OVERALL GRADE: C
Products/Services: A+
The top-notch Press page opens with “Latest
News”: recent stories that refer to the Dale Carnegie course or cite the
company’s leaders. Each item includes a line or two of the text, a link to the
full story, and occasionally a thumbnail image. This is an excellent way to
illustrate the pervasive influence of Dale Carnegie. (The same headings and
links are wisely reused below the left-hand navigation menu on all the About Us
pages.) Separate options under “Press” link to company press releases and a
press kit. We have rarely seen CorporateHistory.net’s Commandment
4 of About Us pages, “Don’t take your own name in vain,” done so well.
Just having a page called 100 Years in the navigation
menu serves as a reminder of the company’s longevity. The layout and content of
the page are also top notch. Above the fold is a changing display that serves
as a visual menu of choices: look at Dale Carnegie publications, join its
social network, listen to testimonials. Immediately below is a link to Tips, a page that
offers downloads of 100 tips each for leadership, communication and success. Offering
high-quality free material is one of the best ways to collect names for your mailing
list. The 100 Years
page ends with two pithy paragraphs on the company’s origin and principles and the
company timeline.
This timeline, which also appears on the History page, is one
of the few items on the Dale Carnegie About Us pages that doesn't work well.
It’s a video that requires Flash, so the content will be inaccessible to many users
of phones and tablets. The format is truly awful. Even when viewed on a large
monitor the timeline wobbles along, without any way to pause it or to see more
than one segment at a time. This format is far less useful and informative than
an old-fashioned illustrated table would have been.
Another excellent feature is the Clients page, prominently
featured on the About Us submenu. It lists hundreds of illustrious clients
sorted by industry. Even without testimonials, the names make it clear that
many successful companies find Dale Carnegie courses invaluable.
Personality: D
We tried but failed to find a page devoted to the leaders of
the Dale Carnegie organization: a bizarre oversight in a company whose business
is training leaders. The closest we come to seeing management is the Chairman
of the Board / CEO’s photo on the first of the Careers pages.
Even more peculiar: we found no page on Dale Carnegie! What
a missed opportunity to use corporate storytelling to show the value of Dale
Carnegie techniques. A brief paragraph about the founder appears on the
aforementioned wobbly Timeline as the 1888 entry (his birth year), but you
can’t pause it long enough to read it well. Worse, the photo looks as if it was
taken 100 years later. Very confusing.
Accessibility: C
The Contact
Us page (reached via a link at upper right) is an online form for having a
representative contact you. For those seeking information about local
franchises, a direct link to the Worldwide Locations page
would be helpful.
TAKEAWAY
Give visitors the best possible current information about
your company, but don’t miss the obvious: If your company bears the founder’s
name, then the About Us pages should tell his story, too.
Does your Web site’s “About Us” section
accurately convey your organization’s history and capabilities? Every two weeks
we evaluate one example, grading it in three areas that are key to potential
customers: Personality (Who are you?), Products/Services (What can you do for
us?), and Accessibility (How can we reach you?). To talk about your About Us
page, contact us!
Today’s example was chosen at random;
CorporateHistory.net has no ties to this company.
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