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An Intranet is only as good as the visitor traffic. Follow these simple steps to create an Intranet that is frequently visited and even more valuable for your company.
Make an Exceptional User Interface
In most cases the user interface is the last thing companies think about when deploying an Intranet. However, it should really be the first thing to consider. If you want your staff to spend part of their work day within the Intranet, the user interface has to be intuitive, easy to use, and visually appealing.
Create New Content Daily
Many Intranets only contain information that is outdated by the time it's posted. Think of your Intranet as a daily newspaper for your company, and make sure that the news is really new. Your staff will disregard the Intranet if you don't keep the information up to date.
Find out What they Want to Know
And not only does the content have to be timely, it also has to be relevant. Cover the topics that people are interested in. And how can you figure out what people are interested in? Ask them! Many intranets have survey and polling capabilities built in. Use these features to find out what people want to know about.
Decentralize Content Creation
The company web master can't possibly create and post all the data that should be in the Intranet. In many cases, this is the main reason why Intranets fail - by the time the webmaster converts the raw data into HTML and posts it to the Intranet, the information is out-dated.
You should be able to decentralize the content creation so that people throughout the organization who have information that would make interesting reading can post it themselves. Of course, you'll need some policies around this, but if you can make it work it will have the additional benefit of making the Intranet seems like everyone's tool.
For example, ask the sales manager to post recent sales figures, and selling tips, etc. Celebrate new clients and successful projects. Post information on the competition. Post production reports, case studies, and customer feedback. Put up information on new products and services. Have people tell stories of interesting experiences they have had with customers.
Build a Community Center
You may also want to have a spot for each department's gossip - birthdays, bowling team results, service awards. Introduce new hires. Have a spot to post photos, and have a monthly photo contest with a different theme each month. Best Sunset, Funniest Moment, Best Sports Photo, Biggest Fish, Flowers, Animals, Pets, Kids.
As the Intranet becomes a rich part of the daily dialog inside the company, you'll also have to think about removing old information, or archiving it, so that the system doesn't get filled up. Think about the "half-life" of the information - when it's getting stale, take it off! This will create an Intranet that is alive rather then static, one that people will be happy to use in the natural course of doing their work.
Be Honest and Avoid Platitudes
If you assume that people are smart (and why would you want to have people who are not smart in your company?), then treat them accordingly. No one will come back to a site that is a whitewash, except maybe to ridicule it. Be direct and forthright in your communication, and people will respect it and appreciate it. That may mean posting the bad news as well as the good.
Post Important Information only on your Intranet
Frequently a company will create an informative white paper or report and post it to the Intranet. The only problem is they also email it to the entire company, removing any motivation to visit the Intranet. You can switch this dynamic by developing a new habit. Instead of a mass email of the entire document, post it only on the Intranet site and then notify people by automatic email that it's there.
This will help to relieve the burden of excessive email that people are already experiencing, and it will help them develop the habit of visiting the Intranet site automatically each day. Post important information to your Intranet and only to your Intranet!
Notify Users about New Content
As noted above, notify your staff when new content is published to increase traffic to your Intranet. Even better, allow the staff to choose what they care to be notified about, and when they wish to be notified. Some systems have this built into the software, while others require simple email links. Create an effective system for showing what's new
An effective "What's New" section will list all the new information that has been posted in the last 24 hours, 7 days, or whatever time you set. It becomes a great time saver for your staff, and will provide a better user experience.
Post Human Resources and Company Policies
Post the company Employee Manual on the site in an easy-to-access format, along with personnel policies and regulations. Post the company directory on line, with photos.
Use System Statistics to improve your Intranet
Your Intranet must have a statistics tool. Otherwise you'll never know what is being accessed the most, which users are using the system, and who is not using the system.
In these current economic times you need to show the real value of your Intranet and make sure the expense you have put into it gets a strong payback. Statistics show what really is going on inside your Intranet, and help you make the improvements that will increase your ROI. Use the information gathered from the statistics to help you target the people who aren't using the system, and improve areas that aren't getting enough traffic, to help you figure out what sections need to be added, and also inform users about their usage.
Monthly information searching contests
Our company, and many of our clients, holds an "Information Searching
Contest" monthly. We hide a piece of information somewhere inside the Intranet - it could be a graphic, chart, word file or anything else that can be stored in the Intranet.
The first one to find the information is awarded a prize. What usually happens is that while searching for the target, staff members get caught up in reading other information stored in the Intranet, actually become more familiar with how to use the Intranet, and discover useful information that they will go back to later.
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