By Dominic Jones
THINKING off the cuff, I jotted down 10 things that would suggest to me that a company needs to consider upgrading its IR website. They aren’t in any order but they are the first things that sprang to mind based on my recent site reviews.
1. If people want to contact you via your website they have to fill in a form.
2. The first item in your IR website’s navigation menu is “Stock Quote” or “Stock Chart”.
3. You can’t remember who actually asked those questions on your FAQs page.
4. You don’t know what this is: < strong >
5. You have more than two links on a page that say “click here.”
6. You have a “forward-looking statement” on your website which really is a forward-looking statements disclaimer.
7. You make people register to listen to archived webcasts.
8. You don’t have an RSS feed.
9. You think accessibility means answering the phone when it rings.
10. Your site has either of these in more than 25% of its urls:
shareholder.com
or
phoenix.zhtml
Update: Got an email from a long-time reader puzzled by some of the items on the list. Did she really need a new IR website because she doesn’t have an RSS feed? My answer was no, she needs an RSS feed. But I did say that she really should ask why her site doesn’t already have an RSS feed.
If you’re guilty of anything on the list or don’t understand the relevance of any of the items, then chances are you’re not paying close enough attention to your website. Nothing on this list should be new or puzzling. For example, if you don’t know that < strong > is markup for putting text in bold type then you’re probably not optimizing your content (membership required) for online “readers.” And if you don’t know why “readers” is in quotes, then that’s another reason to doubt your site’s effectiveness. In terms of #10, there’s more related to that here.
Update 2: Check the comments below for more signs. Feel free to add your own.
Dominic,
Great list, to which I would add:
11. If more than 10% of your IR content is trapped in PDF files.
12. If you greet readers with a disclaimer to which they must “agree” before entering your site.
13. If you have a link to the latest version of Internet Explorer prominently displayed on your homepage and you recommend its use to the exclusion of other browsers.
14. If you think institutional investors don’t expect a rewarding user experience, or are somehow exempt from one.
And, most importantly…
15. If you’re waiting for the SEC to tell you what your IR web site should contain.