A thriving corporate entity online should have an effective media relations presence in place in order to stand out and get traffic. If they have to click around or dig too long, they will invariably click away, thus a potential lost sale.
Often what will happen when a corporation is compiling their media kit or media relations pages, they will fail to consider the average, everyday “Joe” who will be visiting their site and not have any technical inclinations at all. Since highly technical gurus typically design and write site outlines, they write the site based on what works (for them) or what they feel is currently necessary. All that’s fine too…just make sure the audience understands it as well.
When I visit sites looking for their media relations efforts, I click on the links as if I know NOTHING about their custom deep links, SEO strategy or popular keywords. As a blogger, I know about these things of course, but I want to see what approach the company offers to the person who doesn’t have the benefit of this experience. And this would be accurate since the typical online trafficker really doesn’t concern themselves with these things. It’s important to have these things in place and available, but often companies will put too much time and focus on one area and neglect another component that is equally important.
For instance, I may perhaps as a blogger seek the link to their media press releases to get information about the company’s activities and future goals. But as a manager or administrator, I technically may not be familiar with where to find press cuttings, releases or news about the company. Should I be?
Does the responsibility fall on the company to provide a more clear cut direction to these things (in terms of very, very basic navigation), or does the responsibility fall on the person who is perusing the site, demanding that they hone their online technical skills, web grammar and understanding and be able to navigate the site without aid because they “understand it.”
Which do you think should prevail and why?
No matter how many people and businesses come online every day and no matter how “common” online communications, presence and activities may become, there will always, always be newbies to your site. Whether they are experienced or novices is not so important as how well they can navigate and maneuver themselves around your website. Therefore, it would stand that your site should be easy to read, easy to navigate, have common sense links and leave the reader with a feeling that he’d like to visit your site again. But by the same token…
Online businesses are changing daily at phenomenal rates. In order for corporate businesses to remain competitive and cutting-edge, they must change as the times change. This means new developments, new software
I am a freelance writer, blogger and professional motivational speaker. I primarily focus on business content, offering my clients strategic marketing strategies for their businesses. I have been an entrepreneur for over 13 years, after having worked extensively in corporate America.
