Websites Don't Make You Money! :o

By: Justin Tucker
planettucker.net

The Mechanic the Tool and the Car:

That's ridiculous!  What do you mean websites don't make you money!?  Of course they do right?  Well, no more than a wrench can fix a car all by itself.

So what is my point?  Let me use an analogy of the Mechanic the Tool and the Car.  The mechanic is one who has an underlying fundamental knowledge about cars.  But a mechanics fingers and limbs are not equipped or strong enough to turn bolts, lift engine blocks, or the car itself.  No, mechanics must not only have, but also USE the tools in their shop to work on a car.

Translating this over to the Internet the Mechanic is the Webmaster.  A mechanic working on a car is the same as you working on your online business.  But the part of the equation that translates to the "tool" IS THE WEBSITE ITSELF!  Tools do not fix cars, mechanic do.  Websites do not make money, webmasters do.  Guns don't kill people, people do.  The tool is merely a device to facilitate the end the goal. 

But also notice, that you can have someone equipped with ALL the tools in the world, but if they do not have an underlying knowledge of what they are doing, then it doesn't matter how many tools you have laying around, none of them will help you, and certainly none of them grow legs and work for you.

The equivalent result I see with many new webmasters is they have a bunch of domain names and websites (tools laying around), but no fundamental marketing or business plan.  You will find yourself in same situation as a clueless mechanic with state of the art tools at their disposal. 

That is why a website doesn't make money, any more than the wrench magically fixes a car by itself.  View a website as it is, and that is a tool for an over encompassing business plan or model.  I have many clients, and new webmaster not understand this, and view websites as a "magical employee", one that is never late and works for you.  While this is true to a degree, even then to get to this status the fact remains it is only possible if this tool (or magical employ) is sitting on the correct business plan and marketing strategy.  Without this, it will do exactly what an untouched wrench does - nothing.

The point and reality to understand is a website is simply a tool used for your business, just like a mechanic uses tools for theirs.  It is nothing more.  When seen, viewed or operated otherwise success is very rare.  So I say these words to you to give you an accurate perspective of a website is and more importantly what it means.  Regardless of what you do, you MUST have a fundamental understanding about your business model and more importantly plan, otherwise you'll be like a clueless mechanic - a shop full of tools and resources and not a clue how to make them work for you.

Keep this in mind and your bank account will grow ;)