Since I moved to Chicago last week, I have been learning the ropes with a great system of public transportation. Unlike other cites I’ve been to, Chicago has a bus and train system that is widely used by all kinds of people. It’s great and once I figure everything out, I’m sure I will find it to be easy and efficient. Hopefully.

Because  I’ve always got PR on the brain, public transportation is much like navigating a Web site. People will get lost. People will be afraid of the unfamiliar. People will get frustrated when their destination is not where they look first. As a marketer, you have the capability and power to make sure people will stick with you when one of the above events occur.

Chicago public transportation, compared to other cities, has three things that make it easy-to-use:

1. The end destination is clearly defined. Chicago CTA has a Web site that allows you to plan how to get any destination. Using a Web site should be the same way in that the layout should make it clear how to help the user get what they want from the site.
2. You don’t have to stay on the ride forever. Even for people living just outside the city, express buses and trains ensure passengers can get where they need to go quickly. In this new age of focusing on the consumer, don’t make users jump over hurdles to get what they need. Again, the path to should be quick and easy to access.
3. Users share their experience with others. Chicago CTA marketed absolutely nothing to me. I knew before I moved I would be purchasing an unlimited pass because of the positive experience my friends had before me. When someone visits your site, will you be confident to say they will say positive comments to others? Think Groundswell.

Creating a Web site, blog or anything else online requires you to be strategic in your approach on how you anticipate people to use it. An example of this is GM’s corporate Web site. In reading The New Rules of Marketing and PR, David Meerman Scott points out how automakers sites were not very user-friendly. Before these sites got cool, the PR and marketing teams at these companies created the sites by already planning where they want people to go on the site. However, people have their own ideas how they want to travel. Now, the site is highly functional and easy to maneuver.

What do you think about a Web site compared to public transportation? Are there differences? What makes a good Web site?

Photo by Springsun on Flickr.