Michael D. Lavespere
June 25, 2012
Website Link: http://www.bwpagency.com/
Abstract
The purpose of this website
analysis is to critique http://www.bwpagency.com in three
significant areas—Aesthetics, Content, and Evaluation of the information that
is presented. The aesthetics of the website includes the design, layout, color,
impact, clarity, hyperlinks, ease-of-use, and functionality. While the content analysis discusses
information pertaining to a clear company purpose, contact details,
informative, usefulness, well-supported data, and up-to-date information. The final area will discuss the positive and
negative aspects of the information presented specifically to the company’s business
purpose of marketing and offer critical analysis of the given information.
Keywords: marketing, analysis, aesthetics, content,
evaluation
Company
Overview
According to Barrett Proctor, LLC.’s (2012)
website, they are a faith based Houston Texas firm that specializes in
developing marketing strategies, development of comprehensive marketing and communications
programs, project-scale execution of collateral, branding, websites and public
relations activities for businesses. The
firm has won several marketing awards and honors to include the Lantern Award
from the Business Marketing Association, Crystal Award and the Certificate of
Excellence honor from the American Marketing Association.
Criteria
There are no
rigid principles or standards for website aesthetics. However, many standards organizations have
influenced web designers over the years and have grown to become a resource in compliance
and best practices. Some of the larger
and well know organizations are the Website Standards Association (WSA), World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the
International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Most acceptable standards
for websites are commonly around interoperability, browser compliance, and
programming, but for the most part very little is expressed to the aesthetics
of a website. Of the mentioned
organizations, WSA (2008) focuses more on usability guidelines and it is
gaining larger influence over the best practices of designing website in order
“to identify the minimum website standards that websites should meet and
educate internet users about how to get the most of their websites” (p. 3). WSA’s
published guidelines and best practices will be used for this website analysis.
Aesthetic
Analysis
The design of the
website is clean and streamlined to offer as much information without
overwhelming the user. The text size is easy to read and is consistent
throughout the website. However, for
users who prefer to set their browser text size larger, user experience will be
mildly affected in that the navigation bar will wrap to accommodate. The color scheme is a simple golden yellow
and white which offers a professional appearance. Crisp and appropriate graphics highlight the
home page serving to display the purpose of the business in addition to
showcasing past clients. The image
landscape on the homepage has a prominent revolving image with an infinite
looped, four image set displayed above a static three image set. Company logo is elegantly placed consistently
throughout the website in the upper right corner and takes the user back to the
home page if clicked. As with the design and color, the layout is consistent
throughout the website and is facilitated by a defined top navigation bar to
pilot the user experience quickly.
Paragraphs are short and precise, which is crucial for business to
business marketing and user retention.
The latest versions of
Internet Explorer©, Firefox©, and Chrome© web
browsers all displayed the design of the web page in the intended manner. In
addition, multiple resolution setting was used to test the display with minimum
impact to the user experience. The
webpage also displayed correctly on a windows mobile platform. No grammatical or spelling errors were found
using an extensive search tool from http://www.spellcheck.net. For the
exception of an orphaned LinkedIn icon in the footer, no broken links were
found. The website renders web pages in a printer friendly format; however, an
unneeded log in message error appears at the top of the printed page.
Benchmarking popular search
engine returns for Barrett Proctor, LLC were average compared to its aesthetical
appeal. The key words “marketing firm Houston Texas” were used
on the top three search engine websites—Google, Yahoo!, and Bing—several times
throughout the day. Google rendered
Barrett Proctor, LLC’s website 12th on this list or returns, Yahoo!
rendered the website 7th on this list, while Bing delivered the
website 8th on the list of returns.
Dogpile.com—a search engine that extracts exclusively from Google,
Yahoo!, and Bing and extracts a compilation—consistently delivered the company
website 8th on the list.
Considering the specific key words used and the search was confined to
the Houston Texas area, one would expect better results from a marketing
company.
Overall Barrett
Proctor, LLC’s website is easy to use, simple, and provides a favorable impact
to the user experience during the first critical 10 seconds. The website is interactive and modern while it
does a respectable job of savoring the simplistic and professional essence of a
business website that is geared towards decision makers with purchasing power.
Content
Analysis
Where many websites fall
short of intentions, Barrett Proctor, LLC’s website does an excellent job of simply
and clearly stating what they do. A
brief, yet strategically placed, statement of “Barrett Proctor is a
full-service, marketing and advertising agency that delivers integrated
communications programs” is presented on the front page with witty related tag
lines on each subpage (2012, n.p.). The
company contact information is displayed in multiple locations to encourage the
impatient web user to directly contact Barrett Proctor, LLC for
information. The main telephone number
is listed consistently in the footer of all webpages and the dedicated contact
page contains the company address, telephone number, and online contact
form. In addition, each page contains an
email icon to email the company while avoiding the display of textual email
addresses to circumvent potential SPAM.
The content is written
in an easy to understand way, avoiding industry specific acronyms and verbiage
that would discourage a typical user seeking marketing consultants. It appears the information is categorized for
two purposes—who we are and what we can do?
Most of the webpages on the website are intended to educate the user of
who Barrett Proctor, LLC is and what specific services they offer. The attraction of the website is the display
of past works and the creativity that Barrett Proctor, LLC has brought to past
clients. The website does a tremendous
job of demonstrating their expertise in branding, print, digital, and event
marketing with many examples of works from past clients. It is built on an interactive automation model
allowing the user avoid unwanted animation.
