COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS:
TOP TEN WEBSITE MYTHS EXPOSED

1. Build it and they will come. My website will be seen by millions of people from all corners of the world.
   The bigger the web gets, the harder it becomes for people to find your site. There are many ways to make your site easier to find. These strategies start long before the first page of your site is designed and continue well beyond site launch.
   
2. A website is an electronic brochure.
   Well, yes. AND, it can be a revenue generating online store, a critical first impression, a time saving customer service tool, an internal communication conduit, and much more…
   
3. Once online websites require little to no maintenance.
   Garbage in, garbage out. Websites require varying degrees of maintenance depending on their purpose, underlying technology, and the nature of the supporting business. Successful websites feature current and interesting content that doesn’t get stale. Generally, content needs to grab your target audience and entice them to return. Online marketing, customer service, content updates, product revisions, price changes, and news are just a small sampling of potential maintenance considerations. Online marketing alone can involve considerable time to manage effectively.
   
4. You get what you pay for.
   Rarely. Usually, you will get less than you pay for – even if it was almost free. Inexpensive sites that are haphazardly slapped together are not likely to perform well in relation to your business objectives. On the other hand, just because a website may have cost as much as a small island doesn’t mean that it is effective, usable, and accomplishes your goals. The more expensive the site, the more challenging the ROI may be. The less expensive the site, the less likely it is to meet your goals. Achieving a cost-effective web project that gives measurable ROI requires thorough planning and purposeful integration of function, usability, and design.
   
5. Every business needs a website.
   While most businesses can benefit from some flavor of web presence, it’s important to realize that not every business requires one. If customers are not and will not be online, then the web may provide limited or no benefit. Highly localized businesses may not benefit from a website. If a business owner cannot commit adequate resources necessary to make a web presence succeed, it’s probably not a viable investment (see #3 above).
   
6. All it takes is a web designer.
   An architect is not a builder or a roofer or a plumber or a mason or a landscaper or an interior decorator… While project requirements vary, building an effective and successful website on-time and on budget necessitates a tailored combination of several specialty roles including: project management, information design, QA, usability, visual design, HTML production, copywriting, and programming. (also see #7 below)
   
7. A web expert is also a graphic designer, programmer, database engineer, multimedia designer, project manager, copywriter, digital photographer, and marketer.
   There is no such animal. An expert is talented, inspired, and experienced in a specific focused area of expertise. Experts live and breathe what they do; that’s what makes them an expert. The web world is a dynamic and rapidly changing field. It’s challenging to be an expert at any one aspect, and simply not possible to master all. As soon as person claims to be an expert at all things web, they are fooling themselves and are not able to properly service their clients.
   
8. Top rankings = high traffic = sales.
   Top rankings in the major search engines absolutely helps drive traffic to your site and lots of traffic definitely helps, but it’s not the end of the line. Converting cold traffic to paying customers takes planning, intentional messaging, and diligence. The key to sales is qualified and targeted traffic that is led to carefully tailored copy and effective user paths.
   
9. Implementing a professional website is Expensive.
   No matter what a website costs, unless it is well planned and meets the business objectives, it is a waste of time and money. The opposite holds true as well: if a website meets or exceeds its pre-determined goals, it’s likely to have paid for itself regardless of the cost – as long as ROI is worked into the initial planning. Starting with a solid plan will help ensure you get a positive ROI in a reasonable timeframe. It’s important to have expectations aligned with realistic goals given available resources.
   
10. Having a website levels the playing field.
    In short, it can, but doesn’t by default. Just as in the physical world, large businesses have certain advantages online. Primarily two things: name brand recognition and more resources to dedicate to web business. With a solid plan and professional implementation, a well designed website can easily make a smaller company look like it contends solidly with large competitors. The trick then becomes ongoing marketing and site management. It’s also important to play up the advantages a small business may have including: better customer service, higher quality product, local business, and a focused niche.