Who Needs A Web Site Anymore?
I had coffee with a young entrepreneur last week, she was telling me about setting up her business - choosing a web site URL, and a business name, getting set up to take credit cards… We got into a whole conversation about whether she’d be better off having a web site or a blog, since she’s starting a service taking people on culinary and wine tours around the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
I was reminded of our conversation by an article in ClickZ this morning called: “Do you need an actual website?”
In the article, Sean Carton, the author, defined a web site in this way:
“Most of us have these kinds of sites. They’ve got “about us” sections, “portfolio/case study/customers” sections, “services” sections, perhaps even “product” sections. They’re constructed as tightly integrated packages, designed to be browsed in a certain order. Information architects carefully craft the user experience. In many ways, they’re publications about our companies, designed to provide a positive brand experience fine-tuned to what we want to tell visitors about ourselves.”
Yep, that’s pretty much the status quo for most business web sites. And these sites aren’t easy to keep up by mere mortals; which is only one reason that I encourage people like Candace to look for alternatives like blogging software.
After years building and managing corporate web sites both personally (using a content management system (CMS)) and through other people (using a team of marketers and IT folks); I was recently introduced to Drupal and Joomla (open source CMS tools) for a couple of of my clients.
As a result, I have been forced to learn a tiny bit of HTML coding in order to work within it and rebuild their web site. The novelty of it wore off pretty quickly, but I’m glad I’ve had to learn it.
My point? Does Candace want to take the time it’ll take her to maintain a web site, or does she want to take the time to sell her services? She should start a blog.
Myth: A blog doesn’t look like a ‘real’ web site.
Fact: Have a look at Clip-N-Seal - a web site built on a blog engine that’s been so successful, it’s the only marketing vehicle Byron uses to sell them. There are a million other examples, but this is one that I personally know is true.
Myth: People looking for products or services want to find substantial businesses or brands to buy from, especially when they look online.
Fact: People want to find relevant products and services online. eBay and Craig’s List have proven that people are willing to buy products from folks they don’t know.
So who needs a web site anymore? Candace does. She just needs to create it using blog software. And forget getting set up to take VISA - she should get a PayPal account and be done with it. Then she’ll have the infrastructure set up to run a successful business…
… and she’ll have the time to go out and sell it.
