Versant Blog Center

New Client Web Sites

In the last couple of months, our Interactive Team has launched a number of client Web sites, both new and redesigns.  You can find out the details in their blog, and check out the sites here:

• Milwaukee County Transit System redesign
• Pediatric Diagnostic Imaging
• Wisconsin Lutheran College redesign

Domain Names are Not Just for IT

Early in the lifecycle of the Web, domain names were the responsibility of technology teams because they served primarily a functional role – providing a common-name alternative to IP addresses that non-technology folks would understand.  Domain names were used in marketing, but primarily via word of mouth so IT could tell the rest of the world how to access a company's Web site (back when there was no Google to help).

Today, the role of domain names is so much different, although not all companies realize that times have changed.  Businesses, brands, products and people have their own Web sites, and often those sites are the first point of contact with potential customers, employees, partners and vendors.  The domain name has become an essential part of marketing and corporate identity – it has a place on business cards, letterhead, advertising and virtually all communication going out that represents the business.

So the role of the domain name has been elevated, but along with that must come its protection.  Domain name piracy and hijacking are prevalent, as is the registration of alternative versions and misspellings of domain names by others on the Web to divert traffic to their Web sites rather than yours.  Thus domain names now must be an important consideration for companies because a hijacked or pirated domain name can result in lost business and damage to the company's brand.

Companies today need a domain name strategy rather than simply one domain name to represent the business, products and services they offer.  Developing a domain name strategy includes asking questions like these, many of which come about after not doing things the right way.

• Do we own the .net version of our primary domain name?  How about the .biz version?  If not, who does and what are they doing with it?
• For companies with offices or business outside the United States, have we registered our primary domain name with the local country code extensions, such as .co.uk?
• Are there common misspellings of our company name or domain name, and have they been properly registered?
• What does our domain name sound like when said over the phone, or read from an advertisement?  Does it allow for easy word of mouth marketing (ever tried to pronounce a dash?), or is it easy for people to misspell the domain name in those situations?
• After our company name is protected, what about our product names and other sub-brands?

A company that does a stellar job of applying a domain name strategy is Crate & Barrel (not our client), proving that domain name protection is not just for companies like Google, which does happen to own many domain name variations of its name and products.  Crate & Barrel recognizes that its name allows for many potential domain name variations, and does a great job of both protecting them and also redirecting them to its Web site, allowing customers to fee smart even if they spelled "barrel" wrong.

Check out this list:

• www.cratebarel.com
• www.cratebarell.com
• www.cratebarrel.com
• www.cratebarrell.com
• www.crateandbarel.com
• www.crateandbarell.com
• www.crateandbarrel.com  (primary domain name)
• www.crateandbarrell.com
• www.crate-barrel.com
• And on and on…

Sure, Crate & Barrel only really needs one domain name from a functional, technical perspective, but the list above protects the company from potential brand degradation and lost sales, as well as its customers from ending up on the wrong site or seeing error messages.  The cost of a domain name strategy is worth preventing those things, a wise investment in both marketing and IT.

Essential Online Advertising

Online advertising is no longer an option.  Speaking specifically about search engine advertising, all companies should implement an ongoing program in their branding and marketing efforts for the purpose of brand protection, not just for promotional purposes.  Why?  The ads that run alongside search engine results on Google, Yahoo! and MSN can be purchased by anyone using any words or phrases they are willing to pay for, even if those words happen to be your company name or trademark.  Why would other companies purchase your name for their ads?  To steal traffic away from your Web site.  So online advertising is now about brand protection as much as it is brand promotion.

How does it work?  Companies can set up text-based ads that run on the Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing networks by picking terms they think will drive traffic to their Web sites.  In many cases, they may be your competitors, and in other cases, even your partners or vendors.  Because there is no restriction on those words and phrases, your company name can easily be included in the list.  The problem then becomes the following – when your potential customers, partners and employees search for your business online, they will see those ads, and might even be diverted to a competitor's Web site rather than your own.  It's brand hijacking.

This type of scenario is especially true for competitive industries where Web site traffic equates to business, such as online job boards.  In fact, you can see one of the classic examples of this type of brand hijacking through searches on Google, Yahoo! or MSN for "Microsoft jobs" – you'll see the Microsoft Web site in the results, but also ads from job boards, competitors and others hoping you'll click over to their sites instead.

