Best Small Business Web Site of 2007 to be Named by Web Marketing Association in Annual WebAward Competition

April 4, 2007; 01:01 AM
The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 11th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at the Web Award Web site. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including small business web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for small business web sites to enter to be judged is May 31, 2007.

"The small business industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. "The Internet has allowed even the smallest businesses to compete for customers on a global scale. The objective for small business sites should be to discover and deliver exactly what their website visitors crave so they don't spend their web budget on those things with little effectiveness."

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward's professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.

Winners of a WebAward in the small business category will also receive:
- Image plaque or certificate of achievement
- Increased visibility for their company
- Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
- Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
- Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers

Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best Small Business Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the Best Small Business Web site include:

2006 - Business Week Online - Small Biz
2005 - Mediapulse for Stuart Row Landscapes, Inc.
2004 - Gerard Konars for Bridal and Formal, Inc Website
2003 - Byte Interactive for Byte Interactive web site

A complete list of past winners and the entry form for companies who wish to compete for 2007 honors can be found at the Best Small Business Web site page.

Using the quantifiable data collected from more than 15,000 Web site evaluations over the past decade, the WebAwards has defined and recognized industry-specific benchmarks for successful Web sites in each of the seven judging criteria and released an Internet Standards Assessment Report to detail the findings of the study. A copy of the 2008 Internet Standards Assessment Report, including details regarding the small businesses, will be provided to all participants.

Judging for the 2007 WebAwards will take place in June through August, with winners announced in September. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet marketing professionals who have direct experience designing and managing Web sites with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web site development and technology. Past judges have included top executives from leading organizations such as Organic, Inc., Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, and Answerthink just to name a few.

The 2007 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: Burst Media, PRWeb, Misukanis & Odden, Small Army, SimpleFeed, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, NewsUSA, eComXpo, MediaPost's OMMA conference, TopRank Online Marketing, Creative Chocolate Printing Company, OTOlabs, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, Rovion's InPerson and eMarketer.

About the WebAwards

Now in its 11th year, the annual international WebAwards competition sets the standard of excellence in 96 industry categories by evaluating Web sites and defining benchmarks based on the seven essential criteria of successful Web site development. The goal of the Web Marketing Association, sponsor of the WebAwards, is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today. Entrants benefit from a Web site assessment by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented to an award-winning Web site. For more information, visit www.07webaward.org.