The broken state of website building
Website building is broken on multiple levels.
To understand the core of this statement, we must first define the two sides that together define this overwhelmingly bloated system.
How startups view a website
Startups at their earliest stage see it as a quick DIY project, which, with the rapid growth of AI tools, everyone feels they can generate in a day. In reality, while flawed in its core assumption of what the role of a website is, at this stage, the approach is understandable, and to a degree expected. Time and budget limitations, and the fact that most deals are generated through standalone initiatives such as cold email, further justify the position and fact brochure-like website simply makes sense.
Yet, the danger and real core of the issue lies in the fact that at a later stage, the website often stays just as neglected, or turns into a brand asset. Pretty or not, as long as it stays in its brochure-based state, while less neglected is factually underutilized, therefore broken.
Post funding, the perception of what a website is must change from its core.
With rapid expansion in marketing and sales initiatives that naturally follow the latest cash influx. Unless redone, the website becomes one of the most underutilized, neglected assets in the business. On the contrary, when done right, it becomes one of the most valuable assets, a true revenue engine.
But before we dive into what makes a website a true revenue engine, let’s talk about the second actor of our broken system.
How agencies fail at website building
Ground-breaking visuals without merit and blind following of the provided structure mentality are just some of the traits of missing the mark. And with such a process actively killing the very core of the website and its impact.
The usual process of communicating “We need the following pages, here is the copy” followed by precise execution, just won’t cut it. Design alone won’t save it, and exceptional development won’t either. Simply because this “per-page” definitive approach treats your website as a set of pages built to display at the time, desired content.
That's not a revenue engine. That's a digital pamphlet.
Once again, we are looking at the simple fact that the issue, for the most part, does not lie in the execution, neither visual nor technical, but rather in the core thesis of what the website is.
Over the past 13 years, I have encountered a significant number of unique views on this topic. To a degree, we could categorize them into three main categories. Those who view it as a brand asset, a digital business card, as some phrase it, meant to impress. Others see it, as previously mentioned, as a neglected medium that serves a simple informative purpose, which we referred to as a digital brochure. Conversely, some argue that it’s a marketing asset executed by creative and technical experts at the marketer’s will.
Naturally, a battle fought to this day was born. Designers claim design to be a deal-breaker. Developers gate-keep execution and play a performance card. While marketers march towards control, ultimately leading them to great interest in Webflow and similar tools that are built to provide them the power they seek. Again, understandably so, the creative ones strive toward a branded, breath-taking experience at all costs. While performance-oriented calls for simplicity and essentials.
And reality is there is time and place for all these, since in retrospect we come to realize, like it usually happens, truth is somewhere in the middle and there are indeed levels to it. Levels that determine both impact, value, and the overall role the website will have. Let’s just call it a “website potential” spectrum.
I realized that the greatest potential lies at the intersection of design, marketing, and development. This unique combination unlocks the full potential of a website, making it one of the most important assets for funded startups and, in fact, any growth-focused business.
That is not to say other approaches don’t have their time and place, no matter their position on the “website potential” spectrum, but rather speaks to the very alignment between this approach and a funded startup’s goals. And it’s with this very premise that I built Nube.
Now that we understand both actors, let’s understand what this true potential looks like.
What makes a revenue engine
Often, at first glance, real differentiation between a website and a revenue engine does not seem that obvious. So, to make it more so, let’s first break down the website as is.
A website is mainly seen as a digital asset built as a collection of a set number of pages to act in accordance with one of the usual three roles we previously discussed: a branded business card, digital brochure, or marketer-led idea. If we break down the process of its creation even more, we find a clear 3 part system.
We are talking about the definition → execution → optimization, a system in which we determine what’s broken. We face the reality that these parts are, in most cases, greatly disconnected.
Here is what that means.
Definition - depicts the very start of the process, during which website strategy and structure must be defined, and therefore, most often it gets executed by the marketing team. Sadly, in most cases, without a complete understanding of the actual possibilities and with a short-sighted plan.
Execution - comes in as the natural next step. And without any wonder gets handed over to the creatives and technicians, experts of the execution. Already defined structure gets built.
Optimization - follows naturally, and while things start breaking before this, usually they break here the most. Since this final part most often than not falls right back into the hands of the marketing team.
From here, things spiral in many directions. Execution of a limited strategy does not go far. Optimization gets sliced to content intervention and minimal structural updates due to the slow process. Making a three-step system repeat itself and starting to look a lot more like a hamster wheel rather than an actual system.
All making it abundantly clear that the website is, in fact, an asset that lives in the very center of that design, marketing, and development intersection.
With that, we determine that a revenue engine must be built on a clear strategy and seen as a conglomerate of page systems.
To understand what makes a page system uniquely different from usual pages, let’s briefly dive into that and paint a vivid picture of it.
A page system is strategically defined, conversion-optimized, and intentionally built system. What drives the differentiation is the intention.
Page system can be anything from a componentized homepage, pricing page, or any other high-leverage standalone page, to a custom landing page system, comparison system, or any other set of pages with a clear definition and purpose.
Let’s take a custom PPC landing page system as an example. What would, for the most part, be executed through the usual process of;
Definition - aiming at the needed landing page
Execution - build of the defined page
Optimization - a partly neglected action of improving the performance due to natural neglect in the face of various other initiatives and responsibilities.
Now, seen as the page system is defined through a completely new lens on digging deep into the very intention of the system at hand. It’s potential growth, traffic sources, and the number of additional details that are found once all the elements are in place. This results in a system that is built to empower the initiative. Making each new campaign equipped with the needed material through a well-defined system.
The same goes for any other page system, where its core structure is built and based on the intentions of the stance that sits in the very middle of the mentioned intersection.
Partnering with a team that acts from the stance of our now well-known intersection turns our usual disconnected system of definition → execution → optimization becomes a well-oiled collaborative machine. By taking full ownership of the system while actively collaborating with all involved parties, the system becomes unified. Especially once optimization becomes an act of breaking the usual hamster wheel cycle, but rather reinventing the position from which optimization is viewed and therefore acting on all its elements, questioning both content, structure, and the system’s core definition.
Ultimately leading to a website that has an active role in your everyday marketing and sales initiatives. A scalable, easy-to-use tool that each party that benefits from its existence can act on fully autonomously.
Why does this matter? Building in such a way redefines the way the website is viewed on all fronts. Making it a multichannel asset that plays a clear role in your customer acquisition process.
Is this achievable without a partner like Nube? As long as the impact and core definition of the website as a revenue engine are understood. It only comes down to the difference between a custom-connected system and a dedicated agency that lives and breathes at that very intersection.
Either way, reality is the website will no longer be a one-person job, and while one approach comes in the form of semi-organized success, the other comes in the form of a trusted partner that turns your website into one of the most important digital assets for your business. A revenue engine, some would say.
