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Why Do You Need a Website?

One of the basic questions that needs to be asked before any commitment to a website development is ’why do we need this?’

That sounds basic but in my opinion its a fundamental flaw in most small business web solutions. You decided to get a website and hired someone to build you one and it didn’t really pop. Its there plodding along with ten visitors a day but you don’t think it was really worth the money or effort just to keep up with everyone else. The problem in most cases was that you didn’t consider ‘why do we need this?’

So why do you need a website? What business goal or objective is it intended to meet? What are the expected returns on your investment and how are you going to measure whether your website is a success or failure? These are critical questions that need to be answered. In short don’t throw your money away unless you’ve considered the value of your investment and what you’re going to do with the site.

You would think that makes solid economic sense to struggling small business but it’s rarely the case. And its rarely the case small business ultimately achieve the result they are hoping for - and why should it have succeeded? You don’t flippantly start pushing tuna onto a plane in the hope someone is going to be waiting at Tokyo airport. No. You establish markets and do some competitive analysis. Is there a need for tuna in Tokyo? How much do I need to turn a profit on tuna? How many tuna do I have to sell to consider the venture successful?

Now transpose that tuna methodology to your investigation about whether or not you need a website. Some businesses actually don’t need one. Others could get away with an information page. Others could benefit greatly from blogging and relationship marketing or building up coffee clubs or developing for user generated content. Just don’t insist that every business needs one - although every business could probably benefit from one done correctly. And every business doesn’t need content management.

Why do you need a website?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 11th, 2007 at 12:37 pm and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Articles are licenced under a Creative Commons Licence but copyright of images is retained by © Steven Clark 2007 - 2008

2 Responses to “Why Do You Need a Website?”

  1. Matt Robin

    December 12th, 2007 at 12:17 pm

    Before doing anything with a new (web site) project - this should be question number one. Everything else about the project (including the need for a web site at all) hinges on the answer to that question; it is essential.

    Good article Steven….(I like the bit about tuna in Tokyo too!) ;)

  2. steven

    December 12th, 2007 at 2:12 pm

    ahh Tokyo… and tuna. They go together… :)

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Andy Clarke's Transcending CSS: the fine art of web design has been sitting on my bookshelf for several months and I've finally made the time to read it from end to end. My favourite thing about this book from the outset is that it's a designer's book, rather than a technician's manual, for web designers. The artwork and direction in Transcending CSS is enhanced by the attention to detail in the feel and texture of the book itself, the size of it's pages and the feel of the cover in your hands. It's definately a book that affords the act of being read. Looking forward to it.