As I grind out the many details that accompany an update to my company’s web presence, the challenges seem to outweigh the opportunities. Once upon a time, being on the Net meant putting together a logical, well thought out approach to a website. That approach is now a fairy tale with no happily ever after.
A web presence now requires one to look ahead at business opportunities, to look back at business success and to look to all sides for the social impact of words, pictures, references, polls and ratings.
Words of wisdom past might now be considered the meanderings of a fool. What once were metrics now are expenses; what once were forecasts now are straight jackets.
Web developers still argue about the value of a site map for a website, as if it is what leads to good SEO or analytics. I’m beginning to think that an old sixties term “out of sight” is being reinvented on the Internets (yes, one should now consider the Net a plurality of sites rather than a cohesive whole). ”Out of Site” or “outa site” is how we need to be thinking about our web presence.
I personally believe that much of social media is shallow, unreliable, whimsical and emotional. I also believe that business needs to be very careful to not fall into the trap of believing that today’s crowd is tomorrow’s customer / client.
It seems we live in a world of fans and audiences who, like Romans in the days of the Coliseum, vote with their Caesar to decide whether this month’s gladiator products should live or be eaten by the other lions of commerce. Yet this component of business survival thrives in the arenas of profit and loss these days so it cannot be ignored. How then to tame the beast?
That challenge, like the pounding of so many feet on the concrete foundations of my small business coliseum, murmurs as I update my web presence. With some luck, patience and a good battle plan I’ll fight the good fight and finish this challenge, seeing the opportunities it gives me. I hope to live to fight another day.