The automation directly demonstrates the available web technology that
can be used for prospects. The website
also offers the ability for visitors to download past works.
Critical
Analysis of Information Presented
Although the website is
attractive, interactive, and contains impressive past works for clients, it
does a dismal job in relaying the strategic advantage of the Barrett Proctor,
LLC’s core competency for prospects. This oversight begins with the mission
statement.
“To glorify God
by conducting our personal and our business lives in a manner consistent with
His teachings. To bring honor to Jesus
Christ our Lord through service to our customers. We recognize our
accountability to God for our integrity and strive to keep His will the
mainstay of all our business transactions.
To deal honestly and fairly with our customers, partners and associates.
And, through quality workmanship, serve our customers as we would like to be
served. Honestly. Openly. Fairly. To share the love that Jesus has for us with
others in our day-to-day lives, to positively impact the community in which we
live, and to give God all the glory! (2012. n.p.)”
Regardless of my agreement and shared
spiritual convictions with the mission statement, the message must be altered
to serve the intended purpose of the organization. Moreover, one would argue that this is not a
mission statement but a personal vision statement that could potentially turn
away prospects that are not in agreement with such personal views. Spiritually, this should be given much
consideration in that the ultimate goal is not to attract those of similar
beliefs but to attract those who do not.
Professionally, the mission statement does not outline the true intent
of the organization, if so, other avenues are readily available outside of the
corporate landscape to meet such spiritual passions. The symbiotic relationship between spiritual
and professional commitments is unavoidable; however, a better balance and
transparencies of spiritual and professional aspirations must be met. The mission statement should be more concise,
short, and applicable to all prospects[i]. A good example is Turbocam International—a
manufacturing company located in Barrington, New Hampshire that specializes in
prototypes for the aerospace industry.
They also are a faith based organization that has successful merged the
integrity of religion with business.
Their company slogan is “Innovate with Grace” and has a well-balanced
mission statement (Cohen, 2008, p. 21).
Second, the website
lacks substance in identifying Barrett Proctor, LLC’s competitive advantage compared
to its competition. A brief mention of the MAP™ is offered, but more details
are needed. MAP™ is an acronym for
Marketing Action Plan, yet it is unclear if this is proprietary to Barrett
Proctor, LLC. Regardless, more detail is
needed around how the MAP™ program can help prospects, the distinguishing
factors, and competitive advantages that Barrett Proctor, LLC’s prospect should
expect. Henry Atwater (2008)—famous
political consultant for Ronald Regan and George H. W. Bush—once said “Perception
is Reality” when referring to the perception of his candidates[ii]. This is equally important for a company’s
website. During my initial visit to
http://www.bwpagency.com, the perception was that Barrett Proctor, LLC
specialized in the oil and gas industries—not uncommon in the Houston Texas MSA. This perception was fostered by the image
selection on the home page. As
previously noted, the image landscape on the home page has a prominent
revolving image with an infinite looped, four image set displayed above a
static three image set. The first and default prominent image is of an
oil tanker ship and below is a static image of a Pride International, INC.
employee[iii]. Although nothing is mentioned throughout the
website of specific industry expertise, the immediate perception is that
Barrett Proctor, LLC specialize in the oil and gas industries. This could thwart potential clients who seek
expertise in a different industry.
Finally, the website does not highlight strong enough the research services
that Barrett Proctor, LLC offer.
Instead, the website appears to outline creativity as a distinguishing
factor. Although creativity is a valuable asset, it is also expected from such
marketing firms and cannot easily be quantified. The true value and often missed by marketing
firms is the ability to render detailed research services around market
trends, consumer behavior, product and price influences, product
differentiations, and go to market strategies specifically catered to a client’s
product and services. Creative
brochures, logos, print, and digital media is a de facto expectation of
marketing firms. According to Ellie
Becker (2010), a public relations and inbound marketing expert with E.R. Becker
Company Inc., “. . . a simple online brochure no longer does the trick” (p.
13). Regardless of how impressive the works of marketing art is, more is needed
to attract clients.
To better deliver this
message on the website, the leadership team should outline a specific research methodology
and results for past clients, quantified in dollars not in creativity. In addition, posted periodicals and industry
journals written by the experts of Barrett Proctor, LLC should be posted on the
website covering a diversified set of products and services. After much vetting of Barrett Proctor, LLC’s
website, it is clear that users would perceive the company as a creative and
honest company rooted in faith based convictions. But the call to action is clear. The leadership team must take this perception
to the next level by outlining their expertise in research and quantified top
line results.
References
Becker, E. (2010). Marketing
ground zero - your website. Fairfield County Business Journal, 49(9), 13.
Cohen, E. (2008). Religion
Reaps Rewards. Business NH Magazine, 25(6), 21.
Forbes, S. (Director). (2008). Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story [Television
series episode]. In Forbes, S. & Walker, N. (Producer), Frontline.
Boston, MA: Inter Positive Media.
Website Standards Association Inc.. (2008). Business
Website Usability Guidelines. Retrieved June 21, 2012 from http://www.websitestandards.org/Standards_download.html,
3.
Footnotes
Nice Post on the Website Analysis.
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