West Simsbury, CT. (Top40 Charts/ Web Marketing Association) - The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 11th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at Web Award Web site The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including music web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for music web sites to enter to be judged is May 31, 2007.
"The music industry is very competitive when it comes to Web development and companies can benefit from the independent evaluation of their online efforts," said William Rice, President of the Web Marketing Association. "The most effective music websites have taken advantage of streaming technologies to provide a dynamic user experience that does not require the downloading of plug-ins or launching of external applications."
Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry is judged against other entries in its industry category and then against an overall standard of excellence.
All entrants benefit from receiving valuable feedback in terms of their specific scores compared against the average scores for their industry. They also may receive specific comments from the WebAward's professional judging panel on their Web site development efforts.
Winners of a WebAward in the music category will also receive:
* Image plaque or certificate of achievement
* Increased visibility for their company
* Marketing opportunity to promote the company website to the media
* Links to your site from the highly ranked WebAward site to help SEO
* Admiration of peers, friends and co-workers
Each year the Web Marketing Association names the Best Music Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the Best Music Web site include:
2006 - Tellus for Metzler Violin
2005 - Red Bull North America & Zugara for Red Bull Music Labs
2004 - March18 for Sting: Public & Pay Member Site
2003 - Live365 Inc. for Live365
2002 - 415 Inc. for San Francisco Symphony Kids' Site
A complete list of past winners and the entry form for companies who wish to compete for 2007 honors can be found at the Best Music Web site page
Using the quantifiable data collected from more than 15,000 Web site evaluations over the past decade, the WebAwards has defined and recognized industry-specific benchmarks for successful Web sites in each of the seven judging criteria and released an Internet Standards Assessment Report to detail the findings of the study. A copy of the 2008 Internet Standards Assessment Report, including details regarding the music industry, will be provided to all participants
Judging for the 2007 WebAwards will take place in June through August, with winners announced in September. Judges will consist of a select group of Internet marketing professionals who have direct experience designing and managing Web sites with an in-depth understanding of the current state-of-the-art in Web site development and technology. Past judges have included top executives from leading organizations such as Organic, Inc., Ogilvy Interactive, Saatchi & Saatchi, Blattner Brunner, Comedy Central, Sun Microsystems, Refinery, Euro RSCG, EPB Interactive, New York Post Interactive, The Cincinnati Enquirer, J. Walter Thompson, Xerox, Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Modem Media, and Answerthink just to name a few.
The 2007 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: Burst Media, PRWeb, Misukanis & Odden, Small Army, SimpleFeed, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, NewsUSA, eComXpo, MediaPost's OMMA conference, TopRank Online Marketing, Creative Chocolate Printing Company, OTOlabs, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, Rovion's InPerson and eMarketer.
