Time to reuisit your website

By Calvin Froedge Creative Losic Media

\ZOUR heart sinks. How is what |. you're looking at still your website?

Maybe you haven't had time to update things in a while. Maybe you had a guy who was working on it, but he's moved on to other things. Maybe it just always seemed unnecessary; you've got a lot more important things to do, right?

For whatever reason, many lumber and building material dealers, distributors and manufacturers have decided to leave their company website on the backburner. Need a few reasons to move your site up the priority list?

You're giving promising sales prospects a reason to be hesitant about doing business with your company. You wouldn't hand someone a coffee-soaked business card on floppy card stock, would you? Your website may not be the reason you make the sale, but do you want it to be among the reasons you lost it? The standard to which your website must rise to is debatable, but there are some rules that you simply must follow: tent practices your website must now follow in order to meet accessibility, spam and privacy standards. Disabilities rights advocates are actively filing lawsuits against websites that do not meet standards, and the rules are becoming strict with government, credit card processors, and insurance companies about what you can and can't say on your website. What should be your top legal priorities?

All company information must be up to date. If you put your website up five years ago and you haven't updated it since. your customers are seeing a five-year-old brochure.

Put pictures of your products online. There is no reason you can't give your prospects an easy way to learn more about you and your offerings at their convenience.

Don't use animated .gifs or brightly colored backgrounds. If you can't read the text on your website without straining your eyes, you need to make some changes.

. Code using XHTML/CSS. Not only does this reduce load time and bandwidth usage and increase search engine visibility, but it also ensures your content will be more readable on mobile devices.

. Make sure your website renders properly in multiple browsers. Some methods of creating websites work in Internet Explorer, but not in Firefox, a popular browser that nearly 40Vo of all Internet users now browse with, and vice versa.

Your website should be coded using accessible XHTML/CSS. Many websites built even two to three years ago still use a coding method called tables, which is difficult for users with devices called screen readers to utilize, as well as being bad general practice. XHTML/CSS allows you to insert special tags to help disabled users navigate more easily.

Your website claims should be closely evaluated, and you should check with your insurer and lawyer to make sure you aren't at risk. Anything you put in print is legally binding and could be grounds for lawsuit or loss of insurance coverage.

You should offer a privacy policy and an opt-out (a way of letting users tell you they would no longer like to receive emails from you) if you provide an email newsletter. Privacy and anti-spam advocates could make you the target of the next class-action suit at worst, and at best, you're giving skeptical visitors a reason to question your legitimacy.

FAVORABLE IMAGE and easy accessibility should be lwo aims for your company's website. /James Ritter Lumbels site created bv Creaiive Logic Media.)

Your lawyer would want you to. There are numerous codine and con-

Everybody's doing it. Nearly 807o of U.S. adults are now usins the

Internet on a daily basis (and 207o worldwide), you can no longer get by with assuming that your customers just aren't bringing their business online.

Seriously. The Internet is the only place you can see the pie growing exponentially every year. There are now nearly 2 billion internet users worldwide.

As online transfer, banking and loaning becomes more and more predominant, transferring large sums of money online will become common. Would you feel safe buying from your website?

There are so many cool things your website could do for you. Modern websites can perform a lot of amazing functions. Everything from professional video that tells a story while delivering a pitch, to an online suite that tracks your projects, sales stats, accounts, and lead generation, can now be delivered with your website.

You can easily put your entire sales process online. Think about buying a $400 digital camcorder and getting video interviews from your top sales guys and company founders. Think about filming your product line and your facilities. Websites are no longer simple address and phone number placeholders-they can be used in allnew ways to augment your lead acquisition process and, more importantly, they can carefully illustrate the points you try to get across when making your pitch.

Your website can help you gain positioning. Businesses in every industry are getting new customers, learning more about their market and industry, and grabbing top search results because of their involvement in the online arena. Starting a blog or submitting regular articles can help you gain footing as an industry frontrunner by putting your words in front of both your competitors and your prospects.

Your website can deliver data feeds to describers. Imagine being able to provide your customers with 1007o accurate, up to date product counts, available on demand. Imagine being able to keep your entire email list instantly in the loop on new updates and promotions.

Lead generation can find you new prospects within weeks. Not only can you utilize traditional online market- ing techniques such as search engine optimization and paid advertising, but you can also use your website and numerous online programs to receive hot sales leads for a small price.

It's not too late. The lumber industry as a whole is a few years behind the curve, and if you start giving your website the attention it needs now, you can be among the first to jump ahead.

When you do decide to revisit your website, do things right. Think about the content, offerings, and functionality on the site in context with what you are trying to accomplish. If you're too busy, delegate the responsibility to a creative, dedicated co-worker who will think about the decisions he or she makes. Think about what would make your website more useful to your customers and your company and make sure it gets done. Can you still allow your site to collect dust?

- Calvin Froedge is a professional web developer and lead analyst for Creative Logic Media, Cookeville, Tn., managing more than 100 clients, including LBM companies. He grew up amid the materials handling and lumber manufacturing industries. Contact him at (93i') 239-5520 or by email at c alv in@ c reat ive lo Ric me dia. c o m.