A website development lesson to be shared...

I was talking with my best friend the other night. Now, just to clarify, I wasn't talking to my favorite ex intern, teammate nor frat bro, this guy was blood.

And he asked me the question: How do I substantiate the need to develop a new website for my biz? I felt it was a good question on a couple of different levels. One, he was thinking in terms of ROI for this expenditure in an effort to gain approval. Good idea. Secondly, he wanted to be better informed before he went in front his peers and superiors and asked for a 40-75k new web presence. I actually liked this more. He wanted to be smart; or, at least he wanted to be perceived as having done his own due diligence that included the counsel of experts (yes, I just gave myself a pat).

So here is what I said:

1. If your company prides itself in having a complete competitor advantage in everything it does, from treatment of employees, to the quality of the product and the delivery of the overall product promise, than you can not have bad marketing materials and messages, especially a website where most customers and experience seekers seek out before making the buying decision. A bad website is a turnoff. Kind of like a bad set of photos on Facebook, or lack thereof of any photos, when you are out there flirting like a mad person (so I tried it out, and guess what...).

2. A well-built website, along with a site side analytics package, allows you to not only track the effectiveness of the site, but also the various conversions which you have built into the site to capture information, close a deal, etc. With this information you can evolve the way you message and campaign. Your promotions will not only get better, they will get tighter. You may even determine that you need to do less of them or are able to spread them out into longer intervals - all saving you money and effort. For a busy or short-budgeted marketer, what a wonderful thought.

3. With a nice, clean, effective website that houses comprehensive, relevant information, your other marketing can become more targeted and packaged in a more moderate size. Just as long as you strongly, with conviction (call-to-action), drive the reader/consumer back to your beautiful domain. You won't need to deliver the first chapter of War & Peace like your current marketing. The book is famous for one reason: don't let your advertising be famous for the same.

If you want to chat further about this call me. There are dozens of other smart reasons to blow up your site and build something new - starting with creating 2.0 or now 3.0 two-way conversations with your customers (and allowing them to talk to one another along the way).

These three reasons are just so straight forward and easy to grasp. And before you ask for 75k in this economy, make damn sure you know your key points. Due dilligence is key.

Happy New Year - this one will be grand.

CLOW