Posted: 2010-04-19 13:51:02
It is surprising I know, but there are a still businesses out there in the UK who turn away from the web as both a way to sell and a way of doing business.
This is sort of baffling in 2010, but there are often good reasons given.
For example, a common one is: "we had a website and it did not get us business and so we stopped paying for it and so down it went".
Whilst this may sound like someone with his head in the sand it is actually fair. The web site most likely did not bring in the bacon and so was a waste of money.
At the time the decision was rational. The problem is of course that the web does work for other people, so why did the last effort fail?
Not asking this question squanders an opportunity. Often the reason early stage web sites fail to deliver is a mixture of bad structure, inadequate content, poor promotion, and general lack of focus.
This last point is worth dwelling on. Lack of focus often comes from lack of understanding and too often the people designing and developing the web site insist on talking technobabble to the customer and dress everything up relating to the build as some sort of black art.
Well, search engines aside, web site building and promoting need not be a black art and I for one like to explain in plain English exactly what is going on and what our clients can expect from working with us.
There are always other approaches that can be taken: it is not the case that one failure means this way of promoting the business should never be tried again.
One thing is for certain, in 2010 the internet cannot be ignored as way of doing business and with the right development partner on board it can bring real rewards.