Most Web Developers Have Never Made A Website That Actually Makes Money
Websites 101
It’s true! Many html gurus are more concerned about how a website looks or if it has the latest and greatest gizmos. Flashy looks and “feel” can be important but those two things alone never made money for anyone except the web developer.
Before starting a new website you will have to answer some basic questions.
What are you trying to accomplish with a website?
1. Do you just want a “Yellow Pages” type of site? You know the kind where you have two or three pages of pictures with very little information along with the famous “Contact Us Page”
2. Are you selling something online, as in shopping carts, payment gateways, credit card transactions and shipping? This kind of site competes on price and is a derivative of the mail order industry
3. Do you need a website that is resource driven? Something customers and sales people can use as a reference tool.
4. Do you need a true marketing website that can actually walk a potential customer through the sales process and lead them to the conclusion that they want to buy or place an order.
5. Do you need a marketing, lead generating and lead follow up website? Do your sales require a longer lead time? Do have to educate your customers on all of the various options of the products or service you sell?
If you said yes to number 1, and just want a website for the sake of having a website, you can make do with a “web development company”. As a matter of fact you probably have an employee on staff that took a computer class in school that can dust off the copy Front Page and come up with something that will fill your needs.
For all others, a marketing company is the way to go.
What’s the difference between a “web development company” and a marketing company?
Before I answer that I want to ask you a question. What do people use the internet for?
In the early days of the Internet, people use to surf the web and say “Oooh Ahhh when they saw the flashy colors and they would all tell their friends about such and such a site. This was really the era of the Dot Coms. Well, that bubble burst awhile back. The internet has grown up significantly.
So, I ask you again, what do people actually use the internet for?
The answer to this actually is the key to the question, what’s the difference between a “web development” company and a marketing company.
The answer is INFORMATION!
Ok, so we all use the internet for information. If you have a marketing department, you probably have a IT department as well and guess what? Your marketing department gives the information to the IT guys and they figure out how to get it online. Make sense so far?
Ok, so you don’t have a marketing department and now you’re considering a website. Well, you could hire a “web development” company and get a website described by number 1 above. Or you could write out all of the marketing yourself and just hand it off to your “web development” company. That is, if you have the spare time.
