Last week I rang up a client having emailed him the previous week on the same subject.
The reason for the call was that he had not added any news items to his website in four months.
Had nothing happened in the interim period I asked?
We have been rather busy he said and you are absolutely right we must remember to update the website.
Perhaps I am biased, and I have been guilty of the proverbial "a plumber’s taps always drip" scenario but I am coming to the conclusion that websites are not being taken as seriously as they might be and this is seriously impacting top line revenues.
The corporate's are extremely serious - changes to website content is drafted, revised, and versions one, two and three are consigned to the bin before the definitive article has the final seal of approval and is published to the website for all to see.
Whilst we don't all have a marketing department we are all principally involved in sales and promotions of one kind or another and as the consciousness of the public shifts to embrace the internet as the primary source of information, it seems to me that there are two mindsets.
The first is that we all now embrace the internet as a means of sourcing information, products and services, booking holidays, buying iPods, downloading songs and doing the weekly shop at Tesco to be delivered to our door and thinking "this is really cool" (especially ordering your car tax disc on line instead of trudging down to the post office).
The second is that we (and that's the Royal we) have a website and its up there showing what we do, as it is "de rigueur" to have one and the only reason we got one in the first place was because our main competitor got one and that was the catalyst for ours.
The "its not rocket science" bit is that in the mainstream companies are not allocating resource to the website, failing to recognise it as the tool that it is in their marketing arsenal.
The "Eureka" aspect is that there is evidence that this is changing with some enterprising companies asking “How can we spread our wings further" based on initial returns and incorporating web marketing into key personnel job descriptions.
About a year ago (2006) an existing client rang to say "We have a problem with the website, we have not received any enquiries from it in the last six months - there must be a problem with it". To cut a long story short the website has a content management system allowing the client to update news and projects to the website. The most recent article was published in 2004. The scope of the company's operating capacity and skill set in the interim period had increased significantly. This was not reflected in the website, the content of which perhaps begged the question as to whether the company was still active. The problem was recognised for what it was and the situation resolved.
Now, all this may seem a little patronising, but we have had a little pain too. About six months ago I rang a client with whom I had last conversed three months previously. In the following conversation it emerged that he had responded to a sales call and had purchased a service that was part and parcel of our own portfolio. When I asked him, why he had not called me he said "Well, I didn't know you did that".
Food for thought.
The sum of this is that companies want to access their marketplace and an up to date website is a key tool in a variety of marketing/sales vehicles and one which is increasing in profile and giving returns far in excess of the investment. We have clients who have had fantastic returns on their internet presence, though they would call ti their "internet strategy".
The website is a passive tool and relies on the market seeking identifiable products and services that are well represented. Getting the website right is the first step in converting web browsers into clients.
Eureka!! ...but it's not rocket science - just business - grow yours here!
