“Bill Fletcher is hunting for lazy websites!” - I recently posted this statement on my Facebook profile. The response was immediate.
“What the heck is a lazy website?”
How can I explain what a lazy website is in just a few words on Facebook. Here is one definition:
“A lazy website is one that costs you a little money rather than making you a lot of money.”
Ultimately, a Facebook word bite can not fully explain the lazy website or the business information engine that will soon take its place. To appreciate the vast capabilities the next generation website will offer we must look at what led to the sites most of us have currently.
The Internet grew out of a need for researchers in various locations to share vast amounts of data. Once the general public got hold of this revolutionary, life changing, information engine, we tried our best to turn it into a colossal swap meet. The rise and fall of this effort led to the infamous dot.com bubble we witnessed in the early part of this decade.
During the years since the bubble burst, several things happened:
1. Most of the “BuyMyTrinkets.com” operations have withered leaving only those with an actual viable e-commerce business plan.
2. Most businesses have gone ahead and put up a website anyway.
3. A vast majority of customers consult the Internet daily and can not imagine living without it.
Most business owners knew that in spite of the collapse of the dot.com bubble, we needed to have a website nonetheless. We felt certain the first thing a prospect would do is check out our website to make sure we are legit. To have no website was to risk failing that first test our prospects would put us too. To avoid failing the test, most of us simply put up what amounted to an electronic brochure created with a “one size fits all” template though one of the numerous companies that offered “Instant websites, cheap!” Before long we all had our very own “lazy websites.” Most of us received nowhere near the bang for our buck that we expected.
So that’s how the lazy websites got here. To fully understand why brochure sites are lazy, you need to have an idea what is possible with a “state of the art” website. I believe that over the next five years, maybe less, we will see the static brochure type site replaced by powerful "business information engine" based sites. One of the key components to any business transaction is information. I would argue that access to the right information always makes it easier for a buyer to buy, and will also help a seller to sell. It just happens that delivering information is what the Internet was truly built to do.
Ask yourself this question. If you are shopping for a refrigerator, would you rather have access to a brochure, or a Google search engine?
Now let’s say you are selling refrigerators. Which would be more useful:
- to know that a prospective customer picked up your brochure.
- to receive detailed statistics about what brands your customers searched for, what models they studied, how long they spent looking at each model?
Would it be hard to create a website to give you this data? Nope. Would it cost a lot to do? It would likely make you more money than it cost.
So, if you are selling refrigerators, with a website that is simply a fancy brochure, you have a lazy website, and a missed opportunity.
Let’s take a look at service businesses as well. Let’s say you seek to remodel a guest bath in a "Cottage" style. Which would you find more useful, a site that features pictures a few different examples all done in variations of whatever style is currenly in? Or would you rather find a site that offers a searchable database of images of Cottage style elements to help you assemble your look. What if you could save a collection of your favorites for easy reference so you could show them to your spouse later on?
Let’s say you happen to be the contractor, and the customer described above is visiting your site. Would it be helpful for you to know which elements they are saving in their collection? What if your site could build and transmit the proper forms when it comes time to order the items they have selected? What if your site could automatically shoot an email to your customer with the new delivery date for that one of a kind vintage double slipper tub you ordered for them? Would it be hard for a business engine site to do this? Would it cost a lot to implement? Nope, it would likely end up making you money.
These are just simple examples of why the information engine will replace the brochure style web page over the next five years. Notice I have not yet even touched on the benefits of a high ranking in search engine results which of course is quite valuable on its own.
There are lots of companies who specialize in tricks to try to make your site show up near the top of the page of a Google search. The real secret is to build the most useful site for anyone who is searching for what you offer. The goal of the Google search engine is to bring back the most “information rich” sites it can find for any particular keyword you might enter. The engineers at Google and all the other search engine providers are working overtime to refine their search algorithms in order to locate and return the information engine sites we have been talking about. Information is Google is all about.
So if a lazy website is any site that “costs you a little money rather than making you a lot of money,” why I am hunting for them? It is only to show their owners what is possible to achieve with a “business information engine” site that can truly earn its keep.
My boss Pete, at White Ink Studio is a professional writer. He will surely tell me that this article is way too long! I know, and I thank those of you who stuck it out to the end. I felt I needed to set the stage for an ongoing discussion about the capabilities of the next generation web site. There is so much more to say. I plan to re-dedicate this blog to continue this discussion over the coming weeks. I welcome your ideas. If you have come across a website that you feel is a good example of what is possible, please post links in a comment below. I would love to check them out. Thanks in advance for your contributions. Pete, I promise the next one will be shorter.
Bill Fletcher
White Ink Studio
(949) 813 3861
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