Sure, you probably know what your Web hosting is costing you per month. You may even know your maintenance costs. But do you know what your site is costing you in lost business?

In CIO magazine, Web usability guru Jakob Nielsen cited a study his company did of 170 B2B sites. The results? “I was appalled.”  The study showed that the majority of B2B sites studied were “difficult to navigate and rarely answer customers’ questions in a straightforward manner.”

Ask your customers what they (honestly) think of your Web site. If you’re dismayed at the responses, realize how lucky you are to still have those folks as customers. Then go get your Web site fixed.

“No one plans to fail, they just fail to plan.” It’s one of the oldest clichés on the planet, it’s certainly one of the most time worn axioms in the business universe, but it’s as true today as it ever was. Need proof? Look at what happened to the U.S. Census Bureau when it failed to plan. Now, no one ever cited the government as a good role model for business, but there’s hardly a more textbook case to illustrate the need for planning, and nowhere is planning more important than in communications programs.

Read More…