Leslie Byrne for Lt. Governor Website
On June 14th, Leslie Byrne won the Democratic nomination for Lt. Governor of Virginia in a tough 4 way primary. Her general election battle against Bill Bolling will not be any easier. There are several things about the website that have been very effective and several others that could use some improvement. In addition, the overall online campaign would be wise to start a blog and reach out to southern VA as well as southwestern VA.
One thing the Byrne for Lt. Governor site does extremely well is its pitch for fundraising. They don't throw it in your face as soon as you enter the site, but if you click on the contribute button, you don't simply get an address or a link, but a full contribution pitch complete with their weekly fundraising goal, their overall goal, and their progress in achieving it (though instead of the bat, they use the thermometer). Another great concept on the Byrne for Lt. Governor website is the e-card that supporters can send to their friends. Since a race for Lt. Governor is not at the top of everyone's minds like a presidential race, much of the campaigning will be person to person. By allowing supporters to easily send e-cards about issues like health care and education to their friends and co-workers, the Byrne campaign will be reaching a greater number of voters at a much earlier time than her opponent.
Even with a good contribution page and a smart person to person strategy, there is still work that needs to be done on Leslie Byrne's campaign site. First of all she has no issue references to rural and southern VA concerns. The site seems centered on northern VA even after the primary. There are several links on the side that you click on (including "events") that result in a page that says "coming soon". I also feel that in general, there is just too much text on the website. Even where users click on the link for issue information or a biography, the campaign would be wise to present the information in bullets instead of just a big blob of text.
While the e-cards are a good way to ask supporters to reach out to gain more votes, a regionalized blog will be an very good idea for this campaign since their candidate is so grounded in northern VA and so unknown in the rest of the state. IN order to do this, they must first start a blog and activate supporters from each community to begin posting supportive comments about Sen. Byrne. With this set up, it would be easy to allow others to join in and create a new link on the site saying "Come see who else from XXXXXX is supporting Leslie". This would also let the campaign gain greater insight from supporters about what the hot button issues are in each region and locality. The fact that she and her campaign have been grounded in Northern VA is Leslie Byrne's greatest weakness right now. This is something she can definitly overcome, its just going to take a bit of work. Reaching out over the web is a good place to start.
One thing the Byrne for Lt. Governor site does extremely well is its pitch for fundraising. They don't throw it in your face as soon as you enter the site, but if you click on the contribute button, you don't simply get an address or a link, but a full contribution pitch complete with their weekly fundraising goal, their overall goal, and their progress in achieving it (though instead of the bat, they use the thermometer). Another great concept on the Byrne for Lt. Governor website is the e-card that supporters can send to their friends. Since a race for Lt. Governor is not at the top of everyone's minds like a presidential race, much of the campaigning will be person to person. By allowing supporters to easily send e-cards about issues like health care and education to their friends and co-workers, the Byrne campaign will be reaching a greater number of voters at a much earlier time than her opponent.
Even with a good contribution page and a smart person to person strategy, there is still work that needs to be done on Leslie Byrne's campaign site. First of all she has no issue references to rural and southern VA concerns. The site seems centered on northern VA even after the primary. There are several links on the side that you click on (including "events") that result in a page that says "coming soon". I also feel that in general, there is just too much text on the website. Even where users click on the link for issue information or a biography, the campaign would be wise to present the information in bullets instead of just a big blob of text.
While the e-cards are a good way to ask supporters to reach out to gain more votes, a regionalized blog will be an very good idea for this campaign since their candidate is so grounded in northern VA and so unknown in the rest of the state. IN order to do this, they must first start a blog and activate supporters from each community to begin posting supportive comments about Sen. Byrne. With this set up, it would be easy to allow others to join in and create a new link on the site saying "Come see who else from XXXXXX is supporting Leslie". This would also let the campaign gain greater insight from supporters about what the hot button issues are in each region and locality. The fact that she and her campaign have been grounded in Northern VA is Leslie Byrne's greatest weakness right now. This is something she can definitly overcome, its just going to take a bit of work. Reaching out over the web is a good place to start.
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