Tip #5. - Websites - I Built it, but will they come?
The true purpose of a web site is not, for a professional firm which provides a service, to make sales.
The actual purpose is to provide information to assist in the sale or hire by a prospective client.
What do we mean? It may help to start with the history of the web site, as such history applies to PI and Process firms. Remember your first time on the web? Was it before 1997? Or was it after 2000?
We need to start in 1995 to understand why we think of web sites the way we do.
Remember hearing about the guy who made a "web site", and became a millionaire overnight? Like all good urban legends, it has some footing in reality. The truth is, early web sites got most of the traffic, because there were simply few destinations for web surfers. Of course there was far less traffic, but it was enough, such that the first Process Server to make a web site, was successful in generating sales because he was the only one. Same for the first movers amongst PIs, Experts & Lawyers.
So the first web sites, which were for the most part, glorified brochures, worked to generate leads and sales, simply because they existed. The early years were truly a, "build it, and they will come" era. But like the bronze age, while certainly an improvement on the stone age, it has passed, and expecting a web site to work, in and of itself, is a thought process that best indicates a fossilized brain.
Fast forward, to 2006.
Why has this changed? Well, first there are now thousands of web sites for every profession, covering every region, and blanketing all corners of the web. Imagine your firm is a zebra. And that the zebra is standing on the plain all by itself. The lions are going to have to fight over you. That was a web site in 1996. Now imagine you are standing in a heard of 1,000,000 zebra. Even if 10,000 lions descend upon you, and each gets a zebra, your odds of being eaten is only 1 in 100!
There are now billions of web pages, on tens of millions of sites, and growing. It is now the era of "build it, and some might trickle in". You need to position your web site to be found. (Useful is good too, but not at issue in this post.)
Ever hear of Las Vegas? Big destination, lots of people like it, yet they advertise like crazy. Hmmm, what can we infer? If they stop competing to "get the word out", you'll soon fall in love with Miami, New York, or Milan. Why? Because somebody is going to fill the vacuum, because they know that advertising brings visitors, and visitors have dollars.
So, you need to "get the word out". What does this really mean? It means you must learn to compete in the market of information. Ideally, we all want to find the cheapest product, from the closest source, that perfectly fits our needs. And sometimes we do, but usually we need lots of information to do that. Thus the more accurate, or "perfect" your information, the more likely you are to find the product or service that most fits those criteria.
The same works for your customers. Have you ever subcontracted work to someone in another area, and later learned that there was someone who could have done it both better and cheaper? Why didn't you use them the first time? Your information wasn't perfect. You still got the job done, because you had information, but you could have profited more had your information been better.
So in order to make others use your business, you need people to have information about you. And they need to find that information. Better, even if you're not the cheapest (or the best), if you're the only one anyone knows about, or finds, you'll get the work. So you need to be found.
And this is what a web site is, your chance to present your "information" for other's consideration. Of course they need to find it. And, that is the point. Unless you promote your web site, it will just be a trickle. Business don't grow on trickles.
So, building a web site is a great idea. And, it is pretty much expected of most businesses. But making it into a sales tool, requires that you help visitors find it. The more targeted and interested those visitors the better. (We'll talk about that in our next post).
You should seek out sources of traffic for your web site, and capture them. You need people who need your services to have information about you, and so you need to help them find you, and not your competitor. If you can do that, sales will follow.
So a web site was once a means to an end, that rested close to the beginning of the means. It was like the first neon sign in Vegas. It is now more in the middle of the process, because now that everyone has neon, you need to educate people to look for and read your neon. A web site needs visitors, and by itself, most small business web sites don't attract visitors on their own.
So if you built it, they will come, but only if you actively promote it. (Remember Vegas?)
The actual purpose is to provide information to assist in the sale or hire by a prospective client.
What do we mean? It may help to start with the history of the web site, as such history applies to PI and Process firms. Remember your first time on the web? Was it before 1997? Or was it after 2000?
We need to start in 1995 to understand why we think of web sites the way we do.
Remember hearing about the guy who made a "web site", and became a millionaire overnight? Like all good urban legends, it has some footing in reality. The truth is, early web sites got most of the traffic, because there were simply few destinations for web surfers. Of course there was far less traffic, but it was enough, such that the first Process Server to make a web site, was successful in generating sales because he was the only one. Same for the first movers amongst PIs, Experts & Lawyers.
So the first web sites, which were for the most part, glorified brochures, worked to generate leads and sales, simply because they existed. The early years were truly a, "build it, and they will come" era. But like the bronze age, while certainly an improvement on the stone age, it has passed, and expecting a web site to work, in and of itself, is a thought process that best indicates a fossilized brain.
Fast forward, to 2006.
Why has this changed? Well, first there are now thousands of web sites for every profession, covering every region, and blanketing all corners of the web. Imagine your firm is a zebra. And that the zebra is standing on the plain all by itself. The lions are going to have to fight over you. That was a web site in 1996. Now imagine you are standing in a heard of 1,000,000 zebra. Even if 10,000 lions descend upon you, and each gets a zebra, your odds of being eaten is only 1 in 100!
There are now billions of web pages, on tens of millions of sites, and growing. It is now the era of "build it, and some might trickle in". You need to position your web site to be found. (Useful is good too, but not at issue in this post.)
Ever hear of Las Vegas? Big destination, lots of people like it, yet they advertise like crazy. Hmmm, what can we infer? If they stop competing to "get the word out", you'll soon fall in love with Miami, New York, or Milan. Why? Because somebody is going to fill the vacuum, because they know that advertising brings visitors, and visitors have dollars.
So, you need to "get the word out". What does this really mean? It means you must learn to compete in the market of information. Ideally, we all want to find the cheapest product, from the closest source, that perfectly fits our needs. And sometimes we do, but usually we need lots of information to do that. Thus the more accurate, or "perfect" your information, the more likely you are to find the product or service that most fits those criteria.
The same works for your customers. Have you ever subcontracted work to someone in another area, and later learned that there was someone who could have done it both better and cheaper? Why didn't you use them the first time? Your information wasn't perfect. You still got the job done, because you had information, but you could have profited more had your information been better.
So in order to make others use your business, you need people to have information about you. And they need to find that information. Better, even if you're not the cheapest (or the best), if you're the only one anyone knows about, or finds, you'll get the work. So you need to be found.
And this is what a web site is, your chance to present your "information" for other's consideration. Of course they need to find it. And, that is the point. Unless you promote your web site, it will just be a trickle. Business don't grow on trickles.
So, building a web site is a great idea. And, it is pretty much expected of most businesses. But making it into a sales tool, requires that you help visitors find it. The more targeted and interested those visitors the better. (We'll talk about that in our next post).
You should seek out sources of traffic for your web site, and capture them. You need people who need your services to have information about you, and so you need to help them find you, and not your competitor. If you can do that, sales will follow.
So a web site was once a means to an end, that rested close to the beginning of the means. It was like the first neon sign in Vegas. It is now more in the middle of the process, because now that everyone has neon, you need to educate people to look for and read your neon. A web site needs visitors, and by itself, most small business web sites don't attract visitors on their own.
So if you built it, they will come, but only if you actively promote it. (Remember Vegas?)
posted by Rominger Legal at 8:23 AM
1 Comments:
Never realized how many sites surfers have to sift through. We'll be rethinking our advertising. Thank You.
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