NoSpin Debunker
#31: December 3, 2001
Caught in Web Site
Purgatory? Getting Beyond Brochure-Ware
Please
click on this week’s NoSpin Poll:
What % of companies with whom you’re familiar have a web site PRIMARILY because
it’s EXPECTED? And read on--
When
you boil it down, B2B companies really have 3 web site
options:
Ø
Homepage
(only) web site
Ø
I-Commerce
(Information Commerce) web site
Ø
E-Commerce
(includes I-Commerce) web site
Homepage
(only)
is a minimal web site presence for any business. It is an acceptable option if
you truly do not see the Web as offering anything to your overall marketing
approach. It’s simple and easy: put up one web page with your name/logo,
address, phone, email information and maybe a small company blurb so that people
who use the Web like a Yellow Pages (and many do) can at least find you. The
advantage of a Homepage web site is that it costs very little and takes no
upkeep, time or other resources. You can always upgrade to an I-Commerce or
E-Commerce site later.
As
discussed in a previous
debunker, I-Commerce
web sites are ongoing marketing and sales assets. There are many flavors of
I-Commerce sites, but the benefits of I-Commerce are providing clear, current,
illuminating web-based information that helps:
·
Generate
new sales leads--from current clients and new prospects.
·
Shorten
sales cycles—with multi-level product/services explanations, demos, FAQ’s,
etc.—and hence increase sales over time.
·
Increase
search engine hits that direct more visitors to your site.
·
Leverage
and coordinate web site content work across other marketing
vehicles—presentations, trade shows, advertising, public relations, etc.—to
increase results from each.
·
Cut
unnecessary print costs—enabling you stick to the basics and spend “expensive”
print dollars only when absolutely needed.
·
Identify
and capture valuable information about customers and prospects—from email and
contact information to market research.
·
Educate
your staff and build morale with an authentic “company story” (that takes the
place of typical corporate yak) and high quality product information.
·
Locate
new recruits–who are attracted by your company story, people, products and
services, etc.
.
I-Commerce
sites take creativity, time, resources—and commitment. They are “thirsty beasts.” They strive
to provide information
reasons for visitors return—and return again—and to convert some of those
visitors into buyers. What kind of fresh, compelling content is needed encourage
repeat visitors? Check out next
week’s NoSpin Debunker about content that brings visitors back (email me what brings you back to a
business web site). E-Commerce
sites sell and and/or deliver products and services directly—and need to have an
I-Commerce component as well.
Thousands
of B2B web sites, though, are caught in sort of web site purgatory: between a
Homepage and I-Commerce web site--but are usually much closer to the former than
the latter. They provide more than just contact information, but the information
is static, usually dated (in fact even the “brochures” are dated), minimally
informative, and typically filled with jargon and corporate-speak that tends to
obfuscate versus illuminate. There
is little or no interaction with visitors or customers. There is no compelling
reason(s) for anyone to visit after they’ve been there once.
Often
the primary rationale for a brochure-ware site is that a “professional” web
presence (but more than a Homepage) is supposedly “expected” by customers,
prospects, employees, board members, investors, etc. Besides not contributing in
any way, shape, or form to a company’s marketing and sales, brochure-ware sites
help perpetuate the illusion that the company has a serious web presence and
that the company is keeping up with the Jones’s. Another problem, of course, is
that a lot of brochure-site sites are very expensive to develop (and to
maintain)--and are a complete waste of resources. Many businesses with
brochure-ware sites admit that their sites really don’t serve a purpose other
than being a box to be checked off the list. Executives of these companies shrug
that their brochure-ware site is part of the game and part of the cost of doing
business these days.
My
advice to companies with brochure-ware sites is to get out of web site purgatory
and either:
1)
Take a step back: scale back to a Homepage with contact information--and toss
the rest of your site. You will save money, time, and effort until you are ready
for an I-Commerce or E-Commerce site or
2)
Get serious about an I-Commerce site that is an ongoing marketing asset. More on
I-Commerce content that brings people back and how to drive business with an
I-Commerce site in the remaining 2001 debunkers.
Also,
Please email me, and let me
know what you’d like debunked in 2002 and if you’d like to be a guest debunker.
And remember that you can always view this debunker and others on the NoSpin web
site at Debunkers.
Hope
that my @Home cable Internet service doesn’t go out (or yours either, if you use
@Home), but if so, I’ll be back in touch somehow, and you can always email me at
mailto:transeen@aol.com
Tom Ranseen
NoSpinMarketing
615.383.7157