How important is it for agencies that offer Internet marketing services to have massive, content-rich corporate Websites? What role should these sites play? And are these sites even needed in the first place?
I throw these questions out there, without pretending to have all the answers, because I have never landed a piece of business directly from my own corporate Website, nor – frankly – do I expect to.
That’s because Kalixo gets all of its business through word-of-mouth and strategic partners. The role of the Kalixo Website is to serve as a sales support tool, giving prospects the opportunity to discretely (and quickly) check out our credentials.
Recognizing the irony at the heart of this, I wanted to share with One Degree readers my favourite agency Website of all time, before it’s too late.
Ladies and Gentlemen: My favourite agency Website is the one for Whatever Media, a boutique online agency run by (full disclosure) an old friend and colleague of mine, Chantal Payette.
Whatever Media has had the same corporate Website for at least five years, and – I can’t believe I’m saying this in public – there may be nothing wrong with that. Whatever Media’s Website is brilliant in its simplicity and honesty, and it hasn’t stopped the firm from getting lots of business over the years.
Oh, before I forget, you can visit “My Favourite Agency Website of All Time” here. ;+) (See update note below.)
Chantal told me recently that she was planning to finally launch a “real” Website for Whatever Media. I begged her to promise that she would maintain a link to the current version – for old time’s sake!
Do you have a favourite agency Website, large or small? Use the comment feature to share it with your fellow One Degree readers.
Update (November 17, 2005): Chantal has now launched her “real” Website. You can view an archived copy of “My Favourite Agency Website of All Time” here.
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Well I don’t think many can compete with that as far as simplicity goes. But hey if it works…
As far as I know I have never gotten a new customer from my web site. All my business is from referrals and word of mouth. But I do know some customers have visited my site just to make sure I have some idea what I am doing.
I think any potential customers will go HOMEPAGE>PORTFOLIO and that’s it. If you have those two things and a contact page you should be ok.
Now that’s a gutsy site. Before we finally launched the new iStudio.ca this year, I think I would’ve rathered to have something similar in place of the slightly embarrassing site we kept up for years without maintaining!
It would be nice to have better contact information though – info@ email addresses are the bane of my Internet existence. It’s nice to have a name, phone number and personal email to give the feel of legitimacy/humanity to an agency I know absolutely nothing about.
I’ve always been a fan of McMillan’s site (www.thinkmcmillan.com/), mostly for the “Our Personal Side” section.
Hi Bill,
I just read this and I did a Blog posting to respond:
Taking One Degree To Task… Again.
http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/000344.html
Most of my thoughts are there. I just think we do have a responsibility when we build websites to show that we get this space.
It’s not enough to build a site anymore – you have to build it so that you are primed for good rankings, easy to link to, smart for marketing and yes, even some sexy Flash to make the experience.
I also think you have to demonstrate that you’ve done it and lead by example. It’s not always easy but it can be done as simple and as smart as Whatever Media’s message.
What Mitch said. Yes 1,000 %
A good website can be your fishing line to attract the fish (potential clients) who have never heard of you before. To be visible on the Internet you’ve got to do the things Mitch said. The Internet is a very crowded place. It’s tough to be visible.
Of course any website may bring you clients. .. and there’s also word-of-mouth. You could even have a guy on the street with sandwich boards saying contact Whatever Media for a great website. However it’s a question of ROI.
One final thought is that you really need to be customer-centric rather than just aware of how great you are. I don’t feel welcomed by that website. I just feel they don’t care about me. 🙁
Brilliant… only an agency with a name like “whatevermedia” could get away with this.
My impulse… i *really* wanted to do something, anything, in all that delicious purple-ness… click where? The only option is the email address.
What better way to prompt people to get in touch and find out more? 10/10.