Producing your annual report each year can be a challenge, especially if you wish to improve on your previous document.

You don’t only want to state the facts and figures, listing all the numbers, you also want to tell a story that features your accomplishments and your plans for the following year. You want to share how you hurdled the headwinds and continue to forge ahead with confidence.

Is your company planning to go public and list soon on the ASX? Then communications must be at the top of your agenda from the onset. After all, it’s not something to be added as an afterthought.

It’s important to effectively communicate with investors, stakeholders and financial media well before your listing day. What your business conveys before your initial public offering commences is as crucial as what is conveyed at the time your stock starts trading.

Has your company’s news delivery been affected by Facebook’s news restrictions?

Under Facebook's new rules, Australian users will now be barred from finding or sharing local and international news content on their social network. Australian news outlets are also restricted from posting links on their pages.

This major move from the tech giant is in response to the Australian government’s proposed Media Bargaining Law that will make tech firms such as Facebook and Google pay for news content. It has been suggested, Google has reportedly already entered into agreements with major Australian news outlets.

It’s almost the end of the financial year. For June year-enders, it’s annual report time!

Whether you’re an early starter or a bit of a crammer, one thing’s for sure, your annual report will take time and effort to prepare. Perhaps it can even get overwhelming at times.

But it is well worth the effort when properly executed. Your annual report will give a considerable return on investment when it showcases your company’s achievements.

With the recent market rally, a window to list is evident and the pipeline for initial public offerings (IPOs) is surging. Thanks to the synergy of companies’ capital raising needs and investors’ drive for investment profitability.

As markets have regained confidence, many up-and-coming companies are snapping up the opportunity to offer shares in the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). New listees have joined the bourse in the past months and more are scheduled to list soon.

Are you keen on growing your business this year? Waiting in the curtains to spread your wings at the right time?

Setting up your website will get more people to know about your company and help reach potential investors. It will serve as the go-to place where interested stakeholders will learn of your brand, your team and the product you are offering.

Consider a pre-IPO website that's simple yet scalable to support you through the entire process.

New year, fresh start! A clean slate for your business to forge ahead with its latest plans and ventures. Particularly if you’ve just recalculated your direction or rebranded your company to better fit your endeavours.

Has your company changed its name? You’ll need a new logo and branding to go with your website and all other communications. This newfound brand will need a corresponding online presence for the continued success of your business.

Gone are the days when your business needs any kind of website just for an online presence. Used to be that any site would do merely to be online.

That won’t cut it anymore in this new media age. Nowadays, you need a great functioning website that can impress investors and compete with peers. After all, you only have about 3 seconds to wow investors before they decide to look elsewhere to your competitors.

When you think about it, your ASX announcements do not only fulfill mandatory requirements. They also draw attention to your business as your updates are posted to the market.

Your ASX releases bring your company profile to investors as you broadcast your successful ventures, leadership appointments, financial reports and other news. These announcements provide information that will encourage stakeholders to join your share registry.

When was your last health check? That is, for your website?

Yes, you read it right. Your website needs health checks. Much like how people need check-ups from their doctor. Just to ensure everything’s in tip-top shape.

After your website goes live, don’t expect it to work perfectly for always. In truth, websites break down when unattended. Often they become outdated, take longer to load and incur other technical problems.

Your annual report is an extension of your brand. More than a legal requirement, it’s a unique communication tool that connects with investors and stakeholders.

Beyond mere facts and figures, your annual report is an excellent opportunity to create a lasting impression through your company’s story. Enabling your business to stand out from the crowd.

Show not just tell! Show investors how your company is an attractive long-term investment through a great website. Especially as you gear up for your initial public offering (IPO).

As you prepare to be listed, providing facts and figures about your business is important. Presenting a strong company story through your website is essential to your IPO’s success.

Investors make progress on their journey from strangers to shareholders/advocates based on news they find on online touchpoints of their choosing. Regardless of where they find you online, you’ll be trying to get them to your investor website.

Because your investor website is the king of touchpoints that you control. It’s 100% under your control. It's the place where you have the best chance of influencing investors to like and trust you. So you need to give it your very best shot!

Finally! Your new website is about to go live.

After organising its design and content, your site is now ready to be launched into the big wide world. Well done! Thank you too for entrusting your website development to our IRM team.

But before we hit the go-live button, a final run-through is needed to give your site the best start possible. It’s much like how pilots double-check controls before taking off.

The new ASX website launched on 12 October presents issues for many companies who use it to show announcements from their own websites or publish links in their emails.

These companies need to fix potentially hundreds of incorrect links, and possibly get permission from ASX.

These issues apply to you if...

On Monday, October 12, ASX launched their new website, www2.asx.com.au.

Unfortunately for the first day it did not display ASX Announcements. There was a message on the home page which said...

"ASX announcements are currently not displaying on the ASX website. All company announcements are available to view via brokers and news agencies."

A better user experience. That’s what an interactive website offers your audience, such as investors and clients.

When your site is interactive, it engages users as they go through information displayed on your web pages. It’s just more enjoyable to use. So, it receives more traffic and gains all the benefits that come with it.

How is this best achieved?

If your company's heading for an initial public offering (IPO), you can’t do without a website to support your listing. Launching an IPO without a site is like going into battle without arsenal. You’ve got to be equipped even before entering the market.

Going for an IPO means you are now expected to communicate with investors, including analysts and financial journalists. The first point of contact for these stakeholders searching for information about your company of course would be  your investor website - the front door to your house!

Want to position your company above peers? Then your website shouldn’t look like everyone else's.

You'd want a site that's unique to your company, designed with your requirements. Enabling you to reinforce your brand as its blueprint is specific your business.

A customised web site that supports your current and future goals is ideal. Created with a foundation that’s built to handle modifications as your organisation expands.