Make Your Web Site Work for You

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SPECIAL REPORT

Branding

• A Practical Guide to Branding
• Make Your Web Site Work for You
• Ciao Bella—in Your Grocer's Dairy Case
• Slide Show: Small Companies, Big Brands
• Video: How Small Companies Build Big Brands

Walker and PingPing's Web site.

Revat Fitness's Web site.

Health Barn USA's Web site.

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Trying to appeal to both scares off a big market of individuals in need of self-defense training, and at the same time turns off martial arts experts. By targeting both, Revat might not reach either.

And the company is definitely in need of a step up in how it presents itself. It's difficult for small operations to look professional right out of the gate, and it's apparent Revat is a boutique operation, which could be a bonus to those in its target market of Chicago. But the company could look more put together. For example, the home page of the Web site, while simple (a good thing), is unimpressive.

The Revat logo appears bitmapped, and little thought was given to layout and design. The photos used on the site look somewhat intimidating—which may appeal to martial arts pros looking for the next step, but probably not to novices. In addition, there's no clear path through the Web site. The testimonials are difficult to find—and their diversity reinforces the confusion about who the company is trying to serve. The blog is a complete departure, design-wise, and features a clichéd stock photo.

The longer I spent on the site—and I would fall into the "novice" category—the less I felt that Revat was for me. If Revat can decide who it's really trying to serve, and invest in a professional Web design company, it could fill an interesting niche.

Walker and PingPing

What on earth is Walker and PingPing? That was my first question when I visited this Web site. I had no idea what this site was about, as it seemed to presume some sort of advance knowledge. Is it a series from Nickelodeon? A new educational program? A Disney Channel (DIS) initiative? Who's behind it? Filling a first-time visitor's mind with questions isn't a great way to start.

And who is the Web site for? Kids, it appears, yet the most prominent space is given to a sales message: "Buy the DVD!" As a parent, I'm not crazy about that. The links the site provides at the bottom, to an About.com review and "About Little Emperor, LLC" were helpful, but not easy to spot. And they didn't give me enough information to know whether or not this was something I wanted for my kids.

I was intrigued once I learned about the company's goal of using animated series to help kids "explore the world." But I still wanted to know more about who was behind it—when you're selling to kids, you're selling to their parents as well, and you must offer them plenty of information.

The company may want to consider having an easy-to-find "for parents" section with company background, customer testimonials, independent ratings, and more, and also keep the sales message on that side of the site. Then they could feel free to make the main site all that it should be for kids. Instead of simply pushing trailers of the first two episodes, the Web site itself could be an episode of sorts, entertaining the kids and impressing their parents.

The animation isn't up to Disney standards, but it's probably fine for kids. As a father, I would definitely want to know more before I made the buy. There are simply too many other well-crafted, trustworthy educational materials out there.

Steve McKee is president of McKee Wallwork Cleveland Advertising, a firm that specializes in helping stalled companies rekindle growth. He is the author of the new book, When Growth Stalls, in bookstores March 2009.