Static HTML Sites are Soooo Turn of the Century…

I’ve been Blogging for years. Have 4; with several others on my idea plate. I loved WordPress so much that I turned this very site entirely over to WordPress over 5 years ago. Wish I had done that sooner!

I no longer recommend static HTML sites to new clients. I find it difficult to be paid to create something I know will not be effective, be taken as seriously or promote their branding as effectively as a WordPress site can accomplish with minimal investment.

Why wouldn’t you want to take advantage of the easy of use interface and ability to manage your own content and exposure that being on a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress offers over a static, brochureware type site? Only those who are not willing to embrace the technology of now have static HTML sites. And, don’t think site visitors do not recognize that.

What is brochureware? Back in the day, that term applied to small 1-5 page type sites that had just the basic introductory blah-blah-blah but no substance. Glorified business card sites.

Now, I find I can’t help but include any static HTML site into that category. HTML sites do not offer the necessary interactivity, discussion, updates and social media that are the hallmark of companies who are embracing technology.

If your comfort level does not allow you to be involved above and beyond e-mailing your “Webmaster” for inconsequential updates and tweaks to content that has not evolved since your site originally launched; then you really should question why you are online at all.

The online business environment has been heating up. Über competitive is an understatement! Online business has always been an interactive medium; but one that site owners could decide as to how much they wanted to interact and still do relatively well. That no longer holds true.

You have to be involved, interact, network and be social or those sites (a.k.a. competitors) that do will get the traffic and new customers. See being social means engaging your site visitors and sharing your expertise and knowledge in real-time. Human beings are by their very nature social beings — as evidenced by all the online communities that now have everyone’s attention.

Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Stumbleupon, Twitter, Technorati, Sphinn, Digg and others, are changing how businesses are communicating with their market. If your competitors are embracing this environment and you are not, how can you honestly expect any quantifiable results? The answer is you can’t. If you still have a static HTML site — time to take things up a notch!

This is a movement, a shift, an evolution that serious business owners must embrace moving forward if they are serious about their success.

At your service,
Judith

Tags: Blogs & Blogging, social media, social networking, WordPress, wordpress designs, WordPress Plugins, wordpress premium themes, wordpress templates, wordpress tips

2 Responses to “Static HTML Sites are Soooo Turn of the Century…”

1. Taras says:

   July 16, 2010 at 10:31 am

   Hi, I’ve read your article and I found it very interesting.
   There is one thing I want to ask you: If all websites must become interactive and socially engaging, then what is the point of ever having one for small business. Those who use it for the sake of “having website”. Considering the time invested in promotion of site nowadays and costs of hiring someone to do it for you, or constant un-neccessary updates for the sake of keeping it updated. It seems that it somewhat looses its point. Very much like what happened to US automobile industry where they began adding cupholders instead of actually improving the quality. It seems that nowadays that what internet is all about.
   I’d like to hear your opinion about it.
2. Judith says:

   July 16, 2010 at 11:49 am

   Hey, Taras:

   Thanks for stopping by! My first thought is if you do *anything* in business just for the sake of doing it you won’t be successful overall. But I do get your point. Back in the day when I started in the early 1990s it was relatively easy and inexpensive to have an online presence. One, mind you, that didn’t have many expectations other than just being there.

   Technology continued to evolve — whether small businesses liked it or not — and it started becoming cost prohibitive and too complicated for many small businesses to embrace, participate or hope to compete. The playing field was no longer level.

   Then, along comes WordPress. The WordPress platform allows small business to tackle the hurdles you mention quite easily while allowing them to be social, engaging and interactive. That’s what you have to be — like it or not, it’s best for every small business to embrace that fact and put it to work for them. Otherwise, their competitors who do *will* rule the day.

   When it comes to business, *anything* you want to succeed at requires investment, knowledge acquisition and keeping up with trends and your competitors — online is no different than off-line in that regard. IMNSHO, WordPress now makes all of that approachable and about as easy as it is ever going to get!

   Here are some articles where I talk about this:

   Are You Online to Win?

   NEWS FLASH! WordPress isn’t Just for Blogs Any More

   How to look like the “Big Guys”

   Why WordPress?

   Running a successful business is not for the weak of heart. Maybe those you refer to shouldn’t be in business in the first place…

   HTH! Thanks for your comments!