Prayag is back with WebWatch - our Annual Website
Benchmarking Analysis Report. Our study benchmarks
the websites of companies in the IT (services, products
and niche players), and BPO space against global
practices for website design, navigation, content and
online marketing. We have studied websites that stand
out for their innovative designs, navigation styles and
content strategies. The report also highlights best-in-class
tactical ideas and practices.
Corporate websites searched
This year we examined corporate websites of 59
companies, as compared to 29 last year. We classified
the companies into four categories representing the
typical mix of technology companies and compared
adoption practices across these segments of the
industry. We have tracked both Indian and MNCs
operating in India. Given that India-based players
compete head-to-head with some of the MNCs, it was
thought appropriate to compare them on an equal
footing.
Study Parameters
We analyzed the websites on five parameters, namely:
- Navigation
- Content
- Design aesthetics
- SEO
- Web 2.0
“The simpler the navigation, the more people will read and the deeper they will delve into the site.”
– Karen Templar, Salon Magazine
The navigation style adopted by a site depends on the objective the company wants to achieve. Websites should focus on retaining simplicity irrespective of the style they adopt. Visitors should be able to reach the pages they are looking for with the minimum number of clicks and be able to find their way back! Most of the websites studied had the basic navigational features of search and sitemap but very few took the step ahead and offered clutter-free information.Content
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Content is what can drive the visitor into or away from the site. It should provide a wide-angle view as to what the company is about and how it can help the visitor. From our study, we found IT services websites were the richest in content but the richness was inconsistent across the site. On the other hand, BPO sites were simple and straightforward and thus more consistent.The majority of the websites studied were strong on messaging relevance with their homepages offering enough support material to back the stated value proposition.
“Design, in its broadest sense, is the enabler of the digital era - it’s a process that creates order out of chaos that renders technology usable to business. Design means being good, not just looking good.”
– Clement Mok
Preferences of visual designs can be subjective, so we have structured our analysis around how websites fared on hygiene factors as:- Colour impact
- Legibility
- Readability
- Consistency
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
“An SEO mistake is better than no SEO at all.”
Just having a site in place isn’t enough for visitors to start streaming in. Websites have to be worked on so that they are listed in the results when people search using keywords. Usage of title tags, description tags, keywords, content structuring and external links drive better SEO.
We benchmarked sites on these parameters and most of them did well though BPO companies did not focus much on SEO. 57 percent of IT product sites and 64 percent of niche companies used practices that were not SEO friendly such as usage of flash and embedding text in graphics.
Web 2.0
“Email preceded the Internet… blogs are ten years old, and Wikis have been around since 1995… If most of this stuff is twenty years old, why are we talking about it now? Because it’s not about the tools, it’s about the people.”
– Ethan Zuckerman
Keeping in tune with the current trend, most websites
are catching up with Web 2.0. And in doing so, the most
common feature we came across was the Really Simple
Syndication or RSS. Most companies offered feeds for
investor information, press releases, but many others
demonstrated a more useful use of RSS by offering
feeds on specific offerings, verticals and so on. Only 37 percent of the companies are blogging and the majority of them are in the IT and IT product space. IT product companies are the best in making use of virtual communities to reach out to retail end-users. Social media marketing tools are yet to catch up as only 24 percent companies employed them and most of them were global large players.
Summing up
This year, websites were a step ahead. We saw several new features and trends emerging. Most notable was the prevalence of Web 2.0 in various forms. As a norm, most sites are consistent in their colours, themes, messages and design but a few exceptional sites stand out.
For an in-depth analysis, read the entire report.