So you have a website. Now what?

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu

Last week I read an article in my local newspaper: “More Olds businesses adopting web presence”.

Sure, that is good news. The number of local businesses with websites more than doubled in this last year.

But this article made my neck hairs stand on end for a couple reasons. First of all, it was politically driven – some self-proclaimed technology experts were taking credit for this spike in new websites believing their free workshops and media appearances were largely responsible.

Cow pies.

The fact is we are in the 21st Century and if you don’t have a website the perception is you are not serious about business. The fact is our community has many new businesses in town and some ‘changing of the guard’ in ownership of existing businesses. These are likely more of an environmental influence than a political subcommittee’s recommendations that we should all have websites.

But the next piece of information I read really started to grind my gears: Less than 10% of these websites could actually generate revenue. Only 21 websites of 253 were set up for e-commerce. And no mention was made as to what the strategies were for the other 232 sites.

My response in reading this article was: So what? If these sites have no purpose, they’re just more digital clutter littering the internet.

Here’s the bottom line:

It’s not whether or not you have a website that’s important. What the blazes are you doing with it? That’s the question that matters.

Your website should be making you money, not costing money. You have to monetize it, recoupe your investment in its development and make a profit. Whether you are doing so via e-commerce (shopping cart), or make it a prospect-gathering tool, you have to get some tangible results from it.

So here are some questions to ask yourself about your website, and determine if you need changes made: