Saturday, May 31, 2008

Today Is The Deadline To Enter 2008 WebAwards

The WebAwards are the premier internet award competition that judges website development against an ever increasing Internet standard of excellence and against peer sites within an industry.

Today is the deadline for entering for 2008.

Entering is easy. If you have not already done so, you can create a Nominator Account or log in to an existing Nominator Account. Complete the entry form information and you site will be judged by our panel of Internet experts and be on its way to win the recognition you deserve.

Good luck to everyone who enters.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Paying Entry Fees by Wire

Some international participants of the WebAwards may find it easier to pay for their entry fees by sending a direct wire from their bank to the Web Marketing Association bank. If this is the case, please contact us for wire instructions.

It is important that you submit your entry prior to sending the wire and also emailing us your entry number when you have confirmed the wire has been sent. We have no way of matching the wired funds received by our bank with any entry until we receive your email notification.

Also note that there is a $25 USD wire fee to cover the fees we are charged by our bank.

Submitting Sites on CD-ROM

Web sites that are not currently available online may be submitted via CD-ROM. Please complete the Online Entry Form available in a nominator account and in the URL field, enter "CD-ROM".

Submit three copies of the site on CD-ROM with the entry number assigned by the online entry submission process on each disk. Send your CD-ROMs to:

Web Marketing Association
WebAwards Entry#
P.O. Box 249
W. Simsbury, CT 06092

Overnight packages can be sent to:

Web Marketing Association
WebAwards Entry#
7 Cedar Glen Road
W. Simsbury, CT 06092



Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Entry Database Not Being Updated

We have received several emails from people who have nominated Websites for the WebAward competition and paid their entry fee, but the system reported that the payment was not showing up in the system.

This is caused when the final button is not clicked during the payment process. The Web Marketing Association uses a leading third party credit card processing gateway in order to protect the financial information of our award participants. If the final button is not clicked, the information is not passed from the card processor's servers to our servers which results in our database not being updated.

If this happens to you, please email us a copy of your credit card receipt and we will use the information from that email to update your entry or entries.


The Web Marketing Association is accepting entries into the 2008 WebAward competition until May 31st. Just remember to complete the payment process by clicking the final button which takes you back to the WebAward Website.


Thursday, May 15, 2008

What Kind Of Budget Is Required To Create An Award Winning Website?

There are many that think you need to break the bank in order to create an effective Website that will win awards. Well, this is just not true.

Using data from the participants of the 2007 WebAward competition, the Web Marketing Association has determined that more than half (51%) of websites which won a WebAward were reportedly created on a budget of less than $50,000. Only 5% of the sites which won a WebAward last year had a budget of more than $1 million.

The Web Marketing Association is accepting entries into the 2008 WebAward competition until May 31st, so both small sites and big budget sites will be well represented. While you need to be a huge brand to win some Website award programs, that is not true for the WebAwards.


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Who is Developing Award Winning Websites?

Using data from the participants of the 2007 WebAward competition, the Web Marketing Association has determined that 51% of websites which won a WebAward were designed by an in-house team while the other half were developed with the input of an agency or agencies. In fact, 23% of the winning entries reported that they were developed solely by an agency, 4% were a team effort of multiple agencies and 22% a combination of an in-house team with the expertise of an agency.

The Web Marketing Association is accepting entries into the 2008 WebAward competition until May 31st, so both in-house development departments and agencies have an opportunity to get their best work entered.



Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Award Winning Website designers use PCs.

Using data from the participants of the 2007 WebAward competition, the Web Marketing Association has determined that 58% of websites which won a WebAward were designed on a Windows-based PC compared to 42% of award-winning sites which used a Macintosh-based computer.

When you look at which computer was used in the programming of the award-winning Websites, PC were used in 81% of the winning entries verses only 19% that used Macs.

The Web Marketing Association is accepting entries into the 2008 WebAward competition until May 31st, so we will soon see if this trend of Microsoft supremacy in Web design will hold true for another year.


Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Who has the Meatballs?

Congratulations to Valerie Neuschwander of Web Associates, Gail E. Hageman of Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP and Kimberly Brookes of Wyndham Hotel Group for being selected to win a copy of Seth Godins book from last month’s Web Marketing Association Interactive Briefing newsletter. In addition, Margaret Lahey of Mailer Mailer responded to our blog posting about a drawing and she was selected to receive a copy as well.

