I tried googling around to check for the official websites of possible candidates in the coming 2010 National Election. They look normal sites at first glance but since I am a blogger, I can’t help but compare them to US President Barack Obama’s website shown below.

“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be President. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post.

Barack Obama built his “internet army” to reach out to voters and he proved him right  with the result, the internet contributed to his popularity and victory. Filipino politician could learn a lot from his website. I did passed by some presidentiables’ websites but to my dismay (or maybe I am a blogger), they’re there for the sake of having a website.

I’m not familiar with President Obama campaign except for Presidential Debate which I believe we should also have. So, here’s my observation comparing the works of Obama’s internet army.

• Website layout – an attractive layout is attractive to read. Use a template intended for political blog or website.
• Social networking – I haven’t seen much of social networking links. I don’t trust friendster, facebook or myspace in this case. Anyone can make an account but they are not really the “real person”. There are lots of Filipino bloggers nowadays, they need to be updated using social networking like twitter among others.
• Optimization – Quality and important contents, platforms etc.
• Contact Me Page -  Its important that possible voters can email or contact you
• Updates – Every voter will search for the truth in case he/she got involved in a controversy. Possible voters will have a negative impression if there’s no update on every major event happened.
• Privacy – possible voters’ emails should not be used on campaign. Make your possible voters participate on forums or commenting in your blog. I hate to say this, I saw some presidentiables’ site asking for contact numbers aside from the email address. Negative points for you, guys.
• Subscription - Let your possible voters subscribe to your site’s updates via email or feeds.
• Links – Links to political party, campaign etc could help.
• Comments – Be clear, sincere and honest when commenting back.

I don’t consider myself as an expert on internet marketing, this is purely based on my personal observations. I’m not Obama’s fan either but his site is the perfect example for Filipino politians especially the Presidentiables if they want to gain popularity using the internet. They could have their own “internet army” but please don’t post all the positive feedbacks, pinoys are tired of trapos (traditional politician).

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