Have you ever thought of joining the British Army? If so, their website is the place to visit. If not, do visit the British Army site, it will change your perspective about army careers, the British Army role in defence, and will definitely be a motivation to support them. The website analysis reveals an exciting online resource whether you are interested in joining the armed forces or whether you only require information.

The overall view of the British Army site gained from the website analysis is that of a visually attractive and highly informative website catering to a wide audience. The homepage provides an overview of all the categories in such a way that you will want to explore. The page loads fast especially when considering the amount of Flash animation and images used. The main navigation menu is split into two sections. One is in the top banner whilst the secondary menu is on the left side leading to useful sites. The right side also contains links to sections within the site such as Veterans and Jobs.

Unfortunately the site requires side-scrolling when your screen setting is 800x600 and Flash player or plugins are essential. There is no obvious sitemap link on the homepage which would have made quick orientation easier. The sitemap is also essential for search engine optimisation. Another drawback of the site is that the user cannot get back from the Career page to the homepage through a home button. Instead the user gets stuck on the career page and only the back option will bring the user to the homepage.

The British Army site does provide a browse aloud option for users with reading difficulties. This is definitely useful as the Defence Image Database contains a dark background with equally dark text that makes reading almost impossible.

That being said, images used make a positive contribution to the site and contain descriptive ALT tags. Apart from the home link which is displayed throughout except at the Career section, the user can also find his way around through menu and link navigation options which are both user-friendly.

Content is presented in an interesting manner and pages are not too long. The information is well organized and although a general help to navigation could not be located, full instructions and guidance are provided along the way. It would however, also be useful if an obvious link to plugins is provided to ensure that users can get the tools to view videos.

Several videos are available to provide the user a glimpse of what the specific sections are about. The video quality is excellent and most informative. The Career section requires a special mention for the well-designed Flash introduction and the excellent career pathfinder tool. It is a highly accurate tool for self assessment and finding a suitable job within the British Army according to your profile. They successfully employ email marketing by obtaining the email address of the person who completes the profile and by sending the report which is extremely accurate to the email box of the user.

Another useful feature of the website is that of the online shopping facility. This definitely adds value to the site. The interactivity level of the website is excellent as you can paste code of videos on your blog to share with others. This is viral marketing at its best and shows that the British Army understands how to make the most of Internet Marketing. Live chats with army officers are also available and users can post questions on which they can expect comprehensive answers.

The search facility on the left side of the web pages allows for quick access to information. The titles are descriptive and page titles also display in the banner on top of the pages. The banner changes constantly according to the relevant section. Unfortunately although very comprehensive, the family support page does not have the same font size as the rest of the website.

The website analysis shows that British Army website does consider its users as it also provides a print option. When it comes to Internet Marketing principles they have done it right. The user has the option to add the page to his favourites. From an SEO perspective the site does well with a general Google Page Rank of 6. It has no fewer than 109,180 incoming links at the time of website analysis (May 9, 2008) which is definitely a contributing factor to solid search engine placement. The site does include a Metatag.

Be sure to visit the British Army website, where you will be able to find the latest news, background information, contact details, information about careers, family support, museums, sport, and much more.