By Paul Pannone

In the latest eWedNewz coverage involving the decline of traditional media, conventional websites are taking a beating.,  As far back as mid 2011 eWedNewz questioned the sustainability of static websites. Today webmasters who say they’ve made millions over the past decade admit they’re suddenly forced to reinvent themselves because of the Social Media explosion.

The growing use of Social Media displaces the need for websites; that displaced the need for printed products since the late 1990′s. Both Websites and Social Media have plummeted the sale of magazines.

In the beginning there was the Information Superhighway, A.K.A, the Worldwide Web. Blank stares soon became familiar with the term that gave way to the Internet and later just the Net. E-mail was some futuristic way to communicate and the letters AOL was the facilitator, connecting us with friends and thoughts.

Marketers jumped on banner ads charging exorbitant fees to tap into traffic with inflated numbers that were indisputable. Today banner ads are a joke, along with excessive hosting fees, domain name procurement and all the mystical SEO propositions put forth by Hucksters trying to make a buck. But can websites really totally fade away?

Not according to Wedding Water Cooler members who say they have a place, along with printed product experts.

Newest member of the Cooler, Dorinda Duclos told eWedNewz:

“Build it and they will come?  Yes…and no. Not without a lot of hard work and the right web master.  But that’s not to say that a well-built site won’t bring clients.  The social media takeover does not replace a traditional website.  It enhances it.  For example, you have a new product you want to promote, so you add it to your website.  Who sees it?  If you’re lucky enough to place highly in the search engines then maybe a few more people will.  Now take that same product back to Facebook, upload a picture, write a description & link it back to your website.  You now have a captive audience, through your fan base, (although with FB’s many changes, you may need to promote the product) who in turn will view your product, click the link and land back on your website.  This gives them the opportunity to view more products.  A traditional eCommerce website also allows the client to immediately purchase directly from there.

Pretty doesn’t mean better.  A flash site is a big no-no today because it won’t convert to mobile.  Unless you have code within your site that alerts when the user is accessing your site from a mobile device, they will not see your pages as you do when looking from your computer.  The code makes the necessary switch to a site that you’ve built specifically for mobile access.  Most websites today have this.  There are a few companies that offer the service and will actually build the mobile site for you.  You just have to add the html coding into your site.

The most important thing you can do is refresh your website’s main landing page as often as possible.  This helps keep content fresh and let’s the search engines know there’s something new to index. (Proper coding for Google, yahoo, etc is also needed for this)

Are websites dead? No.  Are they fading? Perhaps.  It really all depends on how much effort you, as the business owner, put into it.  You can’t expect a flower to grow without watering it.  Same thing holds true here.  Don’t think because you have a website that you have business.  You’ll wilt and eventually die…” says Duclos.

Duclos agrees with other business owners who realize launching a website is not the end of anything but only the beginning of the non-ending plight to promote the site. Experts tell eWedNewz the time and cost of standard websites has come crashing down, especially over the past six months. Webmasters who say they’ve made millions since the late 1990′s quietly admit the impact of Social Media has been destructive to their business. Add to the mix out-of-the-box products by Word Press and the “free” effect of available products (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc) allowing business owners to post their own content and update their pages, it’s no wonder the thriving website business is suddenly in serious trouble.

On ongoing poll shows 57% of respondents look to the Internet for their  marketing needs (33% Social Media – 25% e-mail blasts). 16% say they use print. What do you say?

 eWedNewz

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