Today, I thought I would provide some insight into the frequently asked questions and my thoughts on how to increase your chances on winning a Website award.  While my comments will help you with the Web Marketing Association's WebAwards, they should also be valuable for any award program you choose to enter.

What awards competitions should I enter?  - When looking at a website competition, it's important to make sure there is a level playing field. Some programs pick winners that were picked by the award program staff because of their big brand name recognition, rather than being entered like everyone else.  You should know that the expert judges have had a chance to review all of the sites not just those selected by the program staff as finalists.  Finally, you should have the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the judges to improve your site in the future.  The WebAward competition is an award program created by online marketers for online marketers and we believe everyone should have a fair shot at winning.

What categories to enter? - Categories allow awards to have more than one winner and this is good for you.  The trick is to see which category would do you the best in terms of marketing value if you won. The WebAwards have many industry categories that overlap (i.e. medical and healthcare or education and university). This gives you some options and may even allow you to win more than one award if you enter multiple categories.

How can I improve my chances of winning? - There are several things you can do to increase your chance of winning a Website award. First, read the rules.  If you don’t know what the judges are looking at, you'll have less of a chance to get it right. Second, make sure your entry is complete. It's amazing how many incomplete entries come in each year, or passwords are expired, or the URL leading to the creative is not valid. Review your entry carefully before hitting the submit button.  Lastly, spend some time and thought on your audience analysis and mission statement.  Don't write something over the top, but give the judges a good sense of who you are trying to reach and how you are doing it.

My advice is to review your entry like you were a judge in the competition.  Would you give it high marks for navigation, design and appropriate use of technology?  Better yet, nominate yourself to become a judge in a few different award competitions.  That way, we will get a true sense of the needs of the judges and also hone your own sense of evaluating Website development.

Why pay an entry fee?  - This one might sound a bit self serving, but there's more to it than you think.  The award entry fees are a way for organizations to fund their operations, but more importantly it serves as a barrier to entry that allows the award program to attract talented judges and make the program competitive.  Without an entry fee, everyone would enter even if their website sucked and they knew it, buy hey, why not - it's free!  The old adage " you get that you pay for" is true when it come to awards.

Wrap-up

My thanks to the IAOC for allowing me to participate in this valuable forum. I've enjoyed sharing my views and ideas on winning awards over the past week and hope that you have found the information I have provided interesting and useful.

I would like to invite you to enter your Website into the 2005 WebAward Competition if you think it would help your marketing efforts.  The WebAward Website is www.webaward.org and the deadline for entry is June 1, 2005.

Best of luck and may all your Websites be winners.

 

 

Bill Rice
President
Web Marketing Association
www.webaward.org

While we touched on it yesterday, I wanted to discuss the value of winning awards as it relates to search engine optimization.

 As all online marketers know by now, ranking high in search engine results is critical to driving low cost traffic to your Website.  Search engines want to provide the user with the most appropriate search results in order to have their search engine used again.  What makes a site appear high in the results is a closely held secret at both Google and Yahoo, but is boils down to relevancy.  One factor that is used by search engines is page rank, a calculation based on the number of non-related pages that link to your site.  Ever wonder why you get so much spam that want to "exchange links", it's because they are trying to improve their page rank. 

Winning Awards is a great way to link your site another relevant site. Award sites usually have a high page rank because of all of the sites that link back to them, so having them link to you will help your position in the all important search engines.

It is also important to issue a press release using distribution services such as PRWeb when you win an award.  This provides another outside link to your site helping to increase the relevancy in the search engines.  It also provides additional content for the search engine to catalog and provide to potential customers looking for information on your organization.

Congratulations, your Web site has just received industry accolades and won an award for web development.  When you are done patting yourself on the back, it’s time to figure out how to make that award earn its entry fee.

Being recognized for your online efforts can be as big a deal as you want to make it.  If it is important to you, it will be important to your employees, customers and prospects. To get the most bang for the buck for your "award winning Web site," you need to use all of the tools in your PR toolbox.  Here are some examples of how past WebAward winners have  successfully used their awards to promote a company's online efforts.

Plaques, certificates and trophies - Any award program worth its salt provides plaques, certificates or trophies for you to display in public areas.  Go to any major advertising agency meeting room and you'll see awards lined up.  Providing physical awards to all the employees who worked on the project is also a great way to show employees that you value their efforts.  It’s important to give them something to prove to their mothers/spouses/kids/friends that they actually know what they are doing.

