Blogger outreach and the Tom Allen campaign

The Tom Allen for Senate campaign gets blogger outreach. Almost. [Updated two hours after the original post: Yep, they get it; see below.]

The part where they get it: they have a "Blogger Connection" on the campaign web site. Click through and you see:

Thank you for your interest in my campaign for Senate. As a leader in the online community, your voice has power and we want to provide you with the information and resources you need to cover this race. In 2006 we saw the power and influence of the netroots community during the Jim Webb race in Virginia.

We want to build a relationship with the online community going into 2008 and beyond. Signing up to be a member of the Blogger Connection is easy. Simply fill out the form below and we will get back to you shortly.

Members of the Connection are an important part of my campaign. As a member of the Connection you will receive press releases from the campaign as well as other information that will to make [sic] your jobs easier.

Looks good--they understand the influence bloggers can exert on a race (even if they don't proof their copy very well).

But when I filled out the "Blogger Connection" form to join, I got a file-not-found error. Whoops.

I'm (sadly) used to political web sites that aren't well tested (see #6 on my top-ten most embarrassing mistakes list), so I shot the campaign an email alerting them to the problem. And I heard back from them within minutes of publishing this post; they're clearly keeping a sharp eye on blog coverage of their candidate.

[updated to add: Not only is the campaign keeping a sharp eye on blog coverage, they're also moving quickly to address problems. I just received an email from the Allen campaign's Director of Internet Communications alerting me to the fix. If you follow their lead and thank the people who point out problems and then address them right away, the story becomes about your responsiveness rather than your mistake.]

--Louella Pizzuti

Make sure to think it through

While looking around for resources to link to a client's web site, I stumbled over a site that included:

Click here to view HIPAA Privacy Notice in Spanish.

Yep. If you really want to make the information available to Spanish speakers, the entire "click here" sentence should be in Spanish. (It would also be nice to warn the reader that they're about to download a file rather than just navigate to a new page.)

--Louella Pizzuti

Email collection splash screens

When the phone rings in your campaign office do you ask the caller's name, email address and physical location before letting them ask their question or make their comment? Of course not.

Whether it's in person, by phone, or online, people approach your campaign with reasons of their own. Think long and hard before you impede them online with an email harvesting splash screen.

I so strongly dissuade my clients from email collection splash screens that I don't have access to stats on how many folks leave a site when confronted by a splash screen, but if you're using one, your web person can tell you. Ask how many folks never click through and how many decline to give away their info. Then determine whether or not you need to rethink your approach.

Consider getting contact info online much the way you do offline: first meet the needs of the caller/visitor and then make it easy to give you the info you want. Online this translates into an elegant site design with a prominent subscribe button. It may also mean writing a pitch for newsletter subscription in your blog (if you have one). Either way, you'll want to think about what's in it for the visitor before you sell them on handing over their info.

Whatever you do, remember it's easy to change (and to track) your effectiveness online. So try an approach and map how it works. Then change it if you don't like the results.

--Louella Pizzuti

Which matters more: what happened or what people believe happened?

As I watched last night's Democratic debate I saw no clear winner, but comparing candidate web site coverage, I declare Richardson's campaign the hands-down winners.

Candidates with debate coverage on their home page

The good
Bill Richardson, debate photo with caption: "Strong Debate Performance" followed by "Governor Richardson showed once again that he is the candidate with the boldest vision and strongest record to lead America forward." [This was not at all my take on the debate, which makes front paging this an even smarter move; the Richardson campaign clearly understands the value of spin and the reach of the web.] Blog: video clips (no clip transcript or recap).

Dennis Kucinich, excerpts from press release, positive remarks from Donna Brazile, and a link to a transcript (text only). [Excerpts from his blog are the bulk of his home page; not recommended, but it does keep his front page up-to-the-minute.]

Joe Biden, good one-liner overshadowed by photo/spin of previous debate.

The bad
John Edwards and Mike Gravel both refer to the debate as if it hasn't happened yet. Whoops.

[edited 7/2 to add: most of the home pages noted above have changed by now.]

How'd the others do with their blogs?

Chris Dodd was the clear winner. His campaign posted a video (with transcript) of his best answer.

Hillary Clinton: encouraged supporters to chat/cheer during the debate then wisely edited the original post to excerpt positive press quotes.

John Edwards: lively group commenting during debate; no campaign perspective.

Barack Obama: one post buried in fundraising pitches.

