I own a really expensive phone. It’s beige, measures about 8″*6″*3″, and is a bog-standard house phone. It was really expensive because I rented it from my phone provider, meaning I paid them a couple of Euros every two months for years and years. When I finally got annoyed enough to call them to cancel the payments, they wanted me to return the aging beige coffee-stained abomination to them. Despite the fortune I’d paid for it over the years, they still owned it. I promised to mail it back but never did, and if the cops are reading this – I’m unrepentant. I’ve paid for that phone many times over, and it’s morally mine. Also I’ve taken it to pieces to recycle some of its components in a little electronics project I’m working on…

So phones are not a sensible candidate for the rent/lease commerce model, but the model works well for many online products. Up until recent times,  games were a physical isolated medium that you bought from your game store and played alone on your console or PC. As online gaming became established, companies like Blizzard figured out that they could charge people for a game like World of Warcraft, and then charge them again once a month for the privilege of going online to play it. Smaller game companies followed suit with smaller browser based games, that either levied a recurrent fee or allowed you to accelerate your progress by using real money to buy game credits which could be exchanged for in-game items. This is the fastest growing sector in the games market, and games like Evony have enjoyed viral growth in recent times.

Websites are changing too – literally. Back in the day, it was enough to have a website. Chances were that your website would be the only website representing your trade category in the local area. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. You need a website with good content that is constantly updated and optimised for the search engines, if you want people to visit your website and ultimately their money to you instead of your competitor.

We are frequently asked to suggest improvements for websites which were built in the last decade and never changed since. Such a website will not do you any favours. A potential customer will recognise the unmistakable hallmarks of  neglect, and return to Google, leaving the “Copyright 1997″ notice blinking folornly on a pink background, below the animated “under construction” image.

All the evidence we’ve collected suggests that a website which is maintained and promoted brings in new business, and pays for itself very quickly. Having said that, a website with all the bells and whistles can cost quite a bit. This is why we now offer our customers a pay-as-you-go plan. In essence, we agree a specification for the site with the customer, in conjunction with a maintenance and search engine optimisation plan. This arrangement means that the customer doesn’t have to worry about a large initial payment, and can rest assured that a modest monthly fee ensures that their website will be kept up to date and performing well in the search engines.