Many companies still face roadblocks to Web site success. A good Web site delivers direct access to potential customers and influencers, costs less per impression than traditional marketing tools, and even provides sustainability benefits in reducing energy use and carbon footprint. A bad Web site works against those goals. Here are three core challenges communication departments face when renovating a Web site – and some ideas for removing those barriers.

Process Paralysis – Having an effective Web development process in place controls production costs and delivers a great Web site. That process begins with a fearless and honest analysis of the current Web site, and some tough questions.
• Is the site easy for customers to access the information they seek?
• Does the site enhance the brand?
• Is the artwork compelling and is the copy effective?
• Does the site support the business model?
After analysis, the next step is a planning process that starts with a clear strategy, and carefully considers internal and external customer needs as well as technical requirements. Finally, the builders of a new site need to have a single point of contact to keep the project moving. Only then does building begin.

Brand Blockages – In too many cases, only the faintest traces of brand personality exist once all input is collected and incorporated from marketing, commercial development, legal, sales, IT and public affairs people. Companies minimize brand blockage when a senior leader sponsors the Web project. An ideal sponsor is one who lets the designer and copywriter work unfettered; someone with the authority and the will to make final decisions on Web art and copy. With a strong project sponsor, each stakeholder is focused on their area of expertise and teamwork delivers its maximum value.

Marketing Mentality – Online audiences aren’t markets, they’re people. And people have a heightened sense of when they are being sold to or spoken at, instead of engaged and invited into a conversation. Making the corporate online personality work with people who use the site requires being clear on what customers want from the site and then leaving the copywriter free to address customer needs while writing in a human voice. Only the most gifted writers can carve graceful statues out of corporate prose. Once you’ve found such an author, it’s best to keep well-meaning but copy-challenged editors at bay and let the writer work. The resulting site will soar free of the corporate language of complex phrases. Your online audience will tune in instead of bail out, and tell others about what your Web site offers that is compelling.

Process, branding and clear copy are undoubtedly just a few of many more considerations with making a Web site more effective. But those core ideas lay at the heart of online excellence. Creating a stellar Web site is in some respects an intangible art – which can’t be spelled out any easier than Steven Spielberg can write down how to make a good movie. Finding the right balance between art and science, between creative freedom and corporate process, are the keys to making a great Web site.