Seth and the small business website…

One of the problems with making my living from interactive marketing and running websites is that it looks, on its surface, simple. Most folks have seen enough websites to have an opinion about what makes a website work and what doesn’t. Often, they’re right. Given the extraordinary growth of the web over the last decade, we’ve all benefited from “all boats rising with the tide.” However, it is truly one of those vocations – and, admittedly, it’s not the only one – where the devil is in the details. At certain levels, such as in high-volume e-commerce sites, where I’ve spent a good chunk of the last decade, the difference between 25% and 28% growth adds up to many millions of dollars every year. But not every site fits that model, which makes Seth Godin’s recent post about small businesses getting on the web noteworthy. Except for the part about Squidoo – which I’m not too sure about – I have a tough time disagreeing with it. It all comes down to ROI. Most businesses need a website. But if you can get what you need from that website for extremely low cost, by all means do it. In fact, I don’t know that Seth goes far enough with his modest proposal. A website, for all its benefits, can prove a black hole down which small business owners can toss too much time and money. The focus needs to be first and foremost on your business. And unless your website is your business, do the least bit possible.