Every company wants to know what customers like about its products or services. It feels good knowing you're hitting the marketplace's expectations.
But the key to success lies in knowing which offerings frustrate or confuse customers. Even better is knowledge of the products or services that customers - in our case, readers - aren't even aware exist but they say are valuable.
In my first two months as Springfield Business Journal's Web editor, I met with three focus groups and encountered just that scenario.
It really got our attention when these sbj.net users told us what features are confusing, hard to find or were simply unknown to them.
Here are some of the better-kept secrets at sbj.net.
Career Resources
Before we redesigned our site in October 2008, the job search page drew its fair amount of traffic.
In its current form, the Career Resources page has several more features than before: links to numerous job-listing sites, sorted by type, location, salary and more; help finding and building résumés; career-planning advice; and tips and techniques for how to get your dream job once you've found it.
Climber.com, for instance, connects job seekers with recruiters and offers salary research, and Beyond.com offers job searches in niche careers.
Even with these added features, the page doesn't get the traffic it once did - surprising considering the current job market. It's available right from our home page; just scroll over "Extras" in the navigation bar at the top of the page and click "Career Resources."
The Fine Print*
Our blog gets regular updates from editorial staff members. We see the blog as our opportunity to give you an inside glimpse into the newsroom: stories we didn't have room for in our weekly publication, extra facts or interesting tidbits that didn't make it into print.
Recently, Features Editor Maria Hoover caught up with Drury University Students in Free Enterprise leaders about programs she had reported on years ago, and Editor Eric Olson gave his opinion on the incivility of the health care debate.
We'd like to think that The Fine Print* lets you into our world, and it's not hard to find. It's also under the "Extras" section on our home page, or you can go directly to thefineprintsbj.wordpress.com.
Lists
This one really surprised me. We've known for a long time that our readers find a lot of value in our weekly lists of the area's largest companies by industry. But we were amazed at how many people were unaware that all of that information - and much more - is available for purchase through our Web site.
Do you want a reprint of a list that appeared in the paper? It's there. Excel spreadsheets of our list information, sorted for easy organization? Got that, too. Information on all the companies that send in questionnaires, not just those that made the top list? Done.
For instance, 15 companies made the largest architects list published Jan. 5, but 27 firms responded, and all of their information is online.
Our entire Book of Lists? Go to the Web site - the Book of Lists is exclusively an online product, replaced in print by our annual PowerSource publication.
The easiest way to find all this valuable information? Go to sbj.net/lists.
Contact
We also encourage all our readers to keep in contact with us. Tell us what you think. You can submit comments about recent stories, tell us about your business accomplishments and new hires, or just pass along a tip. Your comments also let us know if our various products are hitting the mark.
All in all, we want sbj.net to be the first place you visit in your online travels, and we want it to be a frequent stopping point throughout the day. And please, let us know what you think - we always want to improve our little corner of the online world![[In-content Ad]]
Springfield Business Journal Web Editor Jeremy Elwood can be reached at jelwood@sbj.net.
