Top 5 signs your website is “too corporate”
Everybody has a website now, and gone are the days of glitter text, animated GIFs and MIDI files playing in the background. A quality website is no longer just a “homepage” but a multi-million dollar corporate marketing campaign available, at the click of a button, to a global audience.
Everyone wants that low-cost professional edge - but they don’t need it to be delivered in the same way. “Corporate” websites are fine for accountants, law firms and - dare we say - large corporations. However, not everyone needs this uber-professional presentation; it just doesn’t represent most industries. In fact, it doesn’t represent most industries.
Here are our Top 5 Signs Your Website is “Too Corporate”:
5 - Your site is blue and white. In case you haven’t heard, blue is the new white in the corporate world, sometimes with a dash of grey. This safe choice of colours can permeate any industry, but when used in conjunction with other “Corporate Countdown” items, it’s just so lifeless.
4 - Your company name is an acronym. In terms of corporate identity, we feel pretty strongly about this one. It’s hard enough to be memorable when you’re try to be corporate, and this completely ruins your chances if you’re not actually a big time company. Remember: For every IBM and HP, there is an AB&D Plumbing that few have heard of and even fewer will remember.
3 - Your site uses jargon that not even the CEO can understand. This is a favourite of ours among tech sites, whose primary customers - it stands to reason - are non-techy people. So why are these sites drowning in terms that don’t make a bit of sense to laypeople? It’s not impressive… but it does resemble a corporate employee handbook.
2 - Your site prominently features stock photos of people in suits. You know what we’re talking about. We’ve seen it everywhere - web hosting, web design, random e-commerce sites - and it rarely makes sense. Furthermore, we doubt that the majority of companies who use the quintessential corporate image actually follow through with that dress code in their offices (if they even have offices).
1 - You have a website and you don’t know why. Websites should say something. Seriously! The allure of having a website is a pretty strong one, but if you’re in the thick of it and realise you have nothing to actually say, it’s time to reconsider your approach.
Ten years ago, a study found that 42% of users couldn’t find information on the Top 15 corporate sites, even after they were placed on the correct page. And if you’ve ever worked for one, you know corporations are famous for a lot of words wrapped around very little meaning - meetings called to schedule meetings, corporate manuals written sometime the 60s that no one’s ever read, and now - inexplicably - websites.
If your small-time company is falling into this big-time trap, this is the #1 sign that your website is too corporate, which ultimately means that you’re missing your customer base and missing out on that great marketing and sales opportunity you thought you had.
