I had to make three decisions this last month that were hard.

All involved not taking clients.

One was a client who we interviewed, actually initially began to work for, and then discovered through the process that we weren’t the right fit for their project. It wasn’t personal, we truly like and respect and support this person, their team and their goals, but the principal players involved wanted us to do things, that we didn’t feel were best for them. We felt that so strongly about that, that we are issued a partial refund and referred them to someone who can better fill their needs. It is the only time I can remember in nearly 10 years I’ve had to do that.

The other was a small business that we interviewed. A B2B service provider, they are growing and need a new look for their site. But after meeting them, their budget and goals are better served by a large service with very very low pricing. We know that is what is best for them and will best give them the results they need. Then we were approached by a similar business, via email. Pretty obvious that the case was similar, right down to tone of the email.

I hate to say no or to turn away business. But sometimes it is what is best for all involved and we honestly should refer and not be hired. I think it’s an important part of business, knowing when to say no. It’s also risky, knowing we might be misinterpreted, and like everyone, we hate to lose money. But in the long run, we have to do what is right.

We do really want what is best for our clients, even if it costs us up front. We think in the long run, the payoff is worth it.

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Had a client ask me to check out a site yesterday, evaluate it.

It’s a good site, well done, well coded, they’re doing all the right stuff as far as inbound marketing. Seriously. They have a Twitter account, they are using it, they have a blog, they’re blogging regularly. Looks like SEO is well done. I was really pleased with what I saw.

But it had a couple issues.

1. First issue, no phone number anywhere. People hate ordering when they don’t know they can talk to a human.

2. Second issue. The design, while clean, looked like every other site in that particular market. Snore. Totally forgettable. Color palette is important. Their palette was bland and the whole thing just screamed template. They have “design” in their NAME and then do that? UM?

3. They’re trying to position on price alone. Bad idea. Someone will always outprice you. You need to be REALLY GOOD at something and then push that.

4. If you’re going to do social media, you need a clearly defined plan and voice. Just putting content out there, while okay, and better than nothing, is not enough. Right now the Guru Squad is harping on social media. Guess what? if a lot of people are talking about something, you’re already behind the curve. You need to up your game. So do social media with a little imagination and heart. Make the voice one that people connect with. Grow a personality. Make it match your new, un-boring smooth website design.

5. Flash on the home page is bad for the mobile audience.

6. Their url is exactly like a direct competitor, off by two letters. That to me feels deceptive and I think it’s a bad idea. To me it makes them the bad knock-off.

7. One of their vendors has strict rules about online sales and this site has products on there that violate those rules. You need to keep your vendors happy, not try to do things they won’t like and hope to get away with it.

So my response was, this site is Fine. And if fine is okay with you, then by all means, keep heading down the road you’re on. If you want greatness though, make some changes.

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If you are up to date then you know that a website is like a car and that your business needs one. When I was doing my research for my ill fated PowerPoint presentation, I found an article on www.edmonds.com called “10 Steps to Finding the Right Car for You”. After reading the article it was clear how easy it would be to apply these same steps to purchasing a website. Let me warn you now that some of these steps require a small to medium dose of imagination, but I doubt you would have made it this far if you didn’t already have that at your disposal. Now that I have dutifully warned you, I will move on.

The first step in the process is determining what it is you need. Your business needs a website. We’ve got that but what does that mean within this car analogy? In order to get there we have to take a really basic look at the car. What makes a car a car? We can all identify a car on sight. We can tell the difference between a car and a motorcycle, or skate board or bicycle and if we needed a car, we would never accept one of these as an alternative. Why? Because they are not a car and we know they will never meet our needs. Without getting into the minutia, there are specific physical requirements for a vehicle to be a car. Wheels, engine, blah blah. There are also understood functional requires that we all expect from a car. It must be able to carry a certain number of passengers. It must go a certain speed. The same holds true for a website and many people accept the motorcycle or skateboard equivalent of a site as their website because they can’t identify the “car” website.
The obvious next question is “how do I do I know it’s a car?” It is a simple question to ask but not as simple to answer. We are talking about business websites so your business will determine what you need. I know that’s lame but let me explain. You know those brown vehicles that deliver the packages for UPS. For many it’s a truck, to some it’s a van, but to UPS it’s a “Package Car”. It’s the vehicle that meets UPS business needs. (To be honest I never understood why they called them cars, but it really works for this analogy.) The UPS package car has all the parts we expect from what we normally consider a car plus the added parts required for UPS to get the functionality it needs from the vehicle. It’s exactly what UPS needs.

For most businesses a UPS Package car is way too big, way too uncomfortable and way too expensive to maintain. It just wouldn’t work. UPS’s website is the same way. Unless you can afford the expense of administrators and servers that UPS employs then it is probably more than you need. Much like the package car the UPS website meets the basic structural and functional things that every business needs which makes it a car. It meets the needs of both UPS and its customers. It answers question for customer service like “where’s my stuff”. It asks question to qualify potential sales. These are two of things your website may need to do.

The point being is that websites can look as different as a UPS Package car and Corvette but if they meet all the required structural and functional needs then they are both cars. Your business is what makes that determination. There is no cookie cutter answer here. Every business has specific needs that must be addressed to have a website that can deliver on the potential that having the right online presence can provide for your business, your customers and your bottom line.

The answer to “How do I know a website is a car?” can only be answered by more questions. Whether you are preparing to enter the world of the internet for the first time or evaluating the site you currently have, the most important question to ask is “ Does it meet all my business needs?”

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