Is having your own website a dated concept

For the record, this is one of the reasons I find immense value in Twitter: exposure to a broad range of opinions on an equally broad range of topics. Since this particular option pertained to what I do, I figured I’d chime in.

Tweet in question:

Holy crap, I hope not! There goes an income source…

You can gauge (if you couldn’t predict) my first reaction: um, no.

What I’m meaning to say in so few characters is that “having a company website” is like saying “having a steady job,” it doesn’t say anything specific. One company website could be a static, 8 page online brochure built poorly in 2002 and not kept up-to-date (but left online for due diligence). Another company website could be a WordPress-based blog site with a Twitter feed, a Flickr feed, a Facebook group widget, and loaded with videos from Youtube. These are both company websites.

But @pevachon is touching on a very important subject for a company that wants to build a new site or rebuild an existing one: what does having a website really mean and what’s the best way to go about it? Whether you have information posted on Squidoo or a Posterous blog or a LinkedIn profile, you have a place for people to find you. Do you need your own blog? Do you need to control exactly how everything looks? Are you OK with your content and information being owned by someone else?

@pevachon replies:

@joshcanhelp not sure but why not use all the spaces already available on the web?

Why not, right? There are so many sites and pages and companies begging to hold onto your information, most of the time for free.

As usual, the question comes down to what you want to accomplish. If you’re looking to get the word out about yourself, your cause, or something you’re selling, just having a website isn’t going to cut it. Alternatively, if you’re looking to showcase something or need more control over presentation, starting a Facebook group won’t let you do what you need to.

@pevachon I’d argue that’s like saying why have a business card when you could hand someone a post-it note :)

There’s nothing wrong with your number on a post-it note, right? But doesn’t a custom designed and printed card say so much more?

I think @pevahon and I would both agree: if you think a solid web presence stops at a website, there’s a lot out there you’re going to miss.

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Oct 27, 2009

Do it, then do it better: an iterative mindset

Though I haven’t eliminated repetition from my professional life entirely, I’m aware of something very different at work. Creating websites from scratch can be tedious but it has taught me something critical about iteration.

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