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 The Web Marketing Association announced the winners of its tenth annual WebAward Competition for outstanding Web site development, InfoAdvantage was recognized for its outstanding achievements in the field of Web design and development and received Standards of Excellence WebAwards for the Web sites of Olympic Hot Tub Company and Sky Nursery Gardening Center.
More than 2,300 web sites from 35 countries were adjudicated in 96 industry categories during this year's WebAward competition. Olympic Hot Tub Company and Sky Nursery earned top honors in the retail category along with many national category greats such as LL Bean, Dell Home/Home Office, Polo Ralph Lauren, HP Home & Home Office Store, IKEA, Nike Women, RedEnvelope, MacGregor Golf, Wedgwood USA, Godiva, Office Depot, and Select Comfort.
Entries were judged on top Web site design, copy writing, innovation, content, interactivity, navigation, and use of technology.
“I extend my thanks to Eva Chiu of InfoAdvantage for serving as the mastermind behind the 2006 redesign of the Olympic Hot Tub Company Web site,” Alice Cunningham, co-owner of Olympic Hot Tub Company said. “Our site performed well in this prestigious competition because of her focus, creativity, and approach to elegant, user-friendly design. What matters still more is how well our customers and prospects are flocking to and using our site. That is the proof that matters most of all,” Cunningham said.
The judges were impressed and gave high marks to the site’s ease of use, interactivity, design, content and copywriting.
Chiu said she approaches each Web site project with a clean sheet of paper and intentions to delight each client with winning work that exceeds their expectations. Chiu said that the Olympic Hot Tub Company Web site is consumer focused with vibrant content. It has a sense of balance that blends type, graphics and effective copy with the site’s architecture to create an enjoyable user experience. Visitors can easily find what they are looking for with the site’s navigation architecture well integrated into the overall design.
Those who seek winning results for their Web sites would be well-served to consider these top five questions, Chiu said.
1. What is your value proposition, and what sets you apart from your competition that is most important to your site’s target audience?
2. What is your Internet marketing strategy, and how will your site most effectively contribute to the success of your strategy?
3. What content is relevant, interesting and essential to educate, inform and persuade your site’s target audiences that you are their best choice?
4. What actions do you want your site visitors to take, and how can these be integrated effectively and thoroughly into the site’s design and architecture?
5. What do you want your site to say about your brand and image and how to best enhance them through its design and content?
When equipped with the answers, align with a Web development partner who can bring those ideas to life.
"The World Wide Web continues to evolve in terms of Web site development and the expectations of visitors to sties," said William Rice, president of the Web Marketing Association. "The Web sites today are more integrated than ever and have multimedia tools embedded into the site rather than as links. Once again the WebAward winning Web sites have set the standard for all Web development. This accomplishment serves as invaluable marketing opportunity for both the winning Web sites and companies and serves as a benchmark for all Web sites within the industry."
The WebAwards' competition was judged by a team of independent Internet professionals representing a variety of relevant disciplines of Web site development. Judges included members of the media, advertising executives, Web site designers, creative directors, corporate marketing executives, content providers and webmasters.
The Web Marketing Association is working to create a high standard of excellence for Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Staffed by volunteers, it is made up of Internet marketing, advertising, PR and design professionals who share an interest in improving the quality of Web site development and marketing on the Internet. Since 1997, the Web Marketing Association's annual WebAward Competition has been helping interactive professionals promote themselves, their companies, and their best work to the outside world. Now in its ninth year, the WebAward Competition has become the premier award event for Web developers and marketers worldwide.
More About Olympic Hot Tub:
 At Olympic Hot Tub, "We make it easy to take it easy™" is more than a tag line. It is a statement that describes the heart and soul of the company and how it does business. Research shows that consumers hesitate to make hot tub purchases because they are uncomfortable with the purchasing process, need help figuring out where to install their hot tub, and have worries or concerns about hot tub maintenance. Through the years, Olympic Hot Tub has developed proven, credible, and caring approaches toward addressing these very real concerns and has earned among the highest customer satisfaction ratings in the nation in the process.
Olympic Hot Tub is the oldest spa and hot tub company in the Northwest with five retail stores located in Seattle, Fife, Issaquah, Lacey and Everett and a sales and service center in Tukwila, Washington. Founded in 1977, the company employs 45 exceptional team members and has a customer base of over 14,000 in greater Puget Sound and SE Alaska. Olympic Hot Tub Company is credited by the Seattle Times with the introduction of hot tubs to the greater Puget Sound area. Currently celebrating its 29th year of business, Olympic Hot Tub Company is the #1 selling Hot Spring Spa dealer in the United States. Hot Spring Spas are the largest selling brand of spas in the U.S. In addition, Olympic is the most award-winning spa retailer in the U.S. Learn more at www.olympichottub.com.
More about Sky Nursery:
 Founded in 1953, Sky Nursery has served generations of gardeners in the Shoreline and Seattle communities. Customers love Sky Nursery for its quality plant material and garden supplies and its staff of friendly gardeners.
Sky Nursery started out as Highland Feed and Garden. Visiting the nursery now, it's hard to imagine that the Landry family once sold mostly chickens, turkeys, paints, and pet supplies, and that the only plants for sale were in a small bed where customers dug out for themselves the shrubs they wanted. Today Sky Nursery is recognized as the Gardener's Garden Store throughout the region for its quality plant materials and garden supplies, and an experienced, knowledgeable staff. Learn more at www.skynursery.com.
More about InfoAdvantage:
At InfoAdvantage, the company’s most important service is being an integral part of each client’s marketing team and providing strategic focus, expertise and technological skills. With InfoAdvantage as a dedicated Web partner, clients get proven, measurable results with leading edge Internet marketing strategies, differentiate their businesses with award-winning Web design, increase visibility with search engine optimization and online advertising, improve business processes with Web-based applications, and save costs with dedicated site management. Clients count on InfoAdvantage to stay at the forefront of Internet trends and important tools so clients get the results they want.
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