Selling Your Library – Updating Your Website

When it comes to promoting your library, your website is prime advertising real estate.  Are you using yours to its fullest potential?

Consider this: when someone goes to your library’s website to access the catalogue, what do they see and what impression does it give them of the library?  If your website’s home page hasn’t changed in over a year, a patron may get the impression that the library is not keeping up-to-date.  Worse yet, say you still have an advertisement for 2008 Summer Reading Program; they may think that the library (and you by extension) is technologically inept, and unable to make the appropriate changes.  Ouch!  But who wants to use a library that’s out-dated, or at least appears to be in the public view?

I’m not suggesting that you pour a lot of time and energy into the web page.  Simple changes, like altering a photo that you have on the home page once a month should not take more than ten minutes.  When you start a new program, don’t only post it to your events section, but advertise it briefly on your main page with catchy slogan in larger font and a brief write-up giving the details.  And once an event is over, remove it from your website!  You don’t keep last week’s dirty dishes on the kitchen counter; you shouldn’t keep old news on your website.

Help your library get and keep the respect it deserves by updating the one thing that has the potential to be seen by millions – your web page.  Recent statistics show that library website visits in the Northern Lights System are increasing dramatically.  Less than 30 minutes of your time a month can have a huge effect on your statistics and customer satisfaction.