5 Reasons why Jeremiah is wrong about websites

[Jeremiah Owyang. Photo by Shel]

Jeremiah has been on a tear lately about how irrelevant the static corporate website has become.  He's posted several times about it recently, and  it was a key point of his talk at Starting the Conversation, where he did an outstanding job.

Is Jeremiah just kicking a dead horse or just one that is very lame? Is it time that companies call in the haulers and remove the carcass of the circa 1997 critters or do they still serve a viable purpose?

I'm sorry Jeremiah, but I see several reasons why traditional static HTML Web Sites still have a purpose.  here are five reasons:

1. Environmental purposes. The web site replaces the tripfold, full-bleed corporate broachure that no one ever read.  Entire forests have been saved by the move to websites.  Now no one can read what companies have written in a much more eco friendly way,

2. Historic Value.  Now you can take a trip down memory lane and see the state of last decade's internet technology from the comfort of your home without visiting the Computer History Museum.

3. To see opportunities you missed. Most enterprise site seem to list job opportunities that were filled in time to face the Y2K crisis.  Bit there they remain, frozen in time, sort of like  Hemingway's leopard on the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

4. To lower unemployment. We writers already know we are a lot-cost commodity because the supply exceeds the demand. The use of the least talented of us to write websites at least keeps the price above one dime per dozen, which is what most CMOs think writers are worth.

5. To eliminate differentiation. It almost as much fun as reading a train schedule to examine the websites of competing companies.  They use the same color and cliches, art from the same stock supplier, design to look like the other guys.  Then each site tells you that they are the leaders.

There are probably more reasons to defend static sites, but now that I think of it, I have to go read a train schedule.

                                           

Comments

[David Blanar]

lol. And one more:

6. To infuriate customers. Maybe if we ignore them, they'll just go away.

[Jeremiah Owyang]

7. To let customers know the 'best possible' scenario things will look like when you buy their product. You'll get a beautiful woman, look smart, and be rich --all from the beach.

This made me smile, in fact I have the same smile as in that picture when I read this.