Designing Effective Online Press Rooms

The usability of online press rooms is currently a popular topic with information designers and public relations professionals alike. Two recent high-profile publications have attempted to highlight the problems with many corporations' online press rooms and offer suggestions for improvement. Kara Pernice Coyne and Jakob Nielsen's "Designing Websites to Maximize Press Relations: Guidelines from Usability Studies with Journalists" is a summary of the findings of a usability study conducted with journalists on several corporations' PR sites, as well as a collection of guidelines for improved usability. "A Blueprint for Media Relations: Building Effective Online Press Rooms," by David Hubler et al. and published in PR News, aims to do the same, but from the perspective of public relations professionals.

Despite their differing perspectives, the publications come to many of the same conclusions: For one, poorly designed corporate PR sites easily alienate journalists, as well as potential or current investors and consumers. The more difficult a site is to use, the less likely a journalist is to spend time on that site. In some cases, especially when deadlines are involved, journalists may simply choose not to write about a corporation if its online press room does not quickly provide the information they need.

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Designing Effective Online Press Rooms

Designing Effective Online Press Rooms

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