creating an annual report website
Annual report websites are very different to corporate websites. They originate for a very different reason, and fulfil a different purpose. Hence, building either requires a unique approach, resources and processes.
Content management
Annual reports cover a company's activities throughout the preceding year. As the document reports retrospectively, additions after the site goes live are few. A content management system (CMS) is therefore not essential.
However, a CMS can speed up the process of uploading initial content, especially for non-technical content providers.
Content in a printed annual report can run as long as 100 pages, and include complex graphs and tables. Access is imperative to ensure the print edition content can be transferred quickly and easily to the electronic edition.
Depending on the complexity of the style sheets, some HTML knowledge of HTML may be required on the part of those uploading content.
Traffic to the site
The bulk of traffic to an annual report site comes soon after it is launched. Ongoing traffic is likely to decrease over ensuing days, as all stakeholders have read content, and have few reasons to return.
Calculate the likely spike of traffic at the launch and ensure the server hosting the website is capable of hosting enough connections and stream video if necessary.
Accuracy of content
Where a corporate site could be quite vague, or written with exaggeration, annual reports have to be highly accurate. Every word and figure may be scrutinised. Auditors read, cross-reference and approve the electronic edition against the print edition.
Achieving this level of detail can be an exhausting task, so it is important the production team are aware from the beginning the expectation placed upon them.
Design of the annual report website
In most cases, the design of the online edition follows the print edition. This is because most companies still offer a print edition, and the creation of an annual report traditionally begins with print.
As such, designing an annual report is not so much an exercise in creativity, but design discipline. Being able to recognise key motifs in the print edition, and translate them effectively to a web page is essential.
The subtle design elements which are easily achieved in print, can be quite a challenge for developers to achieve online.
Developers who are normally very technical people, can struggle to pick up the typographic nuances set out by the print designer, including column grid of the page, space before headlines, leading in body copy, size of headlines and creation of a consistent relationship between sizes of images.
Creating cascading style sheets (CSS) that accurately reflects the print edition's style sheets, requires an eye for detail.
Tight production deadline
Annual report sites are built under great time pressure. Content is normally only available once the print edition is approved, giving the online production team only a few days to upload content.
The pressure of the deadline does keep all parties focused on contributing their scope of work. However, it also means there is little room for things to go wrong. Careful planning and identification of key hurdles well in advance will keep development on track.
Objectives of an annual report website
While the objective of a corporate site may be to gather sales leads, annual reports don't have much in the way of a two-way dialogue. In fact, in the few instances when a visitor has a query, this enquiry is best directed to a contact page on the corporate website.
Define the objective. Is the objective to match the print edition? Or offer dynamic ways in which the visitor can choose to assemble content, other than viewing a pure webpage.
Given the tight production deadline, be clear in what you are setting out to achieve.
Serving dynamic content
Content in a database can be presented in variety of ways to the user. Apart from serving a pure web page, you can offer a several other platforms like print-friendly version, dynamic PDF and mobile.
If the objective of the annual report is to match the print edition, be careful how many platforms you introduce. Each platform is like another website, with its own template, CSS style sheet and testing requirements.
Adding just one platform, can multiply the size of a project by a factor of two.
User content sharing functions
Placing video content in Youtube to be featured on the annual report website may not be desirable, if the video is intended to be viewed alongside the content on the page. Sharing functions allow for quicker proliferation of content, but can also present content out of context.
In addition, functions like RSS and Twitter are not much use when content is added once with no subsequent posts.
Average time spent browsing
Set a target of 8 minutes of average browsing. Most corporate sites, even those with blogs, are lucky to achieve half of that.
Visitors are more engaged with annual report content. For instance, a shareholder will read more pages than a first time visitor to a corporate site looking to contact a sales representative. There is more detail for the visitor to absorb, and they are likely to read every word as opposed to skimming.
To keep an audience engaged, consider adding videos, and build relationships between articles using keywords. Plug-ins can examine keyword density of pages, or track user history, and make intelligent suggestions about what a visitor ought to read next.
Creating related links between articles removes dead ends and keeps the user journey moving forward.
Security
The window for the annual report to make the right impression is much smaller than for a corporate site. Unlike a corporate site which may only have a few hundred visitors per day, an annual report site can have a few hundred per hour.
Security from hacking is paramount. If the site is being hosted externally, carefully consider how to prevent attacks and have in place a disaster recover plan in the event a hack does occur.
For more on security click here.
Written 17th Oct 2009
