SiteCrafting Blah Blah Blog
Oct. 10, 2007 at 10:28am
Lions and Tigers and Blogs! Oh My!
Are You Sure You Really Need That?
For the last 3 years I've worked on less and less "Brochure Sites" and more and more web applications. Clients have really taken it for granted as to what features a website should now have. Tag Clouds, CMS, Social Bookmarking, Send to Friend, Add as Friend, Digg It, Wiki and Blog are all things constantly being chanted by clients.
Don't get me wrong, there is a place for these features, but why do you need it all? How will a feature like this affect your company? What's the value add? Luckily, I've worked for ethical companies that have helped mentor clients through the process to help determine what a client really needs.
We could charge a client an arm and a leg for things they don't need, but what good is that? We are not in the business to have our clients fall. In no way is that beneficial to our Partnership.One example I use a lot is a blog. Clients constantly want a blog, they have been told about how great they are and as a stiff corporate company having a blog now makes you cool and hip.
Blogs are a lot of work. (All Together Now)
Clients feel that as soon as they launch a blog they are magically going to have a community actively commenting and participating and everything is all gravy. This is not the case. A blog that continues to have readership and participation is one that is not stale and is informative. I would say that almost 99% of people visiting your site will just read what you have posted and not participate.
This is usually the downfall to most blog authors. They feel like nobody cares and eventually they begin to post less and less until the blog goes belly-up and readership diminishes.
If, as a client, you are not ready to actively post on your blog for months without any participation, then a blog just might not be a feature you are ready for.
We are in the business to make your lives easier. Having the latest and greatest hyped feature just might not be practical for your business, so don't buy into it. We would rather help you spend your money on something that will benefit both of us -- if it's a FaceBook Widget so be it ;)
Posted in Deep Thoughts by Michael Pierce
Comments (2)
Kevin says:
Here here! I think one of the biggest frustrations that can come with a website is having too many unnecessary features to maintain. We can create the smoothest user experience possible but it still takes time to update/edit/add content which, in turn, takes people. The more unneeded "stuff" a client has to deal with, the more time is potentially diverted from their core strengths as a company.
1 | Oct. 10, 2007 at 11:08am
Besides, Digg It is just a evolution of the page counter. Only difference is people have to act to increment it rather then just load the page. In my opinion, Digg it counters are just as tacky as page counters. If you want to have people submit your page to a social bookmarking site, then give them a link, not a widget.
2 | Left by Paul | Oct. 14, 2007 at 1:52pm