Bank Home Page Offers Hometown Feel

All things “community” are the hallmark of The Bank of Fayetteville’s bricks and mortar offices, and the same can be said for its online presence. The bank’s Web site, www.bof.com, has a hometown feel from its opening privacy statement straight from Chairman John Lewis to its links for the University of Arkansas and Fayetteville.com.

Customers can bank online for free, and for $5 per month use The Bank of Fayetteville’s electronic bill paying service. The site’s security and privacy measures appear to be top notch and the overall theme gives it a real personal touch.

We liked the community pages but noticed that the event calendar was not updated.

Live Web camera shots of both inside and outside the bank’s location on the downtown Fayetteville square are unique. If nothing else, its a good place for out-of-area Fayetteville aficionados to see what the weather’s like here. (We wondered if any industrious UA students had synchronized a time to appear and wave to family members who could watch from anywhere in the world).

The bank’s information technology department said the site has undergone three face lifts, the last of which occurred in 2000. A fourth is under way and will be published this summer.

The original strategy was to develop an online advertising tool for both the bank and the community. Internet banking came later, and we’re sure it was the driving factor for the site’s average of more than 600 daily hits during the last two years.

One art designer said she loved the Caboose Central section for children. It makes nice use of the bank’s railcar theme derived from its “train bank” branch next to the Fayetteville Depot on Dickson Street. She did say the type might be a little hard for kids to read.

Her observation that the site still looks “a little homemade, but that’s probably what they wanted,” would jibe with the bank’s strategy.

We loved the ability to order checks online through a link to Deluxe Corp., but the bank should figure out a way to provide the service without sending customers to another site.

The site details The Bank of Fayetteville’s products — such as trusts and corporate financial services — in easy-to-follow menu links that are as informative as we have seen locally. But we would like to see the coming version include online credit applications.

It will be interesting to see how www.bof.com’s designers maintain the same strong emphasis on “community” with the next incarnation.