Website Sherpas
Helping you get there
Sherpa -- a member of a people of Tibetan stock living in the Nepalese Himalayas, who often serve as porters on mountain-climbing expeditions.
Back in the day, you could always rely on your nephew to get you up the hill into website ownership. However, today, this is like getting someone who happens to own long winter underwear to lead you up Everest.
What you really need is a group of experienced team members who can act quickly and react to the changing weather conditions to make sure you achieve the summit. First, let's define the goals of a successful website.
There are several mountains you need to climb;
1) Get people to your site (Basecamp)
2) Give them a meaningful experience. (The cliff face)
3) Convince them. (The summit)
Recently, we met Don Schmincke, the author of "High Altitude Leadership". He had a number of observations on how the treacherous aspects of a climb can be fatal (he had some gory examples).
All climbing experiences have some similarities. As someone without the experience to climb, we were once invited by a few uber-experienced climbers to follow them up a series of mountains.
Some basic rules applied, which kept us safe
1) We knew they had the experience to get us to the top safely, so we followed their instructions.
2) We all watched the weather patterns very carefully, and reacted accordingly (once we spent days camped at the bottom waiting for the weather to clear).
3) We were prepared - we knew exactly what we wanted and how to get there.
4) Despite preparation, we changed our course repeatedly along the route to maximize safety and minimize energy used.
5) Going back down needs as much concentration and energy as going up.
These same principles apply to working with your website. In website terms;
1) Clients who do not trust an expert opinion end up with an inferior product.
2) You need to look at what search engines and your competitors are doing before starting or budgeting for a website.
3) You need to know where you are going before you start.
4) You need to realize the possibility of changing course during the website build if the experience changes during the process.
5) Once the website is live, you need equal energy again to keep it going. You are never finished.
As well as zeal to climb, it helps to have the right tools and access to the right experience in order to make your climb a safe and successful one.
Happy climbing!
Posted 23 July 2010, 2:40PM