The ugly truth
This kind of web coverage is not the best money can buy, but it's the best money is buying. Politcal use of the web has become much more prevalent since 2004, but the message is still mostly lost in a tangle of technology.

--Louella Pizzuti

Obama campaign exploits technology but obscures message

The Barack Obama 08 campaign is using the technology well. Take a look at how they have both video vignettes and audio clips from donors on their front page--in support of their end-of-quarter fundraising/donor push. The videos are straightforward, edited with a light hand and appear to be unscripted; excellent job. But the page as a whole? Not nearly as impressive. I'm sure the page will change, but right now it's impossible to tell what Barack Obama's message is by going to his home page. Let me say that again:

It's impossible to know Barack Obama's campaign message by looking at his home page.

The page is split in two vertically--and "Be Inspired, Be Counted" (the fundraising pitch) consumes the left side. This includes links to three videos, a rotating audio clip (with text excerpt), a (presumably) new-donor name/location crawl, and updated stats about how many people have donated this quarter.

Sound busy? It is, but it works both visually and in getting the "donate now" message across.

But what about the Obama-curious? What's here for them? Nothing. To get any actual information about Barack Obama and what he stands for, you have to click through at least one page deeper. The people in charge of Obama's home page understand technology but they're losing the casually curious visitor.

Don't make this mistake on your site; technology is important--even imperative--but technology should exist in service to the message, not to obscure it. See also Letting your IT person write your web copy is like letting the phone company write your fundraising scripts.

--Louella Pizzuti

Letting your IT person write your web copy is like letting the phone company write your fundraising scripts

The medium is not the message. The message is the message. And putting your campaign's message in the hands of the person who's designing or delivering your web site is a big mistake. What you say and how you say it on the web is at least as important as how you say it in person, in your ads and in direct mail.

Why do I say at least as important? Because your web presence sticks around while people's memories fade and direct mail and ads get recycled.

Your web site can collect and amplify everything you do--from town hall meetings to parades to debates and door-to-door visits. But only if you treat it like a communications investment.

--Louella Pizzuti

10 easy things elected officials can do to make their web sites less embarrassing

1. Stop referring to the past as if it’s in the future.
Most sites are not updated frequently (or at all) after the election. At the very minimum, you should give election results and thank your supporters (even if your campaign was unsuccessful). If your campaign was successful, scrub your site of any time-based references so it doesn’t look out of date when you don’t update it. Want extra credit? Tell people how they can find out about what's going on now that you're in office.

2. Respond to your email or get rid of the link.
If you or someone in your office isn’t responding to your email within 48 hours, you need to set expectations on your contact page. If you’re not responding to it at all, you’re losing a great chance to build a relationship with someone who actually cares about what you’re doing; before you tick them off, just remove the email link.

3. Get rid of the calendar.
You’re busy. But an empty calendar on your web site sure doesn’t reflect that. If you’re not going to update your calendar, get rid of it. (The same is true of any area of your site you aren’t updating: if you have an “in the news” area that’s languishing, use it or remove it.)

4. Make sure every person who fills out your volunteer form gets a prompt response.
Do this even if you’re not currently in the middle of a campaign; this is not about you, it’s about them. They found your web site, filled out your form and want to help. Thank them and give them some expectation of when things will heat up. (And heck, while you’re at it, why don’t you recruit them to send emails in response to offers of volunteer help?)

5. Give your press releases a home on the web.
You—or someone in your office—are already doing this work so expose more people to it (and start building a library of your accomplishments) by making them available (preferably not as pdfs) on your site.

6. Make sure your links go to the right place.
Really. You’d be surprised how many political sites include broken links or calendar buttons that link to a volunteer form. Ask a volunteer or a kid to go through and click every single link. And then fix what’s broken.

7. Remove or resize photos that are too small to see whose hand you’re shaking.
The mere presence of photos does not make your site graphically interesting.

8. If you must link to pdf files, warn your readers.
Adobe’s pdf format is a convenient way to distribute materials, but it’s not very web friendly. If possible, include the pdf as html so web searchers will find the info when they surf. And if it really makes most sense to link to a pdf, indicate it as such with a simple (pdf) embedded in the link.

9. Spell check your site, then grammar check it.
Because it's so easy to publish to the web, many folks are tempted to skip the spelling/grammar check; don't fall into this trap.

10. Get someone to update your site so constituents have easy access to news about what you're doing.
Oh wait, that's way beyond making sure your web presence isn't an embarrassment; I'll cover this one (in great detail) later.

--Louella Pizzuti