If you were asked to put a value on your website what would it

be? Perhaps you paid a small fortune and commissioned a top

design agency to build it. It would still be worth at least

what you paid for it, right?

It's a sad fact that a great number of websites are worthless.

They give no value to their owners and are little more than a

drain on resources. Would it surprise you if your website was

classed as one of these?

The World Wide Web is made up of millions of webpages so it's

not surprising that many are rarely seen by human eyes other

than their owners' and creators'. These unfulfilled webpages

are like trees in a forest. They can make as much noise as they

want, but if no one is around to hear it then who is to know

they ever made a sound? Too many of those that are seen by

people are poor at encouraging progress through the sales cycle

i.e. they don't persuade the reader enough to progress to the

next stage whether that's submitting a sales query or making a

purchase.

So how have you determined the value of your website? Have you

only taken into account its cost to build and maintain or have

you also considered what it actually does for you and the value

it adds to your business? Ask yourself this question, if you

were to put your website up for sale, how would you convince a

potential buyer that it was worth the asking price? Would you

sell it on the basis of how much it cost to build or on the

strength of the benefits it brings?

Do you think owners of expensive luxury cars are motivated by

how much they cost to build, run and service or because of

things like the prestige they give the owner, the superior

performance and higher levels of comfort? In this context, it

may be easier to recognise value and worth, but when it comes

to your website can you do the same? If your website provides

you with no measurable benefits or is a tree in a lonely forest

then how can you be sure it's worth anything?

Suppose we're comparing two very different websites; one cost

£10,000 to build, looks very impressive, but converts poorly,

generates little interest and the other cost £1,000 to build,

wouldn't win any design contests, but consistently generates

fresh leads and converts a high percentage of prospects into

customers. Which of these websites do you think is worth more?

Now ask yourself again, what's the value of your website?