To all the über creatives out there about to launch your new “hot agency”- a few words of advice: launch a site before you send out your press release telling the world that you are open for business.
Unfortunately, most trade press doesn’t bother to publish your url, your phone number or your address so potential clients who are dying to hire a spin-off of Fallon, Wieden+Kennedy, The Martin Agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, TBWA Chiat/Day etc.
If I was a client, I’d assume that an agency is the first to realize that people can’t buy from you if they can’t find you, so, start off with your best foot forward.
Please note: this also means, don’t waste your money on a fancy Flash site- save that for when you are too big and don’t want business (unless you are really smart and know exactly how to make a Flash site that is both accessible for the blind- and search friendly- which few of you do). Google doesn’t like Flash much- and so all those people googling to find start-ups like Goodness Manufacturing, Toy, Barrie D’Rozario Murphy, and Brew Creative are ending up on some upstart agency site like this to find a link to your site.
There is also a bit more to it- web 2.0 and search require more than a brochure site- you have to continually add and update content to make your site relevant to search. If your agency doesn’t understand this, we’re happy to offer our consulting services to help you get the results you want.