The
Web Is Like a Giant Oak Tree
by: Mike Banks Valentine 
I recently moved from the heart of the
city to several acres in the country. My greatest pleasures
here are two massive Valley Oaks that tower above me at the
edges of my property. I love to imagine what these trees have
seen in their nearly three hundred years anchored firmly to
their spots. I measured the trunks at the base of both trees
and found one was twenty-two feet around and the other has a
thirty foot circumference!
Hang in there while I tell a story of
the Oaks and change on the web. During a housewarming party
we had shortly after moving here, my brother-in-law photographed
his wife beside the larger of the oaks. Nearly all of our guests
commented on the trees as they arrived for the barbecue we had
planned. They are truly magnificent specimens and we don't feel
as though we "own" them.
One morning recently my wife and I were
awakened abruptly with a huge POP! CRACK! WHOOSH! and finally
BOOM! I leapt out of bed and ran to the window to see a huge
dust cloud swirling outside the house! My wife was shaking and
from behind me she quavered, "Michael! What is it?"
As the dust cleared I slowly made out a huge tree branch on
the ground, the leaves still rustling from the twenty foot drop.
It had fallen off of the giant oak tree!
What has this to do with small business
internet and the web? Well, believe it or not, it got me thinking
about my web site, I found out that losing branches is normal
for this type of oak tree. Each fall, the same thing happens.
The similarity of a business on the web makes a good metaphor.
Changes in web technology will inevitably come and disrupt our
normal routine online. Where we have grown used to one way of
doing business, it could change dramatically overnight. BOOM!
A time honored method of marketing falls to the ground!
I have found that portions of the content
on my web site are becoming dated and in some cases, completely
inaccurate. Some of the sites I have linked to and relied on
for content have evolved into something else or fallen down
themselves. Dynamic content replaces static pages. New, more
valuable services grow and replace the old, just as is the case
on these huge oak trees. Banner ads become less effective, e-mail
marketing grows and adds a new, vital branch to a massive tree.
Some will mourn the loss of the old branch,
try to graft it back to the tree, curse the damage it did to
the flower garden below and wail at the cost of cleaning it
up. (The estimate from the tree surgeon is $700 for trimming
and clean-up!) Others will take it as routine for the life of
the tree, then rejoice in the free firewood and look forward
to re-doing the flower bed with new varieties in the spring.
Go in search of new, more valuable and
dynamic content for your site. It can age very quickly as change
outpaces tradition on the web. My current site is less than
a year old and in need of it's second make-over! Most major
sites are reworked routinely as a way to stay healthy and keep
growing as advances in technology bring new possibilities. HTML
mail, streaming video, shockwave enhanced sites, DSL and the
approach of broadband web connections will inevitably bring
change to your web site.
CRACK! Call the web developer. POP! Research
new resources. WHOOSH! Sign up for more classes BOOM! Go clean
up the mess!
Mike Banks Valentine operates several
web businesses including http://www.website101.com a small business
internet tutorial teaching the basic techniques of growing your
company online. A free "Short Course" is available
by autoresponder by sending a request to website101@smartbotpro.net.
He writes for several online publications and can be contacted
directly at: 411now@website101.com or Learn@WebSite101.com
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