Bennett Gold LLP Earns Mention In Toronto Life Magazine, April 2005.

Caught in Our Sites: Reviews of Effective Websites

The world of e-commerce changes rapidly. "Internet time" is blazingly fast. In the Small Business and Entrepreneur article "Sharing Our In-sites", we outlined the criteria for designing effective Web sites and highlighted some of those sites that scored high according to our criteria. In this article, we identify additional criteria and some worthwhile sites that provide valuable lessons for those designing web sites for an audience whose comfort with the technology has increased and whose patience for poorly designed web sites has dwindled.

Additional Criteria for Designing Effective Websites

1) Include ways to collect visitor information through on-line forms and promotions.

2) Include a method to measure visitor traffic statistics (i.e. profile of visitors by region; number of hits per day; average time per session; time of day/week site visited; requested pages; entry/exit pages; common paths through site; downloaded files; referral sites; browsers used).

3) Do not place information on a page that will take more than 30 seconds to download using a 14,400 baud modem unless you provide the option of getting the information quicker (i.e. turning off graphics).

Some of Our Most Highly Respected Websites: Lessons for Web-cess

Business2.com - You will discover that as a business trying to generate revenue on your web site, you need to address a number of key questions. One key question that you will need to address is: "When do you stop giving information away and begin charging for it?" Nowhere is this question more contentious than when your business is selling subscriptions to on-line and/or hard copy magazines.

With so much information free on the Internet, magazines need to demonstrate real value before anyone will consider offering up their credit card number. As you ponder this issue, visit Business2.com. This site is a good introduction to the best e-commerce magazine around: Business 2.0. The web site is a well organized and business-focused entry-point that provides synopses of articles that can be found in the hard copy publication.

This balance is enough of a tease to keep well-read e-commerce professionals returning regularly to the site. If there is one weak point, it is that no on-line version of the magazine currently exists.

Dogpile.com - Need to get some information fast? Chances are you have your tried and true Internet tools: both "pull" and "push" technologies that keep you informed on the issues that are most important to the life and growth of your business. But there is a little-known site that can help your searches really rock!

Dogpile.com is a super search engine scanning 14 of the most popular search engines, news wires, usenet groups, stock quotes, yellow pages, white pages and maps. The search terms are simple despite the complex operations this engine conducts. Whether you're starting or fine-tuning a search, dogpile.com is a site that you will find most fetching!

KPMG.com - Accountants aren't boring. They just find boring things interesting. While this may summarize the ambivalence many feel for this profession, don't immediately discount the KPMG.com web site as dull, particularly if you happen to be in the Banking, Consumer Markets or Insurance sectors.

Why? Because, KPMG, one of the world's largest accounting/professional services firms has "posted" a real victory. The organization has worked with Pointcast, the famous "push" news service, to develop sector-specific software that can help professionals keep current on the latest trends. Surprising, certainly to this reader, is just how dynamic and yet under-developed this idea is! The lesson here may be that we can learn from this profession how to add real value to clients through web sites.

Hallmarkconnections.com - If you're like me, your life is filled with important business and personal dates that you absolutely must remember. All too often however, business dates and obligations can seem to take precedence. Hallmark, the greeting card people, has developed a web site that serves as a good example of how to market products that are traditionally thought of as "old world". The site not only allows you to quickly send an animated greeting card through e-mail, but its delivery mechanisms force addressees to visit the Hallmark web site.

You can establish a list of e-mail addresses that you want items sent to regularly, and specify delivery dates up to one year in advance. Cross-promotions with flowers and chocolates create the "complete marketing experience" that on-line businesses seek to achieve. Whether you need to send a business colleague congratulation because it is good office etiquette or a sentiment to a close family member, Hallmarkconnections.com won't let you forget.

Retailcanada.com - E-commerce proponents often boast that the Internet will allow consumers to place orders in one corner of the globe and purchase desired goods in another corner of the globe. While this may seem appealing, it isn't always practical. Taxes, shipping, and import and export restrictions can all combine to make a cross-the-world purchase more of a headache. Retailcanada.com has provided consumers a practical solution.

This site, focused on Canadian consumers and retailers, allows for on-line purchases and/or competitive price and feature shopping across over 300 Canadian cities. Direct links to their web sites make Retailcanada.com appealing to retailers, including big names like Canadian Pacific Hotels, Via Rail, Microsoft and Air Canada. If you've been following the development of e-commerce, you will have seen the term intermediary. If you have ever wondered what value intermediaries can provide, check out this site.

Mcspotlight.org - Every good web site provides as at least one good lesson about doing business on the Internet. If you ever doubted the drawing power of a web site, this site will cause you to rethink your position. Originally established in June of 1997, this site was developed in response to McDonald's decision to pursue legal action against a group of environmentalists. A group of activists had accused the giant fast food chain of numerous wrongdoings, including poisoning its customers and damaging the environment.

By December 1997, the site had recorded over 20 million hits. Today, the site continues to receive over one million hits per month. The lesson: your business issues may become public knowledge. If you have any potential public exposures, plan for it now!

Howstuffworks.com - After a week of focusing on deadlines, I am never in a weekend "do-it-yourself" mode. So, when I first saw this web address, I was afraid that a visit to the site would have me heading to Home Depot. What a surprise this site turned out to be!

Well organized and well written, this site explains, in very simple terms, how everyday items work. From the computer you are sitting at right now to complex concepts that put me to sleep in physics class! While the site may not be the most innovative in its structure, it does serve as an excellent example of some important lessons when designing a site: 1) make it interesting; 2) write simply and concisely; and 3) don't try to be everything to everyone.

Deep-purple.com - Once crowned "the loudest rock band" by the Guiness Book of World Records, Deep Purple has undergone many facelifts. But tune into their web site for an excellent example of how to market a product on the web to two distinctive audiences: "Baby Boomers" and the "Mosh-Pitters". The result is a site that uses multi-media intelligently (i.e. linking to live concerts, videos and audio samples) while remaining organized and current.

Bottom line? Get on the web and enjoy!

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