Gone are the days when your business needs any kind of website just for an online presence. Used to be that any site would do merely to be online.

That won’t cut it anymore in this new media age. Nowadays, you need a great functioning website that can impress investors and compete with peers. After all, you only have about 3 seconds to wow investors before they decide to look elsewhere to your competitors.

When you think about it, your ASX announcements do not only fulfill mandatory requirements. They also draw attention to your business as your updates are posted to the market.

Your ASX releases bring your company profile to investors as you broadcast your successful ventures, leadership appointments, financial reports and other news. These announcements provide information that will encourage stakeholders to join your share registry.

When was your last health check? That is, for your website?

Yes, you read it right. Your website needs health checks. Much like how people need check-ups from their doctor. Just to ensure everything’s in tip-top shape.

After your website goes live, don’t expect it to work perfectly for always. In truth, websites break down when unattended. Often they become outdated, take longer to load and incur other technical problems.

How does your investor website deliver information to stakeholders? In a snap or a roundabout way?

Investors can get lost in your site if they can’t find the right information they seek. They reach your website to consider a potential investment in your business but may end up leaving it because of poor navigation. (Uh oh!)

But all that can be avoided through excellent navigation on your website.

Your annual report is an extension of your brand. More than a legal requirement, it’s a unique communication tool that connects with investors and stakeholders.

Beyond mere facts and figures, your annual report is an excellent opportunity to create a lasting impression through your company’s story. Enabling your business to stand out from the crowd.

Show not just tell! Show investors how your company is an attractive long-term investment through a great website. Especially as you gear up for your initial public offering (IPO).

As you prepare to be listed, providing facts and figures about your business is important. Presenting a strong company story through your website is essential to your IPO’s success.

Investors make progress on their journey from strangers to shareholders/advocates based on news they find on online touchpoints of their choosing. Regardless of where they find you online, you’ll be trying to get them to your investor website.

Because your investor website is the king of touchpoints that you control. It’s 100% under your control. It's the place where you have the best chance of influencing investors to like and trust you. So you need to give it your very best shot!

Is it time to take your company public?

You’re set to fast-track your business’s growth and expand operational capabilities. You want to establish your brand and expand beyond your investor community. You’re ready for the next step forward.

But before you go public, one of the tasks you need to accomplish is to set up your investor website. Equipping your site for your initial public offering is crucial if you want to hit the ground running from the day of your IPO and onwards.

Finally! Your new website is about to go live.

After organising its design and content, your site is now ready to be launched into the big wide world. Well done! Thank you too for entrusting your website development to our IRM team.

But before we hit the go-live button, a final run-through is needed to give your site the best start possible. It’s much like how pilots double-check controls before taking off.

The new ASX website launched on 12 October presents issues for many companies who use it to show announcements from their own websites or publish links in their emails.

These companies need to fix potentially hundreds of incorrect links, and possibly get permission from ASX.

These issues apply to you if...

On Monday, October 12, ASX launched their new website, www2.asx.com.au.

Unfortunately for the first day it did not display ASX Announcements. There was a message on the home page which said...

"ASX announcements are currently not displaying on the ASX website. All company announcements are available to view via brokers and news agencies."

This year has been filled with uncertainty for many organisations, especially when it comes to AGMs. Companies with a reporting deadline of December 31 bore the brunt of the COVID-induced uncertainty earlier this year, during the off-peak AGM season in April and May. But, many companies adapted, successfully taking the virtual “leap” into unknown territory.

Out of the 4500 meetings Computershare has already conducted across the globe this year, over 1300 have been fully virtual. At the same time in 2019, the number of virtual meetings was only in the low hundreds.

A better user experience. That’s what an interactive website offers your audience, such as investors and clients.

When your site is interactive, it engages users as they go through information displayed on your web pages. It’s just more enjoyable to use. So, it receives more traffic and gains all the benefits that come with it.

How is this best achieved?

If your company's heading for an initial public offering (IPO), you can’t do without a website to support your listing. Launching an IPO without a site is like going into battle without arsenal. You’ve got to be equipped even before entering the market.

Going for an IPO means you are now expected to communicate with investors, including analysts and financial journalists. The first point of contact for these stakeholders searching for information about your company of course would be  your investor website - the front door to your house!

Want to position your company above peers? Then your website shouldn’t look like everyone else's.

You'd want a site that's unique to your company, designed with your requirements. Enabling you to reinforce your brand as its blueprint is specific your business.

A customised web site that supports your current and future goals is ideal. Created with a foundation that’s built to handle modifications as your organisation expands.

Your annual report is not only an ASX requirement but is actually an online touchpoint touchpoint for your investor communications.

Really? It's a printed document, isn't it? A simple PDF printed document.

You need to think about how it's mainly consumed. Yes, online! The Internet is our preferred medium of communication these days and more and more investors are viewing this document from their mobile devices.

Can you guess one of the most frequently visited pages on your investor website?

It’s the share prices and charts page.

Website visit statistics from hundreds of companies show that this page is among the top 5 frequently visited pages.

Yes, investors want to see your company’s share price. They enjoy a chart showing your recent performance too.

Ensuring continued investor engagement in the midst of challenges in our current environment. That's quite an undertaking for ASX-listed companies this year.

Even annual general meetings (AGMs) are taking on new forms. Thankfully, regulators have adapted more options for businesses to fulfill requirements in the present setup.

So, how you going with your once-a-year meeting?

Attracting good candidates can be a challenging and costly task in highly competitive job markets. Recognising this, more and more companies have been investing in their own function-rich careers centres.

Check out how diversified mining and exploration company IGO (ASX:IGO) gets the most out of its website's candidate-rich Careers section.

You’ve just produced a video interview of your CEO presenting your company’s latest updates. It’s one you’re incredibly proud of!

So, you managed to upload it directly on your website. Of course! It’s the fastest way to convey your business highlights to investors, right?

Or so you thought.