David Meerman Scott, the author of the best-selling book The New Rules of Marketing, made a compelling case for the importance of a Web site as a marketing tool when he spoke at CUSTOM HOME’s Directions 07 conference in June. His message: When it comes to the Internet, “you are what you publish.”
The editors of CUSTOM HOME do a lot of the preliminary legwork for stories on our computers searching builder and architect Web sites. I can safely say that collectively we’ve checked out many hundreds of sites over the years. And, as you might expect, we’ve formed some opinions about what makes a good impression. So, in the interest of helping you polish your Web presence, I offer what we like and don’t like about your sites.
The best Web sites express the personality of the company both verbally and, more important, visually. We’re no different than your customers—we rely on what we see more than what we read or hear. A clean, well-designed Web site that is easy to navigate tells visitors more about the quality, design, and functionality of your homes than any claim you could ever make. A Web site is not an ad, it’s a package of information, and the way the site looks is important information.
Obviously, we’re looking for good projects that are well photographed because that’s what we need for stories in the magazine. But the quality of your projects won’t come through to us or to potential clients if the photos are amateur snapshots you took yourself. If you’re proud enough of a project to use it to market your company, have it photographed by a competent professional for maximum impact.
We—and your clients—are also looking for a story about your company, and a good site will tell us about the company’s values, history, and people. Senior editor Meghan Dreuding made the point that this is especially critical for custom builders because client trust is a bedrock issue for you. Use your site to tell visitors about the principles you run your business by, the kind of services you offer, the types of work you excel in (green, design/build, architect designed), your background, and who your staff is.
Here are a few things the editors agreed turn us off. We were unanimously down on sites with too much flash. If it takes too many minutes or clicks just to get into the site or to view the project portfolio, the site’s overdesigned. (Architects are much guiltier of this than are builders.) Also, we all look for the company’s address and phone number on the Web site, but those basics are often missing. Whether that’s by design or an oversight, it doesn’t send a good message.
In this new medium, the Web site itself is a message. Make sure yours is worthy of your good name.
Leslie Ensor
Editor
