In answer to the most recent misguided theme I hear from clients: Why upgrade my website, shouldn’t I abandon it and just live in Twitter and on Face book?
Well, possibly … but engaging customers — assuming the context is within the realm of business — sort of REQUIRES a website. Prospecting and landing new clients is an evolving art, especially on the internet. Getting them to follow you in social media is one thing. Getting them enough information to sign a contract for services with you, quite another.
Take a look at the following clips from Google Analytics Reports (ignore the number of visits, it’s the ratios of traffic that are important. Trust me it’s the statistical behavior you need to consider.)
You’ll need to know that the rows of data are listed in this order:
- Desktop
- Tablet
- Mobile
Notice particularly the behavior of tablet computers connecting to the site. How many pages did they view? This is the very definition of ‘engagement’ … and this is not really feasible in twitter.
Revenues are up, incidentally… Surprise!
Designed Online Success 
Comparing the two charts … just the basics: More than 300% decline in Bounce Rate. And almost 400% improvement in the number of pages viewed per visit. This case (and it’s not even a very good one to cite) proves that the investment is worthwhile. The next problem is: which is better, the infrequent fork-lift upgrade or the incremental investment over time to stay current? (I think I can show that the latter is far preferable, at least from a customer retention and new client solicitation perspective.
[ Smiles ] Something to seriously consider!