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.