WWW.WHO GIVES A CRAP.COM

Remember the movie 28 Days with Sandra Bullock as a recovering alcoholic? One of the therapists uses the line "Doing the same thing the same way, expecting a different out come is the definition of mental illness." Stations here in Fresno still generically promote dumb station web sites. KHGE Big Country 102.7 like 4 years later is still running the same web sweepers and liners about "Going to the web site to win concert tickets and if you can't listen to the radio stream them live".  This is the same station where the MM disagreed with me when I told him web use follows the population and ratings factor of the market and station. He felt it was just daily content being refreshed and finding creative way to talk about it. I said if you look at the traffic of station web sites it follows the ratings. A station with poor ratings isn't going to have gigantic web numbers. Contest players who use to be the 9th call are now in the station's database. This doesn't grow the station, it's a way to be 9th caller because there is no one there to answer the phones.

My question is? When will this edict die, sending listeners to generic web sites that offer nothing other than radio operators beliefs of what a web site should be? Fix the web product, make it listener based, gather a group of cyber-oriented listeners and ask them what the would like a station web site to look like. One idea might be to up-date something other than every 6-12 months, just a thought.

Even product-oriented companies on television spots have re-named their web sites so they have a slogan in them and not the company name. www.ilovemymom.com, www.winatriptovegas.com, www.noneedtochange.com and others are examples of action-driven URL's. They give you a reason through a promotion or marketing campaign to visit the web site. Radio stations are still using imaging and throwaway jock breaks urging listeners to go the web site for more or to win.

There are great radio station web sites and most of them belong to public radio, internet, classical stations - Why because they aren't polluted with wasted real estate and are listener friendly. BTW CBS won the 2009 Web Marketing Associations Web Award for NOW 923 in New York City. Each year the Web Marketing Association's WebAward Competition names the Best Radio web site.  Best websites are selected by judging the entered websites using seven criteria - design, ease of use, copywriting, interactivity, use of technology, innovation and content.  Websites not selected as best Radio website are also eligible for an Outstanding Website Award or a Standard of Excellence Award. www.now923.com doesn't look like a typical, generic, vanilla, polluted web site. It has "you are missing something if you don't click this" feel. 

This process is as dated as giving the phone number and address multiple times in commercials. A comrade at The Fresno Bee who is into music told me, radio station web sites make no connection with music lovers or listeners of the station. There is no cause for interaction, let people judge music, programming or talk about it. He said a radio station web site should be about interaction with the station. I thought damn this is true.

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