Vector Security
Best Web Site Design
Sponsored by Campus Safety Magazine
Last year Vector Security introduced a redesigned Web site incorporating a rich array of new content categories to foster customer relationships. Also new are account maintenance capabilities and other interactivity to build site traffic.
Upon going live in August, the new Web site experienced a 3
00-percent increase in online customer inquiries during a 90-day period, says Dave Merrick, Vector’s vice president of marketing.
“A lot of it was due to the higher level of interaction that the site allows people to have,” he says. “Like scheduling a service call, changing billing addresses, applying for an insurance discount where we handle all of the paperwork. So many things to keep them engaged.”
As an example of the new informational resources, “Vector in the Community” highlights the many types of community and charitable activities the company participates in and supports. In the extensive “Threats That Affect You” section, users can learn more about potential security threats to their residence, family or business. The idea here is to help educate consumers and business owners to make better safety choices, as well discuss how Vector can meet their security and fire/life-safety needs.
In awarding Vector Security the SAMMY trophy, the judges lauded the Web site for its breadth of content, user-friendly site navigation and neatly organized design. Working behind the scenes to create a more successful site is an improved search engine optimization platform. Also key for the company, the site was constructed in a .NET content management system with a simple text editor.
“One of the biggest problems we had before was every time copy needed to be changed or pages added, it had to go to the IT company that produced the Web site,” Merrick says. “Now we can handle it ourselves. It’s far more expedient.”
Planning for the redesign began in earnest in 2009. Merrick led a group of six company staffers in strategy and copywriting sessions before taking a mostly “finished product” to an outside Web site design vendor, he says.
In creating new content for the site, the goal was to transcend industry terminology to ensure the information remained emotionally relative and easy to understand. “It’s not the technology that people really care about, in my estimation,” Merrick says. “It is the experience and peace of mind.”
Print | posted on Monday, June 13, 2011 12:58 PM