your website host removes old versions from out there in cyber-space.
3. Obtain administrative control:
   The best way to keep your site up to date without it costing a lot of money is to ensure that you have day-to-day administrative control (you will have if you built it yourself). This applies whatever the size of your business. By having your own administration you or one of your staff can update news, contacts etc. on a regular basis, quickly and easily, without having to go to the web designer or host for every word change, which both slows the update process down and costs money. There is usually a minimum change fee, regardless of whether you have a sentence updated or change a whole section. Major design changes should still be done by professionals, and, unless your company has a dedicated IT department, the host server should also be an outside agency. The professionals can be responsible for design, technological construction and key words, placement on search engines etc.
4. Submit list of key words:
   Provide a comprehensive list of key words for submission to the various search engines so that your site comes up when people are looking for your type of company or business. Think this one through carefully so that you don't only include the most obvious ones.
5. Standardize your messages and information in all PR & marketing materials:
   Ensure that the information on the website is the same as that in any other marketing materials such as your media fact sheet and vice versa - if you update one, make sure you update the other. This will give a consistent content and look, which adds professional credibility to your site.
6. Address day to day questions:
   Develop a Frequent Questions (FAQ) section and build it so that it answers every relevant question you've been asked about your business. What that does is reduce the number of ad-hoc inquiries you receive and increases the likelihood of 'qualified' contacts you get. The other alternative is to build the answers into your website text, particularly if you're an independent operator who only has to answer a limited number of questions.
7. Make your website a One-stop tool:
   For the relatively small amount of money involved, it is worth making your website as user friendly and interactive as possible. As Ann suggested consider if you should add a video excerpt, a podcast, contests etc. Even the simplest site can have some degree of interaction. We're currently working with one of my clients, the Auburn Symphony Orchestra (ASO) to make their website www.auburnsymphony.org more of a personal assistant to the volunteer Board. ASO is a fully professional orchestra, comprised mainly of musicians from the Pacific Northwest Ballet orchestra. In addition to having no staff, one of their challenges is that, because they play in what is regarded as a regional city, people assume it is a local amateur orchestra. As part of our efforts to address this perception and increase audiences, we have completely revamped their website and are working on providing sound bytes of previous concerts for people to listen to, an e-mail capability, and an ability to purchase tickets online.
8. Actively promote the URL:
   Include the website URL in all marketing and communications materials and activities. This could be with your return address on an envelope e.g. JBL Public Relations Strategies www.jblprstrategies.com, 365 Prospect Street, Seattle, WA 98109, or in advertising, press releases or when pitching a story to the media. I have found that if you ask nicely, nine times out of ten a journalist will agree to include your URL for further information in a story they are doing, if they are permitted to do so by their publisher or network. This was key to our success story at the Long Island Wine Council.
9. Consider adding an intranet:
   Depending on the size on your organization, the next step is to consider adding an intranet for your internal audiences such as employees, franchisees, supply partners or members. This can save a lot of time and, in most cases, improves the level of communication with them. Be careful though not to assume that everyone will use it. Maybe in a few decades time (and by then technology will have changed again!) but today you will still need to use some form of traditional communications tools as well.