This is a good question. But it is not the whole question. To really get at the issue one needs to address all of the following (together and separately)
- What can a website do?
- What is it I do?
- What can a website do for me?
- Is the benefit worth the cost/risk?
Another thing I do is try to keep my clients up-to-date on what I'm doing and future presentations they might find of interest. This sounds like something that a website can do. In fact, you could probably name a half dozen ways in which different websites accomplish this exact type of service. So, this looks like a fruitful direction. Even though I would really like some help in getting the car washed -- it just happens to be that websites are better at communication than using soap and water, websites don't have opposable thumbs.
Below is a sample list of what a website can do.
- Advertising -- stand alone or as an extension of other campaigns (radio, tv, press, etc)
- Announcements
- Answer common questions for you
- Art Exhibit -- show your art in a public forum
- Appointments -- let folks schedule service calls and/or meetings
- Biography -- inform people about yourself
- Bookmarks -- store your book marks in a public, or semi-private, or private ventue.
- Branding -- increase public awareness and identification of you and/or your service and/or product
- Build credibility
- Collaborate with others -- on a book project or other venture
- Community -- establish a virtual community to interact with others
- Consolidate -- bring related but desparate content under one roof to highlight the connection.
- Contact Information
- Coordinate activities -- some of the original flash gatherings were communicated through website.
- Customer Service
- Demo tape -- let people listen to your music
- Diary -- many blogs are of this exact sort
- Direct Sales - generate money through direct sales
- E-Commerce -- take credit card information directly
- Educate -- students, customers, friends, family, and potential customers
- Forum -- provide a place for people to meet and talk on a certain issue
- Gather customers
- Generate Contacts
- Globalization -- sell outside your area of direct contact
- Image -- enhance company's image
- Information -- present information such as "Warning Signs of a Stroke"
- Links -- publishing a list of related links
- Map - provide directions to your location
- News -- deliver news/information on topics
- Point of Presence -- establish an internet presence
- Portal
- Position yourself in marketplace
- Product fact sheets
- Profile - Give folks an impression/feel for you
- Prospect for new clients
- Provide a service
- Public Relations -- offer company information and public impression
- Publishing -- either self-publishing or for others
- Qualify prospects
- Referrals -- direct folks to distributors and retailers of your product
- Research
- Review
- RFP -- request of proposals
- Sales -- a website can support each of the main phases of a sales process.
- Schedule Events
- Sell a product
- Soap Box -- websites can provide a place to rant and spew forth with one's opinions
- Tell your story
- Trademark -- A website can be used with trademark office to demonstrate useage.
Even though we have the above sample list of what a website can do for you, it is still your task to go directly to the source (yourself) and answer the question: "What is it I do?" along with the companion question "Can I get a website to do that for me?"
Your alternative to performing this bit of homework is to let some snake oil salesman dangle promises of what a website can do for you in front of your eyes until there is a "hit". After which you will find yourself suddenly motivated to get a website to do exactly that.
You should never go grocery shopping hungry. You should never enter into a conversation about getting a website until you know what you would like it to do. A webmaster might know html and css a heck of a lot better than you. But, you know your business.
Come to a meeting with your webmaster as an equal. The way to do that is for you to know your business and what you want. The webmaster has the job of knowing his business. And you have the job of knowing your business.
Given a "wish list" of what you would like your website to do, I could tell you pretty quickly what the cost and projected benefit will be. Armed with this information you will be in a great position to make decisions about how you would like to start your website, and your first milestones of functionality.
