sinatraco.com Blog

As a design firm, we’ll often want to see how a web site has evolved over time.  We use a tool called the “Way Back Machine” to look at what web sites looked like over time.  It’s easy to do.  Go to this web site: http://www.archive.org/web/web.php, type in a web address, and click “Take me Back.”  It’s fun to see how different web sites have changed over the years.

The Google Principle

Google has been highly successful for one reason: They do one thing better than anyone else.  Importantly, their focused approach is reflected in their design and communication.  Use the “Wayback Machine” from above and take a look at what Google’s web site looked like in 2000.  You’ll notice that in almost 8 years there is virtually no change to what you see to day.  Do the same thing with other search engines like Yahoo! and MSN and you’ll see significant differences. 

This exercises uncovers one of the most powerful principles in building successful companies: consistency and focus. While Google focused on one thing, Internet search, and kept their offerings concise, other search engines tried to diversify their offerings.  Yahoo!, who once focused wholly on search, added dozens of other offerings, which watered down their search offering and gave Google a competitive advantage.  If I need to find something on the web, I’m going to go to a place that pours a large percentage of their resources into this functionality.

A small business can do the same thing.  Ask yourself what you can do better than any other company in Massachusetts?  What is your specialty, and how can you maintain focus on what you do best.  A fantastic book about this subject is Good to Great by Jim Collins.  A good overview of his ideas can be found in this pdf document: click here

If you have any questions about south of Boston web design or marketing feel free to request a free consultation from our corporate site:  www.sinatraco.com