In this article I am going to expand on the idea of converting your current “brochure” website to a more customer focused “living website” and some of the benefits making the change.
Some quick history
If you take a bit of time and have a look at the websites of some businesses in your area you will likely run more than one example of a “brochure website.” They typically were created because the business owner was talking to their dear old Uncle Jack twice removed on their step-brother’s side at the last family reunion when the topic of the web came up.
Uncle Jack waxed poetic about the Internet revolution and that got our friendly business owner’s creative juices flowing. Feeling energized and thinking that this web thing was the next best thing since sliced bread, our well intentioned business owner quickly ran out and signed a deal with their local ISP to develop a website. Here’s what typically happened next, the local ISP’s whiz kid took what little business info they could come across and created a web page (or two) complete with blue bordered images and flashing text and your business was on the web. Years quickly passed and our business owner was busy running their business, and now that once “cutting-edge” website has more in common with the wall paper in your Grandma’s kitchen that your dad so fondly remembers than your typical customer.
Evolution of the business website
I’ve talked previously about how technology has flattened the world and levelled the playing field. No longer is your business simply competing against the one other pool supply guy in the next town, now you have to worry about every pool guy because technology has allowed them to appear in what was traditionally your market. How you react to this change is up to you. My opinion is that a living website gives you the upper hand against these new competitors. A living website helps you to stay connected to your existing customer base while at the same time helping to convert potential new clients who are still “sitting on the fence”. A living website helps you to convey your passion about your business, be it running the local dog walking business, or the latest high-tech web 2.0 business. Passion is contiguous and attracts people to the source of passion. By converting your current 0.1 web presence you have the ability to spread your passion across the Internet.
How to get started
Step one is to get truly passionate about your business again. Remember the day when you decided to stop “working for the man”? How’d you feel? Find that feeling again and channel that passion into your web presence. I am not going to lie to you, having a living website for your business means more work (usually quite a bit more) but the opportunities they present to reconnect with your current customers, push your marketing message, and attract future customers is well worth the effort. There are great open-source (i.e. free) tools out there that allow even the most non-technical business owner to maintain their own living websites and with the right technology partner your living website will keep your competitors up late into the night.
Recommended Reading Material
If you don’t already own a copy of the books below, get yourself a copy today (click the links below and help support the site) and read them once, and then read them again. Live these books and then start to develop a plan to build your businesses very own living website, start today – your competition is.
The World is flat
Purple Cow
Free Prize Inside
In the next living websites post, I will expand on the benefits of a living website.
If you have any comments about this article feel free to contact me or leave them as comments.
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1 response so far ↓
Hi Bret
Great article!! I hesitate to put my web site here because you or many other are going to check it out and say it is wall paper after reading this article. What we need is bright guys like you to give us a demo on how to get started…… & Oh! Maybe you could do it for us!
I’m one of those dinosaurs that need a bit of help to get started.