We hope they do as well in the 2008 WebAward competition!



Monday, May 05, 2008

5 Tips to Impress the WebAward Judges

With less than one month to go until the deadline for entering the 12th annual international WebAward competition, we hope to provide a series of hints on how to increase your changes of winning this prestigious Website award. Be sure to check our WMA blog regularly or subscribe to its RSS feed for greater insight into putting your best foot forward and winning a WebAward.

5 Tips to Impress the WebAward Judges



1) Provide a Direct URL to the entry – One mistake agencies that submit multiple entries make is to create a page that shows all of the entries and uses the same URL for all of the entries. It is much better to provide a direct URL for each entry, the judges do not need a landing page to be impressed with your entry, they just want to review the site and multiple sites on the same page increases the chances that they might review the wrong site.

2) Make sure the URL works – The last thing you want is to find out that your entry was not judged because the URL was invalid or the changed before the site was reviewed. If the judges can’t see the site, they can’t score it and it will be disqualified. One thing that causes a URL to fail is nominators that include instructions in the URL like “www.webaward.org - click on the big button”. Instructions belong in the instructions field, not the URL.

3) Be brief and to the point - The Audience and mission statement helps the judges understand the goals of the site before the review. Their advice is to keep the narrative short and sweet. Who is the site’s audience? What are you trying to accomplish with the site – direct sales, branding, information, etc? What are some of the features that might not be apparent? These are what the judges are looking for.

4) List the requirements necessary to view the site – Some sites using the latest technologies require specific versions of products (Shockwave 11.0 or Adobe Flash version 9.0 for example) or the download of plug ins or executable programs to review an entry. They will be more willing to comply if they know what is expected when they review the entry form. Also, let the judges know if your site only works on Internet Explorer because they may be using other browsers.

5) Make sure the password works - If the site is password protected, please make sure the user name and password are active until August 15th. This point mirrors Tip #2 - . If the judges can’t see the site, they can’t score it and it will be disqualified. Passwords that change during the competition can be updated by email



Friday, May 02, 2008

WebAward Update

The Web Marketing Association's 2008 WebAward competition Call for Entries deadline is less than one month away. Now is the time to enter! All entries received after the deadline of May 31, 2008 are subject to a late fee.

The WebAwards are the premier internet award competition that judges website development against an ever increasing Internet standard of excellence and against peer sites within an industry.

A Best of Industry WebAward, a handsome plaque with the image of the winning site embossed, will be given in each of the 96 industry categories, including financial services, blog, medical, small business, travel, advertising, transportation, and government.

It's easy to enter and you can't win if your not entered, so go to the WebAward Website and create a nominator account and submit your entry today.

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Thursday, May 01, 2008

Ten reasons why you should enter your website into the 2008 WebAwards

With only one month to go until the entrty deadline, we though we would give you our 10 reasons you should enter the Web Marketing Association's 12th annual WebAward Competition for Website development.

10) If you wait until after the May 31st deadline, you'll have to pay a late fee.

9) Your mom would be proud of you.

8) You will receive important benchmark data for your entire industry and where your site ranks in each of the seven judging criteria.

7) Think of the PR opportunities - industry publications, blogs, websites, by-lined articles, podcasts, press releases, interviews - the sky is the limit.

6) A best of industry plaque containing your award winning site will look great in your office.

5) The WebAward logo on your site is like receiving the "Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval" for Web development.

4) Your clients and customers will be impressed at your industry recognition and so will your potential clients.

3) A link to webaward.org will help your site's search engine rankings because you will be linked to an 12-year old .org authoritative site with a high Google PageRank.

2) A Best of Industry award means you're the best and you can prove it!

1) If you don't win, we won't tell anyone - and you still get the feedback.

Recognition and feedback, that is what you will receive when you enter the 2008 WebAward Competition for Website development. Winning accolades in the 2008 WebAwards - the Internet's premier award recognition program, is a great way to stand out from others in your industry. You will also receive valuable feedback from our judges and benchmarks for your industry. But you won't get anything if you don't enter!

The 12th Annual WebAward competition deadline for entry is May 31st, only a month away, and you can submit your site for review at www.webaward.org. Avoid a late fee by completing your Web site entries before the deadline.

Enter the 2008 WebAwards today and receive the recognition you deserve!