Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

Contempt for the traditional corporate Web site?

I read a great article by a Web strategist I have grown to like and trust named Jeremiah Owyang , who is foretelling the end of the Web site as we know it.

I have to agree on some points and disagree on others.

I agree the corporate Web site as a marketing institution will erode and its relevance will slowly give way to a more conversational mode but having been in the corporate Web site development biz for 14 years, I believe the change will go as slowly as everything else has. 

Recall how blogging's maintream entrance was celebrated? Then lagged and lagged and now, with RSS being understood and adopted, blogging is the light and the new way. 

Jeremiah makes the point that the corporate Web site is irrelevant today. I know what he is saying and I too am on the futurist side of the argument but I have a few dozen corporate clients with highly engaged customers who are no where near ready for this shift. In fact they just started to get the corporate Web site thing in that last year or so. At the risk of sounding like a slow-adopter or a curmudgeon, my bet is that the corporate Web site will continue to thrive while  more conversational or "social" approaches to corporate marketing begin to succeed. I believe this will take at least 3 years if not longer.