What
is a Web Site?
By Chris Wilson
"Come into my web site," said the spider to the fly.
"And I will make you rich, rich, rich."
Can I really make money on the web? Or will I evolve into
another meal for the spider?
If you have a commercial web site, you can relate to
this: The web may be too big for the little guy.
We hear these tips every day:
"The real secret to being found on the web is to register, register,
register."
"No it's not. The real secret is to get all the banner ads you can."
"No, that's not it. The real secret is to link with everyone."
"You're wrong again. The real secret is to...."
Are you confused? I certainly was.
Rags or Riches?
Adding to my general state of confusion is the media. One day the media says a web site is
the road to riches. The next day it says a web site is a sure path to rags. I prefer the
road to riches myself.
The web has definitely been hailed as the greatest opportunity for
business since the dawning of the industrial age. In many cases,
it has proved itself to be just that. In many cases it has also been an absolute Mecca for
the small business person.
But I'm not concerned with "many cases." I'm only
concerned with my own small company.
I have a few ideas for web sites but I can't afford to be a meal for the spider.
Consequently, I have to think this out in advance.
What is a commercial web site? What does it take to make a site successful?
A commercial web site is an advertisement: plain, pure, and simple. Therefore
the ad has to be successful for the web site to be successful!
Success
If we hold these two truths to be self-evident, and I believe they are, then two
other truisms pop up:
1. Just as I can't expect one advertisement in the real world to make me
rich, I can't expect one web site, sitting out there alone and
lonely, to make me rich either.
2. Just as I can't successfully advertise in the real
world without a marketing plan, I can't successfully advertise on the
web without one.
Advertising on the web is something that has to be as carefully planned as
advertising in the real world. It needs to be part of an overall marketing plan and
have an adequate budget.
About budgets... Although advertising on the web is quite inexpensive compared to
the real world, enough money has to be budgeted to bring people to your main
website.
And most of all, you can not put a web site out there in one spot and wait for the world
to visit. If you do, your main visitor will be the spider eating your lunch!
Unfortunately, this is true no matter how glitzy, colorful, and well-designed
that site is.
It's no longer enough to have a fancy website that jumps and
sings and dances, all in living color, while loading in 30 seconds, of course.
You have to advertise that web site to lure the surfers into your web!
True
Again, the web is advertising.
True, it is very inexpensive advertising.
True, it has the potential of reaching more people than you and I can even imagine.
True, it is interactive advertising.
True, it's time has come.
True, it is different from advertising in the real world.
True is is the same as advertising in the real world.
Same but Different?
One superb advertisement will only make your fortune when you place that ad in enough
places for many people to see it.
One superb web site will only make your fortune when you place
that web site in a position to be seen by many people.
It is different on the web because you are actually advertising
your ad.
But it's the same on the web because people still have to see your
ad before it con work for you.
So publishing the web is a mere beginning. Then comes marketing
and promotion.
Chris
Other articles on web marketing by Chris Wilson:
Traffic Jam
Where's the Traffic?
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