Tuesday, December 8, 2009

My website and my car are alike

"Are you mad?" you may well ask. Possibly, but that’s not under discussion in this article. Let me explain the idea.

There are some obvious differences. My car has physical properties such as size and weight. My website doesn’t even exist in the physical world! It’s just coloured lights (pixels) on my screen turned on or off in a particular pattern so that I’m fooled into believing it’s a page.

The first thing to do is to think of them conceptually.


Both vehicles are designed to transport people from one place to another.

My car does this in the physical world. My website does it in the virtual world.
Having made that mental leap, I began to see more and more parallels between my website and my car.

The real reason to get a website/car

This is the point were Reason and Emotion go head-to-head. I buy something on impulse and then can ALWAYS justify the purchase later. However with something as important as my business website/car, while Emotion comes into play, it’s Reason that leads the way.

My case

I need both for my business. The website advertises my products and services and acts as a point of contact. My car enables me to quickly perform tasks associated with my business such as visiting clients, going to the bank, etc.

Question for you

Why do you want a website/car?

The right number of websites/cars for me

The answer to this depends on your circumstances. It’s much easier and less draining on resources to have a number of websites dedicated to a particular topic than to have a car for every occasion.

My case

I have one car and a number of websites. My car has to be multi-purpose – business and pleasure. Each of my websites tend to be dedicated to a single purpose.

Question for you

How many websites/cars do you need?

Doing the work

The question of who actually does the work lies in your level of knowledge, your level of interest, the value you place on your time and the importance of your website/car.

My case

Building websites is what I do for a living. DIY’ing my own website is a no-brainer.
Much as it pains me at times though, I’m also aware of my limitations. There are people out there with certain skills that completely outshine my own in some aspects of website creation. Other times I’m way too busy working on client projects to work on my own site. When that happens I engage experts for those individual tasks.
As for my car, I know how to drive it and have a license. I can put petrol in the tank, check the oil and water and wash it. That about sums up my level of car maintenance knowledge.
Learning is great fun and knowing more about car mechanics would be useful. To do so, I’d have to enrol in a course under the tutelage of an experienced teacher.
No way would I use my own car for my course homework. That car is a necessary part of my business and not for fooling around with, to say nothing of the danger it could pose to me, other road users and my business should I screw up.
Life has taught me that the best thing to do when learning is to do it ‘offline’ out of harm’s way!
On an ongoing basis, the garage mechanic keeps my car in good running order and when needed, I hire other experts to perform specific tasks such as replacing worn tyres with new and installing a new feature such as a tow-bar or sound system.
I've no interest in building a car from scratch so I went through the same process as most people. It came from a dealership, registered, insured and ready to go.
Before swapping the money for the keys, I’d done a bit of research and decided on my preferred model, features and price range. That narrowed my search criteria, making it easy to find my new car.

Question for you

For your website/car do you DIY or engage an expert?

Conclusion

Conceptually, my website and my car are alike. To get the best from both, I mentally go through a checklist:
  • What's its primary purpose?
  • How valuable is it to me and my business?
  • What's the best way to get it?
  • How much maintenance should I do myself?
  • Do I know what I’m doing?
  • Will it matter if I screw something up?
  • When do I need to call in an expert?
Go through the same process yourself and your final decision will be an informed choice with the outcome having a greater chance of success than gambling your life, real and virtual, on a wild guess.
Prue Rowland
Clip Magic

Web design :: SEO :: Email Marketing

About Me

My sales and marketing career has taken me all over the world. I've also had the benefit of seeing the business scenario from the 'back-end' having been a business analyst in research and development roles.
My business philosophy is grounded experience. Starting out as a Customer Service Representative, I view technology as a means to an end, not the end itself. I believe in using technology to help people in their day-to-day activities; strive constantly to improve communication between people both on a social and business-to-business level and actively seek new ways to assist clients achieve their internet marketing goals.
Visit my website at www.clipmagic.com.au

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