I just got back to Capitol Hill from a preview of John McCain's new website which has now launched at johnmccain.com.

I joined two other DC-based conservative bloggers (Rob Bluey and Matt Lewis), and CNN's Abbi Tatton, at McCain's campaign hq in Arlington, VA for a sneak-peak of the website.

The website was created by a yet to be publicly announced web vendor, 3EDC, that would be considered by some as a competitor to my company, so keep that in mind as you read my thoughts.

The Good
First and foremost, there is a lot I like about the website.

Smart Branding From The Beginning
I've been a big fan of McCain's effort to brand himself as a "cool" and "hip" Republican. This is a page out of President Bush's 2004 handbook where he effectively made the "W" his brand.

When McCain's exploratory committee site launched, I was immediately impressed and surprised with the simple and unique black and white theme, and loved the logo which, to me, emphasized McCain's strength as a hawk on national security issues.

The new website has embraced that branding effort which shows their attention to message discipline and their communications plan.

Heavy Use Of Video
McCain's website uses video, video, video, and even more video. Every single page has a different video or message from John McCain which will increase the attention spent on their website and increase page views by folks trying to find/watch every video.

The opening video on the homepage is very professional, which isn't always a bad thing. It further emphasizes McCain's national security message, and I actually felt like I was watching a trailer for one of my favorite video games, Battlefield (listen to the music - am I right?).

Straight-Talk Town Halls

The most unique "free prize" which McCain's folks have implemented is a virtual town hall discussion where he encourages his supporters to send in questions via video or email, and he'll respond using the same medium. As opposed to Hillary Clinton's contrived "conversation sessions," which forced viewers to log-in on her schedule, McCain could actually start and maintain a very real discussion on his website which folks will be able to watch and engage on their terms.

He will also be live-streaming a town hall he'll be giving tomorrow at 10 AM CST which was the issue which trumped the launching of a new website on a Friday afternoon. One of McCain's strongest assets - which helps explain his appeal to independent voters - is the fact that he has branded himself as a "straight-shooter." This use of technology reinforces that message.

McCainSpace

The same web vendors who implemented mygop.com have turned that tool in to a "social networking" tool for McCain's campaign. Barack Obama did the same thing, and I would expect every other serious candidate to jump in to the water sooner rather than later. The social network effort on a campaign website will help harness the energy swirling around your campaign, and get people coming back to your website as often as possible.

The Bad
John McCain is the front-runner for the Republican nomination and therefore is not going to "push the envelope" on the web. His new website is by far the best looking glossy online pamphlet of all of the Republican websites, but I'd like to see them make immediate improvements in the following areas.

Social Networking Tools
Before I walked in to the room, I expected to see a nice little package of buttons leading to John McCain's facebook page, flickr site, myspace profile, and YouTube channel. I spend a lot of time arguing the virtues of doing so and thought for sure they would have listened. I was wrong. No where on the site does it offer a jump to their profiles in the community pools where I spend a lot of my time everyday. Their McCainSpace is great - for about 1 percent of their die-hard supporters - but they are letting the other 99 percent of the wind out of their sails because they are "worried" about people leaving the website.

Flashy Images Don't Work
The website looks like it's one big image which means it's not only hard for me to follow, but it's also more difficult for Google spiders to find. "Design" is great - if you're trying to impress other web designers - but if you're more interested in results, then you need to ensure that the communications team has real control over the content on the homepage. And if it's not working, they need to swap it out. They have told me that they plan to have a new video on the homepage everyday. The production costs to do this must ridiculous - especially because they're paying for all of their video bandwidth for some reason. That being said, if they have decided that video is their "hook" to keep people coming back, then their production team is going to be working overtime.

Less You, More Me
Campaigns and website designers have a tendency to focus on the path immediately in front of their face, and by so doing, they are missing the road to success. For example, McCain's website has tons of pictures of John McCain looking very much like our next President of the United States. Which is what he wants to do. But I don't see images of real supporters, or of the team behind him, or of "me" supporting John McCain and that's what they need me to do.

Get Real, Better Videos
After watching most of the videos on the website, it's clear to me that these are professionally produced videos, where McCain is wearing the same exact outfit, talking on a white background, etc. One or two are fine - they kind of remind me of Mac v. PC ads. But after a while, they all start blending together. And I'd rather watch a video produced by "us" instead of "them" and there are none of those videos on the website. I've read somewhere that McCain intends to have someone on his team following him to make a daily reality-type show so that could change.

The Blog Question
Today is the 25th day since Hillary Clinton said she would have a blog in the near future. Today is John McCain's 1st day. In other words, their caution and reluctance to replace their press releases with a better tool is a huge red flag to me that they're not really serious about the modern world. Again, this goes back to being the front-runner, where they have decided that the risk does not outweigh the reward. They do however have a section where they give their supporters ways to help them in the conservative blogosphere including: 1. Start a McCainSpace, 2. Add McCain's blog to their blogroll, 3. Start a blog, and 4. Engage the existing conservative blogosphere.

Conclusion
Overall, the website is a step in the right direction for Republicans and I'm impressed with their attention to message discipline. In fact, if this were February 2003, I'd say that their website was amazing. But unfortunately, this is 2007, and they still have a lot of work to do to catch up with the Democrats to effectively engage the tubes of the internets.

But this is a primary election. Republicans can only be judged by what Republicans are doing and this is by far a welcome addition to the field.

But when we have our nominee, the game will change.

At that point, it'll be all hands on deck. Both Republican and Democratic websites will focus almost entirely on social networking and UGC. (Just a hunch.)

Disclaimer: I neither work nor volunteer for any Presidential campaign. However, I do often offer free advice to all GOP candidates (but only at my blog).