Is your chamber website a traffic hub?

The cars, the sound, and the bustle; people everywhere!

If you have ever visited New York City, this is what immediately stands out. Even if you have never visited NYC, the images, videos, and descriptions – even the nickname “The city that never sleeps” – derives from this busy image. 

Interestingly enough, your chamber site should work much like the transportation infrastructure of New York City. Your website needs to become a hub where your members and community can access information moving in and out through many different channels. 

Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah did an excellent job outlining this metaphor in their book Inbound Marketing. They invoked the images of three airports, two major train stations, a large bus depot and countless cabs. But what does this have to do with your chamber website? 

By being an information hub, your chamber can cultivate and connect traffic like NYC. Those transportation channels all become points of entry and tools with which to share your chamber’s information.

To build your website hub, begin by creating a checklist to organize how people find, interact with, and share your chamber’s wonderful content. Most chambers utilize the following:

• Blog from your Executive Director/Communications Managers
• Email campaigns
• Inbound links
• Social media, both share buttons and links to official network profiles

From these portals, visitors can interact with the various types of content that should be on your website. This content should fulfill your organization’s established, or newly established, business goals. Examples of the content that drive website traffic are:

• Website text/articles
• Videos
• Blog 
• Social Media Links
• Podcasts
• Membership Directory
• Calendar of Events
• Newsletters
• Email Marketing
• Coupons
• Banner Ads

All of these digital mediums can be used to bring traffic into your website and keep visitors coming back. An example of a chamber website that has an effective digital strategy and achieves hub status is the Chamber of the Palm Beaches.

The Chamber of Palm Beaches has many points of entry for inquisitive visitors and interactive features with which to engage. They have a welcoming and eye-catching design that will funnel a visitor to any part of their website and they make interacting with their information a breeze! You can be sure that their members and community are appreciative.

Next week I will introduce why it is important to separate website design from the design software. Don’t forget to leave comments or shoot me an email with your thoughts and opinions! I’d love to hear them and speak to you about them.

 立博客户端app下载 for Chambers

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SEO for Chambers, Part 2: Keywords