So once a year, those businesses with the budget and stomach for it get on the blower with the Avenue to discuss what to do for the Super Bowl. To play in this game you need to spend well into the millions.
A little question to all of those campaigns that showed a web address at their end of their ads. Where was your audience most likely to be when you showed that URL?
A. At their computer.
B. On a sofa.
C. All of the above.
I’m going to suggest, C. Except their computer isn’t a desktop, it’s probably either a laptop, netbook or mobile device. So when these hundreds of thousands of visitors hit your site on their mobile device, what did you give them? Only a few sites gave an optimized version. (Most notably I think Dockers, which let you submit your entry for free pants easily through your mobile device.)
However, beyond just unoptimized mobile sites, there were a few that were all Adobe Flash and gave you nothing! So after spending millions on an commercial, and probably a fair chunk on your Flash sites, you didn’t even think of all those potential customers checking you out on their mobile device?
Internet Apps. How about on my phone?
Boost Mobile. Assuming your phone doesn't do internet.
A couple of others with all Flash were Doritos and Bridgestone.
The days of traditional “Internet Explorer” like web browsers, which you use on the PC which is in your living room are over. When you think about your website, don’t just think along the traditional ‘Who are my users? What do they want?’ lines. Also think- ‘Where are my users? What are they doing? How much time do they have?’.
Let’s do a website!
So your business needs a new website, your last one was made two years ago and you know a guy who will give you a great rate. That’s awesome, let’s get started, i’ll help you make it better than you could have hoped. Oh, but first, one small question – why?
This article will help you understand the reasons why your business may need one by giving you a better perspective on a what a website is. But why the emphasis on asking why, isn’t just getting a new better site good enough? No. Without answering the why, you can’t really know what to make, let alone how to go about it. Finding out the reasons why you need a website is THE KEY to getting a website that will benefit your company the most.
Lets slow up though, here’s a simple question: what is a website?
A typical answer goes something like “A website is collection of virtual pages which anyone with a computer and an internet connection can access and view on their screen.”
This answer is technically correct, but from a business perspective, it’s irrelevant, even wrong. Here is the Site Guv’ definition:
Lets break that down:
Business Tool.
A website is just one tool in the business persons toolbox. It’s not the only one, it’s an important one, it’s a flexible one.
The thing to remember about tools is that they are made to solve a problem (e.g. how to I join these two pieces of wood together). Effective websites are made the same way – to solve a business problem. Either a new one, an existing one better than you could before, or to give you greater coverage at solving a problem.
Communicate and Interact.
It is primarily a communication tool. It disperses information. But it isn’t just like an article in a news paper, it is interactive – information can go out, it can also come in.
Customers and Partners.
Websites may be used to communicate and interact with one group or all groups in your business world. You may want more than one website to deal with the different partners in your business.
So the reason for a new website should only ever be to solve a business problem, the more specific the problem, the more directly your new site can address it. This seems too obvious an answer but in experience, it is often overlooked. Here are some reasons that are just too vague:
None of these reasons cite either a specific business problem, or even a specific problem with an existing site. Keeping your website fresh is not necessarily a bad reason to update, but most of the time this is done just as a ‘make it look’ better kind of thing. This doesn’t usually do much to improve the effectiveness of a site because it is not solving anything, just keeping up the current trends in design. Let’s check out some examples of good reasons to do a new website:
So, do you have a good reason for your new web project? What business motive is it based on? I’ll get onto specifics for developing a great site soon, but please bare with me for these ground-work articles. Without a foundation all the tips and advice for the process itself won’t help.