Here is your NoSpin Debunker for October 19, 2005
This is the second in a 3-part series of NoSpin Marketing web site critiques. I sincerely appreciate the companies that have volunteered to go under the
NoSpin microscope and hope that the results are beneficial to both them and others.
Please keep in mind that portions of NoSpin “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly” critiques are a bit tongue-and-cheek. I’m a believer that all business does not have to
be so dry and boring. Nor does my sidekick, Clint.
A couple caveats—I am not reading every word on every page but am attempting
to view each page on the site being analyzed and hit some highlights and lowlights.
Also, though some recommendations are implicit in the comments, this is not to
be taken as a complete plan for a revamped or new site. And without knowing the
company’s overall marketing approach, some comments below may be out of context.
Next on the firing line is Sales Executives, a Brentwood, TN-based executive recruiting company specializing in sales positions.
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The Good
Clint & I can tell immediately what this business does—unlike with so many
web sites—they recruit sales executives. Clint likes it really clear upfront,
and so do most folks. And the tagline (which we both think is a bit long) does
at least help underline that: Professional Recruiting Firm Helping Businesses Locally and Nationwide Recruit
Top Sales Talent. (In particular, we’d hope that the word “professional” is implicit).
Homepage leads with short testimonials—which I think works pretty well on this
site (but see “The Bad” below).
Pretty good “title tag” on the homepage: “sales executive recruiter and head
hunter” (but see “The Bad” below),
Overall content is well written and presents the company very professionally—unlike
of the outdated junk that Clint finds on a huge majority of sites he visits.
“Take Action” major navigation button which is good (but see “The Bad” below).
Clint likes the short video clip with clients and Cindy talking, but the names
and titles are really, really hard to see. Who are these folks anyway, or are
Clint’s eyes just going bad?
The Job Openings listing by state and type of industry is a good function—for
both job seekers and potential clients—and seems to work well.
Logo is a link back to the homepage from all pages; Clint likes easy directions
to get back home.
The company says that it has generated some business directly from its site (but
see “The Bad” below).
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The Bad
www.salesexecutives.com (vs. Sales Executive’s www.salesexecutivesinc.com is another “national” sales search firm that serves multiple industries—a lot
of potential for online confusion with them (and they are older and apparently
more established)
The company name is self-explanatory (which is good) but unfortunately pretty
generic, and the tag line doesn’t really help differentiate it. Yes it’s different
from other recruiting firms because of its focus on Sales executives, but is the
company really a national firm focused on all industries? We see that there are
clients in a few states, but is there a geographic and/or industry focus as well?
Better defining geographic or industry focus, contrary to popular belief, is not
limiting to most businesses.
A Clint no-no: try to never use testimonials without a first & last name,
title and organization. Just putting a first name and type of organization makes
the testimonials look fake. Sometimes that’s just not possible for confidentiality
or other reasons, but including a name/title/organization makes testimonials a
ton more believable—hence effective. P.S. Neither Clint or I doubt the authenticity
of the current www.salesexecutivesinc.com testimonials, but we’re good guys.
Similarly, Clint likes a company to tell it like it is. There’s no better way
than with a client list to help “prove” the company works in a lot of geographies
and industries (and a maybe national map might help illustrate that as well).
Why no client list or did we miss it?
Some interesting content on the site--but nothing that compelling for prospects,
in particular, to motivate them to ”trade” contact information and in return get
some really interesting for free. Content needs to go up a notch.
Yes, you can email or phone the company to contact them, but Clint is puzzled
why there is also no standard contact form (which helps ”require” the key prospect
information)?
Clint can’t find Sales Executives anywhere on any big engine by typing in any
obvious keywords either from a potential client or job seeker perspective—hence
the site looks to be virtually invisible on the web—unless someone already has
the url.
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No apparent attempt at any basic or other search engine optimization or marketing
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Poor title tags on all but homepage
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Keyword content not that great
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Not many backlinks
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No pay-per-click
The company admits that it doesn’t measure site traffic (a must), gets very few
contacts (not surprising) but has generated some business via its current site---although
we’re not sure how anyone finds it unless they’ve seen a print piece or that traffic
is coming via another online referral, etc.
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The Ugly
(the look, feel, and usability)
Overall, Clint thinks it’s pretty easy to gallop around the site and find what
he needs to find.
This is a sometimes a tough call: to put the “principal’s/owner’s” photo and
name/title on a homepage and every other page pretty says you’re a one person
firm (and it doesn’t sound like that is exactly so); that’s maybe OK if one’s
own name is pretty well known in your business, but you might think about putting
just putting the photo in the About Us section. Clint likes the photo itself,
and if you decide to keep Cindy’s photo/name/title on the homepage and elsewhere,
there’s no reason not to link to your bio
Pinkish/Red main color and yellow are a bit garish, but at least different. Maybe
just not our cup of tea.
Main sub-navigation buttons are too small and tough to read as are the sub navigation
drop-downs. Clint advises to make them larger since a lot of folks just don’t
see that well.
Some, but not enough cross links on pages your site to encourage an “action.”
Highlighted testimonial on homepage should be a link to other testimonials
No search site function
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Overall Grade: B-
Overall, Sales Executives has a lot better web site than most businesses, especially small businesses.
Executive recruitment/headhunting, though, is a very competitive game online
with big and small players--paying some big bucks (e.g. for pay-per-click and
other search engine marketing). Without some substantial investment in search
engine marketing (and some site tweaking) by Sales Executives, it would be difficult to generate more business prospects via their site. There
might be some low hanging fruit keywords if the company wanted to focus on specific
geographies and or industries. It’s just plain crowded out there in this “space,”
and Sales Executives would need to be willing to buy itself into some top search engine positions.
Trying to attract resumes would be at least as difficult online—and likely not
worth the investment given all of the online job services that also compete for
resumes. And it looks like the company has other mechanisms to do that anyway.
That being said, the Sales Executives site can continue to be a good complement to the company’s other marketing efforts.
For prospects and job seekers who do find Sales Executives, it certainly makes a pretty good impression—but one which could be even better.
My sidekick Clint says, “Tweak it around the edges some and get your feet wet
trying the search engine marketing game for a few months—you might be surprised.
But make sure to measure your traffic and results.”
Next week—the final web site will be on the firing line.
615-661-6042
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1723 Stillwater
Circle | Brentwood, TN 37027 | 615.661.6042
tom.ranseen@NoSpinMarketing.com
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