Karaoke: Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean That You Should!

One of the few things comparable to the embarrassment of seeing photographs of yourself when you were 16 is seeing old versions of your website. At least when we were 16 we could blame raging hormones and the desire to be different.

The Wayback Machine serves as a timely reminder of our previous web sins. When I look at early versions of one of my first websites, I can see awful clipart, fit-inducing background textures, over-use of bold and coloured text, and more; some too awful to mention. Thankfully the Wayback Machine doesn't seem to store animated GIFs, so my beautiful rotating email logo has been relegated to my nightmares.

The web has given people all over the world the ability to instantly share their creations, with no costs and no expertise required. This isn't always a good thing though. Even though we can't possibly guess how many Shakespeares, Monets and Beethovens we may have lost through their obscurity, there was a certain talent Darwinism that raised the entry barriers above the heads of many. On the other hand, you could argue that with today's instant-self-publishing-to-the-world being only a click away, talent is drowned out by noise at a ratio of billions to one. So the chance of genuine talent being overlooked today is quite possibly higher than ever before.

It goes without saying that all of us selling products or services online use a website to do so. While this is nothing new (my earliest "website" can be traced back to 1997), the number of additional power- tools at our disposal is overwhelming. And the forums, newsgroups, mailing lists and wikis are full of people asking whether they should be using some or even all of them.

"Should I set up a blog?" is inevitably met with a resonating yes, as is "Should I start using Twitter", "Should I create an online video demo?" and "Should I place Live Support on my website?".

Yet too many companies are avoiding the obvious question that should precede it: What will you do with this tool?

Having a blog can be massively beneficial to a website. It provides fresh content for the search engines, allows you to engage with your visitors, serves as an outlet for ideas that don't fit elsewhere on your website, allows you to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise, lets you re-use existing content and more. But the question is what do you want to say?

Merely having a blog isn't enough. We've all seen the "...well I finally got round to setting up our blog" type of post, followed by a week of long posts, another a week later, and then months or years of resounding silence. And it's no surprise. Writing a blog takes energy, time, creativity, new ideas, and the ability to write.

So why does everyone think that having a website automatically means that you have these skills?

I myself do a lot of writing, and my brain is constantly swirling with ideas - more or less 24 hours a day. It may sound like a blessing, but it's not, as there's no downtime. Not even when I sleep. But my point is that even with Remember The Milk on my BlackBerry for ideas, I still find it difficult to create three blog posts a week. No-one wants to read rehashed content or mere links to other articles, and people won't be interested in blogs that haven't been updated in months. It's hard work.

The same applies to Twitter. One myth of Twitter is that people just write updates of their day - when they drink coffee, go to the bathroom and what they eat for lunch. Another myth of Twitter is that your potential customers might be interested in why version 3.1.4.8 is more stable than 3.1.4.7, and how your company pool table got broken.

We've all sat through at least one Karaoke in our lives, and for me, there's one vital take-away lesson. Karaoke proves perfectly that having access to a microphone doesn't mean that you should use it. It also proves that contrary to what your parents may have taught you, passion and confidence are no substitute for talent.

Being able to stand up and shout doesn't mean that you should necessarily do so. Both the need for the tool and the skills required to use it correctly are required.

Be seen, be skilled, be sold.