Spend money on my site in a recession?

Posted by Crispee | March 15, 2009 | Filed under budget, investment, web redesign

The problem with news that is on ten channels 24 hour a day these days is that it gets into your mind and stays there. “Recession, depression, crisis, meltdown, bailout…” are the refrain in this sad song that seems to be on endless loop. So it’s understandable when many businesses are willing to stand pat and cut back on the unnecessary expenses.

But fixing or improving or simply replacing your site in these down times is not a luxury—it is a piece of equity that you should invest in. Namely your own business.

I’ve often heard the phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” which sounds really convincing and since it has that weird circular logic that defies questioning it is often the rallying cry of those who simple don’t know what is broken. The U.S. economy is a perfect example of something that seemed to be doing great. Housing values were skyrocketing, people were getting loans without all the fuss of yesteryear, cash was flowing into new businesses—so why fix it?  Things are great!

My goals when looking at redoing at site—is not how I can come up with all sorts of window dressing that will add up to giant paybacks for myself, but rather helping the client to understand their site, their business on the web and what can be done to make this a long-term growth project.  Not just a redesign or a fresh coat of paint.

Often this means starting over doing something the right way that was homemade in whatever program was on sale at the Best Buy 3-4 years ago. The great thing about software like MS FrontPage is that it allowed everyday folks to easily get themselves out on the web. The bad thing is that it allowed everyday folks to easily get themselves out on the web, and now they are smothering under their own creation. Very seldom is my recommendation let me just twiddle the code a little bit or make your graphics prettier.

Taking a step back to really get to the heart of what you are doing, what you want to be doing, and how to do it is really where a professional can help a great deal. Spending (even a little) on your own website rather than putting it into a down market is really an investment that will continue to payoff for years to come—not just for you but for your employees, your customers and your family.