by: Bruce DeBoer
My great grandmother has a website –
Ok, not really - but the number of websites is almost
unimaginable. What's more, there are sites sitting on the Web like so
much roadside litter cyberspace junk or webside trash that hasn’t
changed in years. If they were printed on paper it would have long
since yellowed.
When was the last time you read your website? If you haven’t
changed it recently the answer is probably embarrassing – it’s a cob
web. A great site will build customer relationships by responding to
market needs with quick adjustments, in other words: dynamically.
After all, isn’t speed and efficiency a key internet feature?
If you’re planning to overhaul your company site no doubt you
have discovered some new technology and renewed confusion.
Furthermore, almost daily the Web is a more sophisticated marketing
battleground and consequently more competitive. No longer can you
launch your site thinking that it will attract viewers by its mere
existence. Make it known and make it worth knowing make it dynamic.
Dynamic sites are different from HTML sites. HTML websites
are a series of interconnected pages where updating requires expensive
software and/or an understanding of HTML programming. In contrast,
dynamic sites are fresher since the pages are formed at the point of
delivery from ingredients stored on the server database. It’s akin to
the difference between delivery and frozen pizza fresh vs. well
preserved.
When you click on a dynamic page, you are placing an order
that is filled by a database on the host server. Click on an HTML page
and you get the same one you got yesterday, the day before and the day
before that – unless your Web Master (you?) took considerable time to
rewrite the page and restocked the shelf like a new batch of frozen
pizza. Updating a dynamic site can be done directly from your browser,
if your site has been developed well, in nearly real time by anyone
with security clearance. Change the data base and you alter your page
content. Content is separate from the page design so there is no need
to revise the HTML code as with static sites. It’s not like a magazine
page or an HTML page, it’s a virtual page.
Easy website administration allows your public internet face
to be well groomed but furthermore, dynamically generated websites come
with the potential for functionality that will give your viewers
incentive to return. If you’ve visited websites that change with each
visit they’re dynamic. Sites that keep track of your visits –
Amazon.com for example – are dynamically programmed websites and offer
customer relationship tools you can use to get closer to your
customer. Customer support, on-line surveys, auto generated e-mail
response, discussion forums – these days it’s limited by your
imagination and your resources for custom applications.
Own the most responsive website is probably not in your company mission statement any more than is deliver the freshest pizza,
but I’ll bet there’s some permutation of get closer to your customer.
A well designed dynamic website offers enhanced functionality that
improves user experience and gives you tools to increase qualified
traffic and improve customer relationship management (CRM). Develop
web charisma create an evolving on-line presence that’s a current
resource for your customer, and they’ll return telling others to visit.
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