The lesson here is that the perception of online advertising has to change.  There is a minimum commitment that companies should make to protect their brands, product names and trademarks in search engine results that is not about promotion.  Rather, it's a level of protection to ensure that when your audiences look for you online, they find the real you and not someone else.

Marketing Live with Webinars

I wanted to share some observations about how a Webinar (for those new to the term: a live seminar on the Web, allowing for Q&A with the audience) has just been added as a tool in a client's marketing toolbox.  The interesting thing is not so much the actual technology (Webinars have been around for a while), but how a professional service company that has historically not utilized technology in brand development has embraced this form of customer/prospect communication.

Plunkett Raysich Architects (PRA) here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, like most of its competitors, has relied on a traditional mix of marketing tools: cold calling, referrals, direct mail, advertising.  In the past couple of years, however, PRA has expanded its vision of marketing, adding innovative radio commercials, knowledge-sharing luncheons for clients and, most recently, Webinars.

A recent Webinar with Plunkett Raysich Architects featured two PRA clients talking about the design process in building their Women's Health Facilities.  The approach we took was not a "hard sell" of PRA, rather an opportunity to gather a widely dispersed audience together for an hour to share experience from the clients' point of view.  The audience targeted was comprised of CEOs, hospital facilities directors and even a few construction firms specializing in health care.

Sales certainly are a priority in this effort, but as importantly for the brand, PRA is positioning itself as a leader in its field, an industry expert and a more visible player in its market.  PRA is taking the lead, not just as one of the largest architectural firms in Wisconsin, but as a leader in using technology effectively.  They see the need to adopt ever more innovative ways to reach customers to do business more effectively, and they are embracing tools that help them do that.  For me, it's always encouraging to watch a business "do business" differently.  The expectations are high and it will be interesting to measure the results.

How Dot-Jobs (.jobs) Could Change the Web

I considered writing about the new dot-jobs (.jobs) domain name extension for our VersantWorks or Technology blog channels, but I realized that its impact goes beyond just recruitment technology - it could actually change how people use the Web. To fill you in on what's going on, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) proposed and has been given permission to create a new domain name extension (like .com, .net and .org) called dot-jobs (.jobs) intended specifically for Web-based recruitment. My clients who heard the news from SHRM have asked me, "So why is this so important?" Dot-jobs is more than just another domain name extension because it has the potential to impact how people - specifically companies and job seekers - will use the Web.

The concept behind dot-jobs is that Web users looking for opportunities at a company will potentially have a direct, efficient and consistent way to find those job openings without scouring the corporate Web site looking for the careers section or digging on an online job board. The real key for dot-jobs is the consistency - as a Web user, if I know the company Web site, I will also know the company careers site - so the jobs site for Microsoft (www.microsoft.com) would be www.microsoft.jobs. Although online job seekers will have to get used to the dot-jobs concept, the payoff in terms of immediate access and ease of use will be huge.

For dot-jobs to work, SHRM will have to be diligent in verifying and monitoring a number of elements:

1. That companies are able to effectively protect their brands and easily register the appropriate dot-jobs domain name
2. That generic dot-jobs domain names (such as www.healthcare.jobs) are not allowed
3. That sites created using dot-jobs domain names are indeed careers Web sites - this is critical for consistency
4. That SHRM work with the search engine and Web browser companies to ensure that dot-jobs is supported
5. That SHRM help Web users understand dot-jobs through tutorials and a directory of companies with valid dot-jobs sites

In Web technology and marketing, new domain names are not uncommon, but few have the potential impact on how the Web works that dot-jobs does. The registration process and rules as determined by SHRM (expected this summer) will be critical to making it work, and the resulting easy access to online opportunities should benefit companies and Web users alike. Stay tuned.

Yahoo! Turns 10

When I started in the Web industry, I remember submitting client Web sites to Yahoo! because it was the place to promote a new Web site. It was also the only place back then. If you had a site listed in Yahoo!, you were a hero, because it meant other people on the Web would actually see it. The story of Yahoo! is very much right solution, right time, but also a history of innovation in an industry that has become incredibly competitive. Yahoo! now is a part of many people's lives, from search to news to e-mail. So while it feels surprising that Yahoo! has been around for 10 years, while we continue submitting client Web sites there, it also feels like it has always been with us.