Developing Effective Websites

Preface

In the chit-chat of a family party, the subject of this book came up. “I need to read that,” said a brother-in-law, a managing partner of a small law firm. “Our website hasn’t changed in two years.”

“Who’s managing it?” we asked.

“Nobody. That’s the problem,” said the brother-in-law. Indeed. And it didn’t take a C++ programmer to figure it out. We recalled our first visit to the site a few years ago. A modest site, what we call a “Web presence,” with lawyer biographies, contact information, and little more, it was nonetheless impressive to see that the firm was on the Web.

In those early days of the Web, enthusiasts touted its democratizing power. “Now everyone can be a publisher,” they proclaimed. Organizations of all types, sizes, and ...