Best Financial Services Web site of 2009 to be Named by Web Marketing Association in Annual WebAward Competition

    WEST SIMSBURY, CT, April 22, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The Web Marketing Association announces the call for entries for its 13th annual international WebAward Competition for Web site development at the WebAward Web site. The WebAwards is the standards-defining competition that sets benchmarks for 96 industries, including Financial Services web sites, based on the seven criteria of a successful Web site. The deadline for Financial Services web sites to enter to be judged is May 29, 2009.

"The financial services 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. "Financial websites going forward will need to find a balance between what the web visitor craves in terms of innovation and technology and what the industry demands in terms of regulation."

Web sites are judged on seven criteria including design, innovation, content, technology, interactivity, copy writing and ease of use. Each WebAward entry in the Financial Services category is judged against other financial services entries and then against an overall standard of excellence.

All financial services 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 investment 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 Financial Services Website based on the scores submitted by the competition judges. Recent winners of the Best Financial Services Web site include:

2008 Organic Inc for Bank of America Fees & Processes
2007 John Hancock Funds, LLC for Financial Professional Website
2006 T3 (The Think Tank) for Chase Card with Blink
2005 Merrill Lynch for Merrill Lynch Gateway Website
2004 Moving Minds, LLC for Trancentrix Corporate Payment Solutions Website
2003 Weber Shandwick Worldwide for CNBC on MSN Money

A complete list of past winners and the entry form for companies who wish to compete for 2009 honors can be found at the Best Financial Services Web site page.

Using the quantifiable data collected from more than 23,600 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 2009 Internet Standards Assessment Report, including details regarding the Financial Services industry, will be provided to all participants

The 2009 WebAwards are sponsored by the following leading organizations: Burst Media, B2B Magazine, AllBusiness, Small Army, ExactTarget, ad:tech conferences, NewsUSA, Microsoft PhizzPop, Internet World UK, Search Engine Strategies, Webmaster Radio, Rovion, Website Magazine and 24-7pressrelease.com.

About the WebAwards
Now in its 13th year, the annual international WebAwards competition sets the standard of excellence in 96 industry categories by evaluating Web sites and defining benchmarks based on the seven essential criteria of successful Web site development. The goal of the Web Marketing Association, sponsor of the WebAwards, is to provide a forum to recognize the people and organizations responsible for developing some of the most effective Web sites on the Internet today. Entrants benefit from a Web site assessment by a professional judging panel and the marketing opportunities presented to an award-winning Web site. For more information, visit http://www.TheWebAwards.org.

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