Corporate websites continue to improve their ability to capture the attention of visitors. You might think that the best are those that offer consumer products. Well, I found a corporate website that —
is a global market leader in drawn steel wire products and applications and a technological leader in its two core competences: advanced metal transformation and advanced materials and coatings.
The company is Bekaert and it has been in business since 1880: a remarkable achievement.
The company must have realized that the above description might need a little expansion, so they also said —
You might know us for example as a supplier of steel cord products for tire reinforcement – one in every four tires in the world runs on Bekaert steel cord. Or maybe you know our Dramix® steel fibers, used to reinforce over five million cubic meters of concrete every year. But we also offer significant added value for various businesses in all kinds of markets, from automotive to construction and from utilities to the heavy equipment sector.
Somebody is on the ball, offering an informal translation. OK, on to the Home Page —
Bekaert goes right to the task. Information about the company is readily available.
1., 2. On the upper left is Bekaert in a nutshell; click on More About Us to obtain a well done summary of what the company does.
3. The Annual Report is prominently displayed. Click on the image and you get a easy to navigate online version. No PDFs here.
4. The company provides a search capability to find out more about their offerings. This is useful to a number of stakeholders, including potential customers, investors and the media.
5. Continuing on the theme in #4, the company offers stakeholders a more focused approach to match their products to industries.
6. News and share price and no need to go to Investors and more clicks unless you need more information.
7. Bekaert provides visitors with an easy to navigate map of the global locations. Click on the map and the home page shows the map in place of the Annual Report.
Another good feature is this graphic on pages that you navigate to from the Home Page (see right) —
An example of effective use of a corporate website for stakeholder communications. Bekaert’s website is a good example of using the Home Page for quick visitor communications.
Ed Konczal has an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business (with distinction). He has spent the last 10 years as an executive consultant focusing on human resources, leadership, market research, and business planning. Ed has over 10 years of top-level experience from AT&T in the areas of new ventures and business planning. He is co-author of the book "Simple Stories for Leadership Insight," published by University Press of America.
