The Internet has enabled global commerce on a scale never before possible and in a way that touches directly on the trends and best practices for economic development websites. Website design is of particular importance when considering site selectors and the process they go through when attempting to find the right community. It is imperative that economic development organizations understand the best practices and trends governing website design today.
Bright Colors
When a potential investor is browsing through your website, you want to catch their attention quickly. Bright, bold colors can accomplish this easily, whereas dull, darker colors cannot. Of course, the colors and color combinations should be complementary, and should not clash or be considered “garish”. They should also be chosen for their ability to highlight any underlying graphics embedded within the color fields, as well as the emotional impact they make on the viewer. Blues, greens and even oranges can be used to great success, but there are many others that will also work well.
Good UX
UX, or user experience, has become an incredibly important consideration for web design as a whole, and it does apply to your economic development website. Your visitors should be able to find what they want easily, consume the information they need just as easily, and find other areas of the website that are pertinent to them without trouble. If your pages are locked up behind complicated navigation, your information is fragmented, or your font is too small to be easily read, you are doing your organization a disservice.
Filled with Pertinent, Useful Information
It’s not enough for your website to be designed for easy navigation, or to use the right graphics and colors. You need to deliver what potential investors want and need. Namely, you need to deliver pertinent, useful information. What do your investors want to know? Obviously, they need to know what your community can bring to them – what kind of workforce is offered? What are the regional demographics? What industries are already present, and what support organizations are in the area? These are just a few of the questions that potential investors are looking to have answered.
What does your area’s economy offer? What incentive programs are available? Your website should provide an information-rich resource that positions your community as the best answer to the investor’s needs. Moreover, it should contain a wide range of information types, from local data to editorial content to national content and information contributed by industry experts and thought leaders.
The Right Features
A good user experience, and pertinent information are only a few aspects your website needs to entice potential investors. Your website also needs the right features – those that matter to site selectors and investors seeking a home for their business. For instance, most will care about land sites, as well as the available building inventory in your immediate area.
Any employer will care about the available labor pool. You should also break up demographics information into reports for easy downloading or on-site viewing. The area’s infrastructure will be of paramount importance, and industry cluster locations and types should be communicated as well.
In addition to those features, it is becoming more and more important to provide other features through your website. Quality of life information is important, as well as GIS mapping assistance for site selection. Community news and integration with your social media feeds is also quite important today. If possible, include links from your website to those of other organizations in the area to enable site selectors and investors to learn more at their own pace through other outlets, as well.
Finally, make sure you have a way for site selectors and investors to communicate with you. This goes beyond having your phone number or mailing address visible. Consider click-to-call functionality, online chat, or digital contact forms as options.
In the End
When it’s all said and done, remember this – your community only has one chance to make a first impression on a site selector or investor. You need to ensure that your website makes the best case for your community so it will stand out in the selector’s mind. You can bet they will be considering multiple areas for their location, and you need to give them a reason to remember your community, a reason to come back to your website. Creating an information-rich website that not only provides them with important information immediately, but links to other authoritative sites can be an excellent way to do just that.