We live in a world that is Internet obsessed.
Your phone has the Internet. Your TV has the Internet (or soon will). Your fridge might even have a connection. Laptops, computers, cars – it's all here or soon to be here. Website's are useless on their own. Really, they are.
Websites need supplies
Website's need supplies. If it's left dehydrated and malnourished, it will soon die. It needs up to date content added to it on a consistent basis. These supplies will help it for so many reasons. Among them being greater visitor engagement, more spidering by the search engines and just an overall better, fuller site. Do not starve your website or let it die of malnourishment.
Websites need to be connected to the mainland
If no one else is linking to your website, then it really will be an island, marooned in space never to be found. It's not even as if it appears on a map – it simply doesn't exist outside of your organisation. Make sure your site is connected to the mainland. The more roads that lead to your website, the better it is.
Websites need engaged inhabitants
You can have the best website in the world but if someone or some team isn't responsible for it within your organisation and no one is keeping an eye on it, it will not succeed – therefore your website needs at least one if not more engaged inhabitants to give the website supplies and help build links to the mainland. This is key to website success, without it the website will be neglected and not perform to it's potential.
Websites need visitors
It may seem obvious but a good website is nothing without it's regular visitors. People who come to consume your new content, and possibly look back through the old content are gold. Or in the case of ecommerce, your regular purchasers. These people are important to keep happy and in the loop with changes to the site as well as continually be asking for their feedback. That way you will get buy in from your visitors, and can also if you wish start to build a more community and user focused site.
Websites need tourists
As important as visitors to a certain extent, your website needs to be encouraging tourism. People who are completely new to your site who will help it grow in success, and hopefully become visitors themselves. Sometimes they will need to be enticed in as well. You need some good connections to the mainland though of course.
Websites need a reason for visiting
If there's no reason to visit your website, people won't, it's that simple. You need to make sure your site is engaging to people and gives them what they want. If you run a website for a solicitors practice then regular law updates is a good thing to get people coming back. Find your reason to keep visitors coming back and make sure it's well developed.
Websites need ongoing investment
Just like all infrastructure, a website needs to be invested in to ensure it improves as it grows and becomes more popular. You should be invested in new ways to attract new tourists and visitors, new ways to engage them when they get to you, and new ways to keep them hanging around and revisiting on a regular basis. All of these things need planned, long-term investment to maximise your websites potential.
Websites need maintenance
You can't just build it and it will run forever. Websites, especially transactional sites, need maintenance to make sure they are always running as new. Making sure your website's speed, content and navigation are up to scratch is essential.
Conclusion
Your website is part of an ecosystem. It, like any other ecosystem, depends on the interactions between different parts of the system to function correctly and successfully. You, as a website owner, need to be aware of each of the parts and ensure they are all helping the site succeed.
Do not, whatever you do, build a website and think that's all you need to do. A website is an ongoing commitment like all marketing, and the more consistent the effort the more consistent the results.
