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  • Are All of These Web Page Creators a Good Thing?

    Google finally weighed in with its free web page creator tool. Seems that the latest wave of releases from Yahoo, MSN and even Microsoft’s Office Live are aimed at making it free and easy to create web pages.

    On one hand, that might seem like a good thing. On the other, I wonder if all they are really creating is buzz and clutter from which to sell more ads. I know that not all of these services have the business owner in mind but they all add to the noise when a business owner is trying to be heard.

    Is a small business owner really going to use these tools to create their “real” online presence and build their brand? Most of what has been created using these tools is scores of abandoned test pages and search engine spam sites.

    Creating an online presence that helps you stand out in your market, make a statement, generate leads and integrate with your entire marketing picture, isn’t always easy and it certaintly isn’t free.

    At a minimun, your business should invest in:

    • a website with solid hosting and support and a domain name that communicates your brand
    • a website with educational based, keyword rich content that is easy to find and surf
    • a blog with a platform that allows you to take advantage of the latest community building tools
    • a visitor capture system with the ability to automatically follow-up with opt-in subscribers
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    Posted by: John Jantsch on Feb 23, 06 | 3:03 pm
    Category: Web Marketing | Tags:

    Comments
    • Bingo! I'm wondering the same thing. What's the point except for teaching people page layout stuff?
    • You're right: what problem are they trying to solve with this, and for whom? It doesn't seem to solve any problem for business. as you said, they need help deciding what should go on their site (and what shouldn't), how to get it to work for them rather than just sit there and how to integrate it into their overall marketing effort. So maybe business is not the target market....
    • Well, I went to look at Google's new offering, out of curiosity about how they might be different than all the other web page factories out there, but they have an Oops page up and apparently underestimated demand. So you're supposed to submit your email address and they'll let you know when your turn is up.

      Uh, no thanks.

      And, I agree with your assessment. Businesses are not served by putting up static web pages that do nothing to build relationships and generate interactions.

      Ardath
    • George
      I don't think MSN owns myspace.
      MSN owns MSN Spaces and FOX owns myspace.
    • Quote: "a visitor capture system with the ability to automatically follow-up with opt-in subscribers"

      Could you expand on this sentence a little more or point me to your article where you may have done so before.

      Thank you.
    • Steve D
      I think the more basic offerings would allow a small business like your Mom and Pop plumber to get "on the web" for a low cost. When your site is just a couple pages and like a yellow page ad, then you aren't concerned with anything more complicated.
    • Mari T
      I agree with James G. I would love to read more about what you consider to be a "visitor capture system" and how you would suggest implementing it.

      I don't want to discourage people from surfing around my site, so I don't want to force them to enter their information at any given time.
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