Sell spoons for a living, eat soup with a fork (pt 2).

– Robert Kruger 25 June 2010

As I have mentioned before, we work with a lot of different creative agencies who offer internet-based services. Some limit their offering to web design only. Others are more focused in internet marketing. Some are full-service interactive agencies including design and implementation plus life-of-site services like SEO, online advertising, and marketing.

Your agency’s website is the perfect showcase for how you make websites that work. Here are a couple approaches to avoid:

• We want our site to be all Flash. I’m sure you’ve heard about the Steve Jobs interview with D8 where he said, “Flash looks like a technology that had its day but is really waning ….” Apple’s assessment of Flash’s declining importance is why the iPhone and now the iPad do not support Flash. With that kind of visionary guidance available, why do so many creative agencies still build their websites in Flash? The only answer I ever get to that question is, “It looks cool.” Well, let’s look at it another way. If you built townhomes for a living, would you build a single-family house as your model home? Of course not. Your customers want to see an example of what they are interested in buying. An agency’s website is a great place to show prospects an example of the work you would do for them. They want to know that you can provide content management, that sites you build can yield high SEO points, that your sites can integrate with email delivery systems including unique URLs/landing pages for each email recipient, etc. Most businesses don’t need a website that looks cool. They need a website with a polished look that also delivers customers. Your own website is the best place to show prospects that you understand their needs.

• Our site needs to be simple because we don’t have time to update content. Like yesterday's point about minimal copy, this point is also Google-related. Google prefers a site that has new content every time the Google spiders re-index it. You (and everyone else, including your prospects) needs a website with meaningful copy on a lot of pages. As many pages as you can conceive of. With a good CMS system, updating content can have very little impact on your internal resources.

If you are thinking about overhauling your agency’s website, pattern your work after the interactive work you want to sell.

Talk to us before you start to rework your website. Let us show you how working with our process in Dialogs can make your life easier.