Press Releases - Winning an award is news that’s likely to be picked up in the trade press as well as receive local media coverage.  Press releases show up in search engines and result in a positive positioning of the company. Press releases can also appear in the news sections on many sites, providing great targeted exposure for the award and the company.

Site Icons and Award Pages - When website awards first started about nine years ago, putting the award's logo or icon on your site was more likely to drive traffic to the award site than to your site. Today complex algorithms, looking at the number and quality of sites linked to your site, are used by search engines to determine rankings. By linking your site to a recognized award site also links you to thousands of other award winning sites.  If that isn't good enough, it's always nice to show off industry recognition.

Newsletter articles and news feeds - An online or email newsletter is a great cost-effective way to keep important audiences up-to-date with news and features about your organization.  An interview with the team or team leader of the award winning site not only promotes your awards, but positions you and an industry leader.  Unfortunately corporate firewalls and span filters are stopping many email newsletters from ever getting to your readers, even if they asked to receive it.  One emerging technology that may help you get around this is a RSS feed.  RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication and many Internet professional are looking to this distribution channel to be the next great marketing opportunity.

Employee Communications - While most of our PR efforts tend to be outwardly focused, it is critical to also toot your horn within the organization. If you make a big deal about the award, so will your employees, which will help support the "buzz factor".  Hold an event to present the plaques or trophies you purchased for the team or buy pizza for the entire office or group responsible for the award winning work.  The best organizations make employee appreciation more than just lip service.

Offline Communications - As with most communication strategies, combining online with offline communication vehicles is the most effective way to get your message out.  Adding the award logo to catalogs near the web site address shows potential users of the site they can expect quality if they go online.  Highlighting the awards in a public company's annual report demonstrates to shareholders and analysts the level of industry recognition the company is receiving. Any printed materials - sales brochures, advertising, promotional items, etc - that contain the site URL can also reference the award.

Personal Recognition - While all of the above suggestions deal with promoting the Web site and your company, at the end of the day it is really about the people who made the site a success - either from the development or the marketing of the site.  In this competitive job market, having an award, or better yet a series of awards, on your resume is a great way to demonstrate your level of achievement.

Each year the Web Marketing Association selects group of Internet professionals and site developers who judge sites for the WebAward competition. Each judge is assigned several web sites to review in a timely and impartial manner using guidelines provided by the Web Marketing Association.

We are looking for individuals who have direct experience designing and managing web sites for organizations. Our judges must have an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in web site design and technology and the objectivity to score entries according to a predefined set of criteria.

The judging will take place in July and August of 2005. It is conducted entirely online so busy judges have the flexibility to review sites as their schedule allows. 

Past judges have been President, Creative Director, New Media Coordinator, E-Business Manager, Director of Marketing, Sr. Web Designer or Webmaster of some of the most respected companies in the world of interactive development.

As a judge, you will gain valuable experience and insights into current trends in interactive development by participating in the Internet's leading recognition program for Websites.  You also receive personal recognition in the form of a certificate of achievement for display and of course judging always looks good on a resume.  But most importantly, you will demonstrate a leadership role in giving back to the online community and helping us to raise the standard of excellence for Website development across the Web.

If you think you have the experience and talent it takes to be a WebAward Judge and would like to be considered for the 2005 WebAwards, please complete the Judges Nomination form.

MarketingSherpa is a must read for anyone that is serious about communicating online.  One of the major strengths of the organization is the independent studies they undertake.  They also have announced a Best Blog Awards.  If you either read or write an outstanding Blog on marketing, ads, or PR. Use the nominations form for MarketingSherpa's Best Blog Awards to submit your selection.

 
Nominations are complimentary & anyone can nominate a Blog

Blogs must:
- Be on the topic of marketing, ads, and/or PR
- Been around prior to Dec 31st 2005
- Be regularly updated (weekly at min.)

Prizes include hotlinks, traffic, fame, glory, and a coffee mug

Want to see who won last year? Here's the list:

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Prestigious Website awards have long been used to help marketing professionals promote an organization's Internet efforts. But, what does it take to have an award winning Web site?   more »

Bill Rice knows what it takes to win awards.  As a 20+ year marketing veteran, he has won many awards including a PRSA Silver Anvil, IABC Gold Quill, AdClub of Boston Hatch Award, and many others. As president of the Web Marketing Association (WMA), he helps others win awards.  The WMA hosts both the annual WebAwards for Website development and the Internet Advertising Competition (IAC Awards) recognizing the best in online advertising.

Bill will share his experiences on how to increase your chances to win an award and what to do with it once you win.  He says he will also discuss some award winning Websites and online communication strategies and “whatever else pops into his mind.”