Study: PR Agency Web Sites Stink

Adrants has a great round-up of the Web Marketing Association's (WMA) Internet Standards Assessment Report. A decade in the making, the study found that PR agency sites are near the bottom among all categories. The study evaluated Web properties on design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copywriting and ease of use.

Steve Hall at Adrants writes...

"While advertising sites excelled in design and innovation, public relations sites ranked low across all categories. Notably, public relations scored lowest for copywriting, even though it is an industry known for effective communication. According to (WMA President William) Rice, 'It's likely that PR practitioners focus more on developing their clients' sites, while their own sites suffer from typical 'brochure-ware.' Another possibility is that the low scores reflect the informal nature of the Internet and the backlash over over-edited, corporate speak.'"

When I read this my gut says that the adoption of blogging and other social media technologies on agency sites will separate the men from the boys, the ladies from the girls. As agencies begin to blog (or not), their writing skills will become more transparent, warts and all. Writing skills are not becoming less important. In fact, they're more relevant than ever in this conversational world. We need to be able to communicate ideas informally in a human voice. Start practicing now before it's too late. Get blogging.

Comments

[Eric Mattson]

I find the statement that "...advertising sites excelled in design and innovation" rather amusing.

Recently I did a research project that involved me visiting all of Interpublic's agency websites.

They were almost all over designed, cryptic, flash-based, and very similar. Where is the innovation? Doesn't design at its core have usability?

I didn't see it. 90+ agencies and I didn't see it.

[Brian Connolly]

Here's something different: see http://www.literatigroup.com/ .

Click on the "enter" button. Be sure to try the light switch.

Regards,

Brian Connolly

[Phil Gomes]

Ad sites scoring better than PR? Ugh! Ad sites are the biggest Flash abusers ever. I don't mind striking a blow for your/our employer when I say that the Edelman homepage is one of the better Flash implementations for such sites.

[Todd Zeigler]

In looking over the list of best PR sites by year in the report, it is clear that they are defining the "PR industry" pretty broadly. As an example, News@Cisco was ranked best PR site one year. I don't think they are referring to PR agency sites exclusvely.

Thanks.

[philippe boucher]

I agree about the importance of the writing skills :)
That is one reason many people hesitate to blog: writing block.