How to Convince Your Boss Your Company's Website Stinks

http://www.michaelpage.com.sg

You’re young, web-savvy, have a modicum of aesthetic judgment and a good grasp of the kind of copy that puts people to sleep online (after all, you click away from it every time you see it), so you’re in a decent position to know if your company’s website is in a sad state. Problem is, you’re the low man on the totem pole and your boss seems unwilling to listen to your suggestions. How to proceed? Dan Heath writing on Fast Company comes to your rescue today with a detailed plan of attack to convince your boss that even if you’re not the highest ranking employee in the office, you are right that the website stinks.

You are never going to win an opinion boxing match with your executive director, because she is the judge as well as the opponent. What you need is an impartial jury. So here��s what you do: Track down ten semi-random people��the kinds of people whom you��ve posted a website to reach. Meet with them, individually, and show them your web site. Give them three to five minutes to click around the site and read about what you do. Afterward, pull out a FlipCam and ask them to answer some basic questions about your organization (let��s call it Teflonia):

What does Teflonia do? Who do we serve? What makes us different from Monvidia [the giant in your space]?

If your site is as bad as you say, you��ll get answers like, ��Hmm �� sounds like Teflonia makes solution enhancements. For needy initiatives.�� (Incomprehension can be comic gold.) So then you��ll splice together a sample of clips into a five-minute video…. Ask for a meeting with the executive director and screen the video for her. Tell her: This is what people are taking away from our web site. Do you think this is good enough?

Cool idea — unless, of course, your boss doesn’t appreciate your efforts and you get fired. On the other hand, you might impress the higher-ups with your initiative and tech-savvy. Would you try this method — and if not, how would you go about getting the message across?