Public Relations Counselor - written by John Reed

Why are organizations speeding to meet the emerging intolerance for errors on websites and documentation? The answer to that question is encompassed in two words. Public Relations.

Public relations is defined as the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc.

In times passed it was enough to simply have a website. Potential customers tended to ignore the various flaws and mistakes of online content. That trend is rapidly changing as consumers begin to expect, and in some cases demand, better quality content.

Large corporations and small businesses know that an online presence is a requirement in todays competitive environment, and successful businesses also know that attention to detail is key to grasping and holding the attention of visitors.

However, much of the attention that is paid to public relations issues excludes careful study of the companys website content. Everyone makes mistakes but it is a proven fact that distractions can kill a sell very quickly. It doesnt have to be a glaring error to interrupt a reader and kill the sell. All it takes is something as simple as a misspelled word, a grammatical error, a punctuation error that breaks the readers flow or a simple lack of clarity on a key point, and the sell can be gone.

The company website is often the most accessed piece of a public relations material and it interacts with potential customers more than most public relations managers. The heart and soul of public relations is effective communication and a website is a communication tool. To ignore the need for having a website that can fulfill the role of a perfect communication device is the equivalent of flushing a percentage of your companys public relations budget down the toilet.

One must understand that for many businesses, the website is the spear head of public relations. The website is where the potential customer gets to slow down and focus on what you are really saying. Write it incorrectly and your customers see it.

TypoBounty dot com allows companies of all sizes to put many public relations dollars back into their pockets, while gaining the perfection of their web properties and drawing large numbers of potential customers.

Companies are able to offer small cash rewards to consumers that are able to locate and report errors that exist on their web properties. This departure from the philosophy of errors are O.K. is a great PR move. It tells your potential customers that you care about what you present to them and that you are committed to providing them your very best.

Companies have employed declarations of commitment to quality for years. However, most consumers view many of these verbal business cards as nothing more than a clich given because there was space to fill on the website. Placing a bounty on errors through TypoBounty.com says We will give you our best and pay you if you show us where we fall short. That is a much more powerful public relations statement and it actually promotes the loyalty in the customer base that typical mission statements used to.

When image is everything, a few cents per error is nothing.