Insights

When the folks at the Brazos County Exposition Complex approached Digett in search of new website, we had a number of ideas about how to best showcase their state-of-the-art facilities.

A few months ago, an eager business owner walked into Digett looking for a new identity. Not as a person, but as a company—Fiddlin' Frogs, to be exact. Fiddlin' Frogs was, at the time, a small boutique in Boerne specializing in trendy, wearable clothing, unique furniture, and some other merchandise you'd have to see to believe.

Recent happenings here have spurred me to consider the above question anew. Indeed, our firm was recently informed that a site we designed won an award from the Greater San Antonio Builders Association: the 2008 Summit Award for Best Website for a Builder.

Strictly speaking, this type of award is a low-risk proposition for Digett. We didn't have to make a formal submission—which means we didn't have to prepare entries, pay a hefty submission fee, and spend time and money attending a banquet just to see if we won. The award wasn't even given by our industry.

Many awards competitions, however, require that type of investment and offer no promise of return; you just can't guarantee a win will directly drive new clients to your door. Still, before you spend your money and time elsewhere, consider what these competitions may offer:

I spoke to a local service organization this morning about, among other things, some fundamentals of SEO. Architecture, content and link-building were the three highlights of this discussion. What I think I may have failed to communicate was the difference between driving traffic through search engine optimization and attracting an audience by offering compelling content.

Going green has been in the forefront of plenty of news stories this year. Just last month, we even shared a blog post about Digett's "green" efforts.