The Luminaria Media Blog

I’ve been working on a proposal this morning, as well as doing website inventory for a new client, and so I’ve been looking at their websites with a keen eye.

For small companies like mine, the company website is one of the great equalizers. I know that I can compete with larger PR firms, based on my record of media hits and my ongoing relationships with media and with past and present clients. My website is how I make sure that information’s getting out to prospective new clients. For a lot of us, it’s the first and only piece of information people see.

Therefore, it’s helpful to get an inventory from someone who had nothing to do with the formation of your website. Here are some good basic questions to give you the feedback you need:

* What are my impressions of the company?
* Do I get a sense of how successful the company is?
* Do I get a sense of how well the company can meet my needs?
* Is there anything on the site that’s inconsistent or incongruous?
* If I’m interested in doing business with this company, can I make contact with someone there?

Certainly, you can do your own inventory, but it’s likely that the website content is intuitive to you, as you’re the one who created it. Find someone who has the same computer literacy as your target audience, and be prepared to make the necessary adjustments once you get your report back. It can be an eye-opening experience on not just your website, but how you’re marketing yourself to the world.

A friend who works in newspapers pointed me to this item in Editor and Publisher — as the economy continues to languish in recession, there’s speculation that some cities may be without daily papers by 2010.

That’s staggering to me. I grew up in a city with two papers (the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer), and I believe the papers pushed each other to greatness and helped define the city. Newspapers are essential to articulating what makes cities so unique. During the Katrina aftermath, I went to the online version of the Times-Picayune to read heartbreaking yet compelling accounts of what was happening. There was great reporting from a variety of sources, to be sure, but getting the New Orleanian perspective was crucial to understanding the magnitude of loss and the possibility of rebirth there.

It’s hard to imagine any city without a paper to capture its essence. We’re in an age where social media can step in and fill the vacuum that a paper closing its doors would leave, but it’s still shocking to conceive of this possibility.