Are you wondering the same thing? We hear this question a lot at Compendium, which is why we're currently putting together a quick whitepaper on the subject.

Having a website isn't enough, and here's why:

Your website is probably boring, stale (staler than this stale bread)...

And it doesn't have the things that search engines (and people) want to find.

That makes it difficult for your site to act as a lead generation tool. 

That's a bold statement - do I have your attention? Good, then time to explain....

Your website is where you control your corporate presence. Back in 1999, someone said, "Every company needs to have a website!" and so we marketers all built websites hoping that it would help us be found. A lot of us haven't updated them since. Ask any marketer why that's the reason, and we'll say that it's too hard.

For those of us who do update our websites, we do it in release cycles. We try not to put too much content on our sites (specifically the homepage) because it interferes with design and usability.

The problem? An abundance of content is what helps our website get found through the search engines!

Recency and frequency of content are huge factors in getting your website found when people come searching. It makes sense, right? People want to find fresh recent content online, and search engines want to deliver it. A stale website doesn't get you there.

Maybe you are thinking, "That's not a problem because I'm going to do a website redesign, and I will put more content on it!"

Well, it is still a problem. Because another thing that people and search engines want are credible information. When redesigning your site, you will probably tear down content and replace content. You completely miss out on the "age" factor that people and search engines want. Keeping old content around is a good thing, as long as it's supplemented by fresh content.

I mentioned that your website is probably generic. It's not your fault.

A lot of us don't have a good idea of what our website visitors want. We try to be all things to all people - need contact info? We've got it. Need to learn more about our products? Sure thing. We try to convey a lot, and in doing so, we make it hard on the visitor, who has to dig and dig and search through our site for what they want.

By trying to "do it all" on our website, it's hard to be relevant to each specific searcher. That's a major hindrance when it comes to lead generation and conversion.

It's also hard for a corporate website to convey more than a single personality -- typically that of the marketing department.

We all know that people buy from people that they like and identify with, yet the only personality we serve up to them is an impersonal, canned one.

OK, so I've made my points and my hope is that you are now nodding in agreement, saying, "There has to be a better way. My website isn't the end all be all to my online presence. The nature of my website is going to make it very difficult for me to accomplish my lead and demand generation goals."

What will? Business blogging. Corporate blogging. Blogging for search.  No matter what you call, it's going to help. Stay tuned for my next post to find out how...