Dear [first_name], Welcome to our inaugural monthly newsletter; I hope you enjoy this month's topics. This is your newsletter, so if you like or don't like something about it, please email us at newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com and we will adapt. Like everything in politics and everything on the Web, we too at Bull Moose Marketing need to be flexible... Thanks for reading, Nick Ellinger CEO, Bull Moose Marketing, LLC. In this issue... Best Practices: What Makes a Good Political Web Site? From the Journals: Web Sites Fail to Meet Voter's Needs Quick Clicks Best Practices: What Makes a Good Political Web Site? Political Web sites have been around less then a decade and remain a little studied, oft misunderstood medium of communication. However, there are enough case studies in political and business Web design to discuss some best practices for political Web studies: Remember the basics. Every Web site, political or business needs to have five things: Who you are What you do Why people should choose you How to contact you A call to action The call to action can take many forms: sign up for our newsletter (just like we did with you...), vote for X, write your congresswoman about HR 1234, and so on. However, the idea is the same for all of them--give your audience the information to make a decision, then ask them. Interact with your audience. Show a willingness to learn and people will teach. In this newsletter, we asked for comments for a reason: we want you to like this newsletter so much that you either pay us money for something or pass it to a friend (who might pay us money for something). The more communication on your site, the more likely that people will get involved on your behalf, in whatever capacity you ask them to (see asking them to above). Featured Web Site Learn good Web design from bad Web sites at www.webpagesthatsuck.com. An irreverent look at Web site design and what makes a site bad. Document your positions. Conventional wisdom sometimes says that a Web site is like a fluff, generic positive TV advertisement, designed to stir positive affect and not to make waves. However, if you were looking for conventional wisdom, you signed up for the wrong newsletter. State what you belief and put in links to supporting materials ( like this one to a Campaigns and Elections best practices article). This can only help support your views and give your audience the perception of independent validation of their views and yours. Build trust. As the old saying goes, this is something much easier to lose than get. There are a few ways to gain and keep the trust of your target audience. Create and post a privacy policy. Make sure all of the emails and email newsletters you send (yes, you need to have an email newsletter) are truly opt-in--that is, people have volunteered to receive emails from you. Make it easy to unsubscribe from your email newsletter (you can unsubscribe from ours by emailing us with unsubscribe in the subject line. Don't use spam (unsolicated emails) or Web sites with fake names--these efforts will boomerang. Case Study Consider Steve Langford, a state senator who ran for governor in Georgia. His campaign sent an electronic letter people around the country unsolicited asking for votes. Langford's campaign was "horrified" by the strong, negative reaction (and he ended up losing the race). Keep your navigation consistent. Look at any good Web site-- Amazon, CNN, Bull Moose Marketing--and you will see that all of them have a standard navigation (usually tabs, buttons or links for popular sites). This makes your user's experience much easier and the easier the user experience, the more time and attention you will get. Cheap Plug Need help driving traffic to your Web site? Try Bull Moose Marketing's free consultants report, which gives you free and low-cost ideas customized to your Web site's needs. Drive traffic. If a Web site is created in a forest and there is no-one there to see it, does it make an impact? Include your Web site on your stationary, postcards, lawn signs, press packets, buttons, billboards, and whatever other materials you choose to use. Get your site listed on search engines and promote it in discussion groups and chat rooms (with tact, of course; you don't want break trust). This will help you see the value of your site, but also its weaknesses for further improvement. Do you have any other tried and true hints for our readers? Please send them to newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com. From the Journals: Web Sites Fail to Meet Voter's Needs How have political Web sites developed? What features are most prominent? What features can give you an advantage over the competition? This month's "From the Journals" comes from a study that will be published in the Fall 2002 Journal of Political Marketing that discusses Web sites of the candidates for US Senate in 2000. Of the 68 major party candidates for senate, 93% of the major party candidates had Web sites; of the 103 third party candidates, 58% had Web sites. The Web sites were analyzed for content, that is what sections did and did not exist on the page. Only 77% of sections could be coded. The results were (highlights): Campaign Service Percent Usage Campaign News 82.8% Standard Navigation (i.e., Table of Contents) 75% Online Contributions 70.4% Campaign Ads 65% Visitor Information Gathering 63.5% Credit Card Transactions 62.3% Mention of Party 57.8% Position Papers 56.7% Campaign Speeches 56.4% Newsletter 36.4% Voter Registration Information 27.6% Opinion Leader Endorsements 18.9% Comparative Content 17.2% Foreign Language Content 15.7% Privacy Policy 15% Reference to Presidental and/or VP Candidate 10.1% Poll Results 6.9% Online Store 5.7% Citizen Testimontials 5.6% Search Engine 5% Games 3.6% Kids Section 1.8% Online Chat 1.8% The Bull Moose Take: This article goes into much greater depth than can be provided here and thus I encourage everyone to read it in the Fall 2002 Journal of Political Marketing. However, there are some key points that can be pulled out now. Political candidates are focusing on features that benefit campaign activities, but not those that benefit the electorate. For example, voter registration is a quick win--it is not something that requires frequent updating and gives an excellent call to action--but it is not being pursued on the majority of sites. Similarly, privacy policies take little time, but increase trust significantly (we feel a little hypocritical on this point, as Bull Moose Marketing has not yet posted ours... but we will). One other comment of note: only 77% of all features could be definitively determined. That means that people who were looking for site features could not find them in 23% of cases. This underscores the need for usability testing in political Web sites. The Bull Moose Marketing suggestion on this point is to do everything you can that will not require frequent updating (the "quick wins"), then pursue those things that require updates. Yes, campaign Web sites require features that require updates (a campaign Web site without events, issues, speeches, newsletters, polls, or campaign news would be deadly dull), but make the small investment up front make your site everything it can be. If you need help identifying what your quick wins are, how to best position your site against your opponents, and/or how to maximize your site's usability, request a free consulting report from Bull Moose Marketing. Source: The 2000 e-Campaign for US Senate Williams, Christine B.; Aylesworth, Andrew; and Chapman, Kenneth J. Forthcoming Publication in Journal of Political Marketing, Fall 2002. Quick Clicks The quick clicks for May 2002: The Note from ABC News. A free daily update of everything going on in the American political world (sometimes beyond). Look at the presidental and congressional leaders schedules as well as what the major papers are covering. HTML Reference Guide. A list of all of the HTML tags commonly and uncommonly used. A must for those of us who forgot the tags they need every so often. Political Site of the Day. For political junkies, get a new political site every day. Ranges from the common (Green Party home page) to the fun (Draft Bruce Springsteen for Senate) to the obscure (Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust). If you have a site you would think should be a quick click, send it to newsletter@bullmoosemarketing.com. You're subscribed as [email] because you have opted in to receive this at www.bullmoosemarketing.com. If you would like to subscribe, click here If you would like to unsubscribe, email us at unsubscribe@bullmoosemarketing.com with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line. While Bull Moose Marketing and its agents used their best efforts in collecting and preparing the information published herein, Bull Moose Marketing does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions resulted from negligence, accident or other causes. © 2002 Bull Moose Marketing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. You may freely distribute Bull Moose Marketing material, as long as it bears the following attribution: Source: 2002 Bull Moose Marketing; www.bullmoosemarketing.com