We killed our agency website. Now we’re happy.

We recently wrote a post on an agency allowing their FB page to “go dark.” Sid Peimer of the Cape Town agency, BEHP commented on that post, describing how BEHP had taken a further step in the recent past and “killed” their site. Sid was kind enough to guest post and flesh out the experience a bit further. Thanks to Sid, and make sure to check out his site, stratplanning.com (more info below after the post).

We just switched off our website at BEHP (that’s the full service agency where Stratplanning resides). Honest we did – all the evidence is here www.behp.co.za. In its place is a blogsite. The reason is quite simple: the website makes us look big; the blogsite makes us look good. And since I last checked, clients want to work with good people, not necessarily big people.

Make no mistake, websites are a crucial channel in the communications arsenal, serving as the silent salesman available 24/7 to anyone who wants to enter the domain. In our case, we (or maybe just me) felt that we needed to set an example to prospective clients – ‘look how great our website is – we can make one for you as well’. That’s admirable, but not necessarily correct.

To be quite honest, I was against the idea of culling the website – gone was my Linus blanket of our great site (and it was a great site). When I was shown the new site, I gasped in horror and sulked for what must have been at least 12 hours. “It’s so linear,” I cried in horror. But fortunately the proponents of the blogsite appreciated that I needed to be granted the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. Clearly I needed help on the latter.

But I have come to know the difference. The blogsite works for us on a number of levels:

1. It is simple to add content.
2. The people who create the work like to display it, so they do.
3. It is current – you get an idea of what we’re doing.
4. It still has the most important piece of information: our phone number.

As organizations we all tend to collect communication channels, simply because they’re available and everyone’s doing it. Take Facebook for example. This is a social medium where we celebrate our lives in the company of others. Friends, not customers. Yes, a brand can serve as a friend, and many do have successful Facebook pages. But Facebook is not the free storefront we bought into. So if you have a Facebook page giving you the same angst as the gym membership you bought but never use, perhaps you need to put it down. I’m saying that as a friend.

Reference: The Facebook comment was motivated by this article in the RSW/US ezine which I thoroughly enjoyed.

About the Author
Sid Peimer is a strategic planner, writer and trainer. He lives in Cape Town with his wife and two Jack Russells, occasionally venturing into the city as the strategist for the full service ad agency www.behp.co.za. He also has his own sea-facing website dedicated to strategy www.stratplanning.com where he has appointed himself mayor (and you can find plenty free resources).