By Michael W. McLaughlin

Look at the Web sites of twenty consulting firms, and you'll see marketing messages like:

• "We develop business management strategies for companies that want to reach the next level."
• "We understand every business has its own unique qualities and requirements, and we will help you capitalize on critical elements that set you apart from your competition."

Such drivel makes a Web site little more than an Internet-based yellow pages advertisement.

When a prospective client lands on your Web site, you've got about six seconds to make an impression. Clients look you up on the Internet for one reason: to solve a problem. They expect your site to look professional, be easy to navigate, and offer content that helps them. Without a Web presence that unequivocally demonstrates your unique capabilities, clients will pass you by.

Ten tips for a better Web site

Your Web site should help convey your firm's visual identity and serve as the marketing hub of your practice — equal parts front office, demonstration lab, resource library, and publicity machine. The content, appearance, and usability of your site reflect your style and reveal your competence as a professional and how you treat clients.

Make your site a showroom to demonstrate how your firm makes a difference to clients' businesses. Use the following 10 tips to learn how to make your Web site a platform from which to tell your story, describe your mission, list your clients, and educate your prospective clients.

1. Exchange value for time

Clients will gladly exchange time for value and insight. Provide relevant, valuable, and usable content, and prospective clients may put you on their shortlists. Consider using interactive diagnostic tools, for example, that help clients measure the impact of their top concerns.

2. Encourage interaction

Your site should engage visitors. On each page of your site, include a way for visitors to interact with you. Enable visitors to sign up for a newsletter, request a special report, link to another page on your site, or send you an e-mail message.

If you don't have a blog, consider adding one to your site to provide another direct line of communication with clients. The software is easy to use and is inexpensive. Use your blog to highlight important items in the news that affect your clients, discuss trends in the industry, or comment on innovative practices.

3. Respond rapidly

If you receive an e-mail message from a visitor, follow up immediately. An e-mail message inquiring about your services will not improve with age. If you use an autoresponder to answer e-mail when you're unavailable, dump it — unless you're away on an extended leave. Automated responses only let the client know that a machine, not you, has seen the inquiry.

4. Keep it simple

Create your site for clients, not for the artist within you. To keep the design of your site simple, intuitive to use, and easy to read, follow these guidelines:

• Include white space on all pages.
• Stick to an eye-pleasing palette.
• Keep the layout logical.
• Place navigation buttons and features like newsletter sign-up boxes in the same place on all pages.
• Provide explicit instructions to make it easy to download material.
• Dump gratuitous images. Some Web sites use stock images of nameless people or irrelevant objects. Using such images is a lazy design technique that squanders premium space on a site. Unless an image on your site serves a purpose, get rid of it.
• Banish ads or banners that flash. Flashing elements are annoying and divert your clients' attention from their purpose. This same advice applies to pop-up windows. And if you force visitors to sit through a "flashing" show while your home page loads, don't be surprised if they leave your site before the page finishes loading.

5. Speed is of the essence

Make sure that each page and link loads quickly, no matter what type of browser or machine a visitor uses. Don't assume that all visitors are using high-speed connections. Visitors will leave your site in a heartbeat if access is slow.

6. Show the legitimacy of your business

Build credibility with your Web site's visitors by including basic items on your site like the physical address of your business and descriptions of the expertise of your team members. Also list your membership in professional and industry associations.

To demonstrate thought leadership, create a repository on your Web site for your intellectual assets. Articles, papers, proposals, studies, surveys, and reports help visitors understand how you think and tackle problems.

7. Update content frequently

Web visitors assign credibility to sites that are current or at least demonstrate that they have been recently reviewed. Don't let your site get stale. At a minimum, refresh content once a month.

8. Assign accountability for quality

Some firms create Web sites but then let them languish. Because your Web site is an integral part of your external marketing, don't let it die on the vine. Assign accountability for the site's long-term value to a specific person or group so that you will reap the full benefits of the Web.

9. Go easy on data collection

Some sites require visitors to provide personal information in order for the visitor to receive a simple report. Keep data collection to a minimum. Ask only for e-mail addresses, and then send requesters the information they want. If they find value in your material, they'll call you.

10. Pass the five-client test

Before you launch or refresh a site, ask five clients to review it and to answer these questions:

• What is distinctive about the site?
• Is the content valuable?
• Is it focused on clients' needs?
• Is the site easy to use?
• Does it clarify what the firm does?
• Would it prompt you to call?
• Would you bookmark the site?

Create a Web presence that does more than hawk your services. Give clients what they want: substantive information about who you are, what you do, how you think, and most importantly, how you can benefit them. Providing anything less will prompt potential clients to leave in a click.

About the author   Michael W. McLaughlin is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP and the coauthor of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants (John Wiley & Sons, 2005). As a practicing management consultant, McLaughlin has helped clients achieve their desired results through innovative strategies for project planning, client/consultant collaboration, project execution, and change management.