Last night I was able to attend the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce’s Business After Hours event. It was a good time. Held at River Hills Country Club, I had the opportunity to meet many local entrepreneurs and learn about their business. The funny thing was, once I introduced myself and my business, all I heard were complaints about the Chamber’s Website.
The Top Complaints about Lake Wylie Chamber’s Website
- Lake of Up-to-date Data. At least 3 pages within the site had dated information. For example, the home page had information from last December – over 2 months old. The link on the left navigation bar for Business After Hours (here) even had a date from the year 2000!!! That’s nearly 6 years old!!!
- Poor Communication. In addition to having out of date information. Apparently the primary form of informing members was by word of mouth. I personally found out about the event when I went to have my photo taken by the Lake Wylie Pilot for some Internet articles I have been writing for them 30 minutes before the event!! Other members expressed frustration at the lack of communication exhibited by the Chamber in general.
- Non Functional Site. Some Chamber members complained about the lack of functionality on the site. They maintained that there wasn’t enough interaction. You really couldn’t do anything with the site. You couldn’t search or submit events. Members information was there but you have to ask them to email the updates. Calendars aren’t interactive. There are no forums or other forms of interactive communication either.
- Poor Layout, Unappealing Design. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I won’t add to the complaints on this end. But people did mention a lack of professionalism of the Chamber by view of the site’s aesthetics.
Now, this isn’t meant to be a bashing of the Chamber. I personally am very thankful for the efforts put forth by Susan and Lisa and anyone else associated with the Chamber. I just mean to make an object lesson from the site.
Obviously the Lake Wylie Chamber is very successful. They have many active members and have been doing this for a long time. What about your company though? Would your business be able to whether such comments as these? I do not think mine would.
So, what can we learn from this website?
Lots of things actually. Here’s how I would attack that kind of feedback:
2 Suggestions on how to make the Lake Wylie Chamber of Commerce Website better
- Blog. Turn the front page into a blog. For example, this page you are reading right now is a blog. Posting articles regularly gives a site a ‘lived in’ quality. It lets people know that the lights are on and some one is tending the website. It’s also a great vehicle for keeping members up to date. Also, search engines love it. I really cannot think of a business that wouldn’t benefit from having a blog. I personally have 3 blogs for my Charlotte Bodybuilding & Fitness site, one for this site, another for an Economics class I am taking, and several more on top of that.
- Newsletter. A monthly newsletter would do wonders for the communication ability of any company. A newsletter can have updates for members on times and locations of events, new initiatives, and any sort of information you wish. Depending on the application you use, you can create a database with as many names as you want. When you send out a newsletter, you can track who opens it. It’s a great way to get traffic to your site as well. You can even tell who has gone to which page on your website. An excellent investment.
- Content Management System or CMS. A CMS is a great tool for people to be able to update a website with content without a web developer! This kind of tool can let you change any web page immediately from an administrative interface. Many CMS’s come with calendar applications that integrate as well. This would allow for easy management of the website’s message and content.
I wonder how much more effective the Chamber would be with these tools. How much more effective would your business be with them?