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Earning Awards for Your Web Site!

A Tutorial By David G. Bancroft, President of FOCUS Associates

Whether your commercial or personal site is brand new or has been on the Internet for some time, the itch for it to be recognized is normal and healthy. And that is why many of us apply for the many awards offered on the Internet. Also, it is a good way to promote your site and enhance visits, especially from the target audience.

Earned!
However, the attitude of winning an award is wrong. It must be earned!

Yes, there are some awards that can easily be won by almost any site whether it is truly earned or not. Sites that would have difficulty winning any other award except for reciprocal purposes normally issue these awards.

A site should be developed with your target audience in mind and should be synergistic. Content needs to be rich, fluent, and grammatically correct. Graphics should support your content and not be over powering or distracting. Ease of navigation is very important with access to key areas available on every page that you want people to visit.

Animation and plug-in requirements can be a problem. Many of the awards, including the better ones, will have criteria against too much animation and plug-ins. Both of these require more time to load; and thus, will test the patience of many award reviewers. (Load-time concern will become less of a problem as considerably faster access technology becomes more economically feasible.)

Additionally, sites that utilize midi and wav files can jeopardize being considered for awards if there is not an option to turn off the music by the visitor. It is worth adding this on/off feature even for regular visitors, especially if it is a commercial site.

Go Visit!
Now, go visit some of the sites that won the awards that you believe your site deserves! What do these sites have that yours doesn’t? (I am talking about style and development, not actually what the site is about.) Are they content rich? What type of navigation is being used? How quickly does the first page load? What is on the first page? What is the length of the average page? Is the copy easy to read?

You should find that most of the awarded sites are content-oriented. They offer useful information, services, and/or products. They are interesting, visually pleasing, and enjoyable. Graphics can be simple to exquisite, but are in a supporting role unless it is an artistic site.

You are welcome to visit FOCUS Associates’ site (http://www.focusa.com) for an idea about earning awards. It has received over 100 awards within its first year on the Internet. It encompasses four micro sites with over 175 key pages (475 plus total pages).

While I have lost count on the number of hours that are involved with its development, revisions, and updates, the point is making the effort to keep it fresh, crisp, and worth revisiting.

Description!
Okay, you have checked other sites and made revisions that enhance your site’s chances. What now? Develop several descriptions for your site. A 25 to 35 word, 50 word, or 100 plus word descriptions can be used depending on each award’s submittal guidelines. A badly written description can eliminate your site from even a visit. Do it right!

Apply!
Now make the effort to apply and reapply for awards if you want your site to be recognized. (Some are topic specific.) There are several automatic submittal services that you can utilize like Award-It! (There are awards listed that require manual submission.)

You can also use AWARD SITES! (http://www.awardsites.com/). It currently lists over 200 awards with descriptions, ratings, and graphical links. It offers detailed information about the rating system. (Each award must be submitted to manually.)

Eventually, your "award earning" site may receive unsolicited accolades, as well.

Special Note
Many awards are issued from a subjective point, which means personal preferences of the reviewer will come into play. It also means that even the "best" sites will not receive every award.

Also, there are awards issued by major search engines and other high profile sites that are geared towards traffic count and/or lean towards other high profile sites. Your site might be better designed, but it may not be considered important enough by vote count or the reviewer(s). For those that use reviewers, apply anyway and repeat every 6 weeks or so, because you may come across the right reviewer(s).

David Bancroft is president of FOCUS Associates, a business and marketing consulting firm, and developed its award winning, 175 plus page web site (http://www.focusa.com). The site encompasses four micro sites including an informative presentation of FOCUS’ services, the FOCUS MARKETING AWARD, and AWARD SITES! – ratings, image links, and descriptions.

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