How Do You Value Your Web Site?

In my world of web creation, there are two broad and simple categories of people: those who can strategically match a web presence to their organizational goals and those who want a web site for the sake of having one.

There are some unique and obvious differences in these two groups. And of course, being "broad" and "simple", these groups do not represent every situation. I use them as general guidelines in judging projects.

Now, the differences as I said are obvious. The first group — I’ll call them the strategizers — understand what the web can do for them. They’re into technology or at least well-informed of the tools presented by technology. They know the web has many opportunities and that it will take time, planning and perhaps even money to take advantage of those opportunities. Most importantly, they don’t measure their need for a strong web presence in dollars spent. These people are forward thinking. Questions are posed not as how much will this cost me, but rather, how much will this make me down the road?

The second group I’ll nickname the laggards. This is a pretty common marketing term and I use it for its obvious implication. The laggards are slow, catching on to what others are doing late in the game or not at all. They miss web opportunities usually because they haven’t the slightest clue that they were there. This group may work well with computers but they don’t typically think strategically about technology or the web. They generally view the web skeptically, waiting for other people to dip their toes into the water first. They’re comfortable with the way things are now and don’t have the inclination to venture into the uncharted (or even chartered) waters of the internet. When it comes to a web presence, they either don’t have one because they don’t value the need for one or they have a simple web site that they believe suits their needs. Money spent on a web presence is precious and therefore limited. It’s all about cost and limiting expenses. If their competitor has a web site, then they will too, but nothing more.

So here we have two distinct groups: the strategizers and the laggards. What’s missing, as I already hinted at, are the people in the middle. People are not strictly in one category or the other. Some people realize the importance of a strong web presence but just don’t act on it while there are others who don’t see the importance of a web site but still give it their all to achieve a strong web presence.

What are you? Are you a strategizer or a laggard? Will you use the internet and web technologies to support the long-term value proposition of your organization, or will you have a web site for the sole reason that everyone else has one?