How to improve your investor website with help from experts

• Enhance your website to communicate well with investors.
• Get feedback from experts who have the experience and skills to effectively review your site.
• Use their recommendations for design, content and functionality.

There’s always room for improvement on your investor website. As in any aspect of your business, you don’t just want to get things done. You want to get things done right.

That’s why you’re open to feedback from team members and partners. Because you want to keep improving your site to communicate well with investors. Though sometimes it may be hard to sift through all the varying viewpoints.

How about advice from investor website experts?

Professional website consultants have the experience and skills to review your investor site properly. They’ll analyse your existing website and make suggestions to improve its efficiency and quality.

They’ll use a fresh set of eyes to offer innovative ideas for your web pages. Presenting proven solutions to similar issues they’ve seen and resolved for other companies.

Such proficient knowledge is more likely to bring a positive impact on your website’s performance. Your investor site will surely benefit from their effective and intuitive expertise.

How will experts help improve your investor website?

Experts will look at your investor website and see how it’s aligned with the objectives of your communications. Checking how your site performs in at least 3 areas: design, content and functionality.

Here are some aspects experts touch on as they review your site:

1. Design

• Branding - How your investor website aligns with your brand and your main site, if it's a separate one. Colours, images and typography should be consistent with your brand’s look and feel.
  
  
• Layout - Does its layout meet current design trends to attract investors? Using images whenever possible and breaking up text into chunks will make your website visually inviting. 
  
  
• Navigation - Smart navigation is key so investors will quickly find information they need. Will investors need to rummage through your website for ASX announcements and reports?
  
  
• Responsive design - Does your website adapt to any screen size as it is optimised for mobile use? Investors are always on smartphones and expect fast access to your website while on the go.
  
  
• Engaging features - How can engagement on your site be enhanced, perhaps with proactive elements? Like adding interactive maps for your explorations or timelines for your company’s history. Online interactive reports on your site make it more appealing too.

Is your website design attractive enough to investors?

2. Content

• Updated info - Giving a sweep on your investor website’s content to make sure your information is as up-to-date as your latest report or presentation.
  
  
• Key investor data - Checking to see your “Why Invest” section isn’t missing and your share prices are prominently displayed.
  
  
• News - Making sure your most recent news and reports are highlighted as well as your video interviews and social media links.
  
  
• ESG - Is your environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy an essential part of your company's story? Investors would rather align with businesses integrating ESG into operations as it's an indicator of financial stability.
  
  
• AGM - Perhaps an AGM page can better facilitate your annual general meeting's details. With this feature, you'll provide investors a central information hub for your AGM right on your website – all in one page.
  
  
• Email alerts - Are you implementing an engagement process while investors are on your website, like a sign-up for email alerts to keep in touch with them?

How up-to-date is your investor website's content?

3. Functionality

• Health check - Has your investor website done a health check lately? To see how fast it loads, ensuring images and videos don’t hamper its speed. Perhaps you could invest in quality web hosting or a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate load times.
  
  
• SEO - How does your website fare in search engines, in short, its SEO capability? Your current SEO efforts may be measured to take steps that will improve your visibility.
  
  
• News delivery - Does your site have a feature that allows news to be emailed to investors as it's posted on your site? Is it able to collect subscribers and group them for proper message delivery?
  
  
• SSL and other features - Any other technological advancements that can be adopted to support your IR efforts? How about an SSL certificate on your website to secure it from cyber attacks.

Does your website's functionality include sending announcements to investors?

At the end of the day

If you’re looking to improve your investor site, you’ve got to be open to feedback, particularly from experts. Professional website consultants should be able to review your pages and offer recommendations for its design, content and functionality.

Within easy reach

In search of a team focused on investor websites for Australian listed companies? IRM is at your service. We’ll show you how to optimise your investor site and work with you to improve it.

For IRM clients, recommendations for your specific website are included in your plan at no extra cost. Chat with your Client Relationship Manager for details or see how to access your suggestions here.

Not a client but you’d like suggestions for your site too? Call us on +61 2 8705 5444 or email clientrelations@irmau.com to get expert advice.

Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2020 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.