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What do winning municipal websites do differently? Part 6 outlines how cities turn their websites into growth infrastructure, not obligations.
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Why Municipal Websites Underperform: Part 5
At this point in the series, one thing should be obvious: Municipal websites aren’t underperforming because they lack information. They’re underperforming because they lack conviction.
And that shows up most clearly in how they try to “promote” the city... more accurately, how they avoid doing it.
Ask most Chambers or city teams about promotion and you’ll hear some version of the same concern.
“We don’t want to sound salesy.” “We have to be neutral.” “We can’t overpromise.” “We need to represent everyone.”
On the surface, those sound responsible. In practice, they produce websites that say nothing memorable, take no position, and give outsiders no reason to care. Promotion isn’t hype. Promotion is clarity. And clarity requires choosing what you lead with and what you don’t.
Here’s the hard truth. When a website tries to be everything to everyone, it ends up being irrelevant to anyone. Most municipal websites are packed with content, yet strangely empty of direction. They list assets, programs, and initiatives, but never connect the dots into a compelling narrative.
If the website doesn’t answer those questions decisively, the visitor will answer them themselves. And they usually won’t like the answer.
Another common belief is that if the information is accurate and comprehensive, that should be enough. It isn’t.
Facts don’t speak for themselves. Context speaks for them.
A list of assets without prioritization feels like homework. A pile of data without interpretation feels like risk.
And risk is the last thing a site selector, investor, or relocating executive is looking for.
When everything is important, nothing feels compelling.
Here’s where the edge really matters. An overly cautious website doesn’t feel humble. It feels hesitant. Hesitation online reads as:
None of those are qualities you want associated with a city trying to attract growth.
Fair or not, digital presence has become proxy leadership. If your website can’t confidently articulate why the city is worth betting on, people assume the city isn’t ready to be bold either.
Now connect this back to the earlier parts of the series.
When:
Promotion starts to feel like shouting into the void.
Why sharpen messaging if nothing happens after the click? Why lead with a strong position if you can’t measure response? Why take risks if no one’s accountable for outcomes?
So organizations retreat to the safest possible version of themselves.
And safety becomes stagnation.
This is the part that should bother people. Most cities never know what they’ve lost.
They don’t see the site selector who bounced. They don’t see the founder who hesitated. They don’t see the developer who moved on. All they see is “no news.”
And no news feels safer than bad news. But it’s far more expensive.
Winning municipal websites do one thing differently. They decide who they’re for. They lead with:
They don’t apologize for having a point of view. They understand that leadership requires one.
Promotion isn’t about exaggeration. It’s about alignment. And alignment only happens when you’re willing to be specific.
At this stage, the pattern should be undeniable.
These aren’t isolated problems. They reinforce each other.
In Part 6, we’ll put it all together and talk about what winning municipal websites actually do differently. Not in theory. In practice.
And why the opportunity right now is much bigger than most cities realize.
Ask this without softening it:
If your website disappeared tomorrow, would your city actually lose momentum, or would very little change?
If the honest answer is “not much,” the website isn’t promoting anything.
Part 6 outlines what changes when municipal websites are treated like growth infrastructure instead of obligations.
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