Industries that Don't Seem to Understand the Web
Friday August 19, 2005 / 27 CommentsWhile there are plenty of businesses that don’t seem to understand that the web can do amazing things for them, there are some cases where an entire industry seems to not understand the full potential of the web. I use the word “industry” loosely. Here’s my list.
Real Estate
I have yet to visit any real estate related web site that had a worthwhile experience. There’s no doubt they recognize the value of the web, but as an industry, I don’t believe they understand what it could be. Having tried to deal with the MLS and its partners in the past, I place almost all of the blame on them.
Lofts & Condos
I hit on this already in Design for Design’s Sake. Instead of offering floor plans and details that are easy to send to friends, bookmark, or compare, every single web site I’ve visited that is trying to sell lofts or condos is bottom of the barrel bad. Instead of being useful, they feel like somebody thought that the more flash, graphics, bad JavaScript, and popup windows they could squeeze in the cooler they would be. In my opinion, this is more evidence that the real estate industry doesn’t have a clue about the real potential.
Apartments
Apartments.com. Rent.net. They all seem to care more about advertising than listings. They offer limited search capabilities and don’t emphasize the factors people care about such as price or square footage. The goal of these sites should be search first. Imagine if Google obscured the search results and filled the page with ads.
Band Sites
This one has already been done over at 43 Folders. Right on the mark.
Software and Open Source
This one is coming around, but the number of open source applications and products that have a confusing web presence is staggering. I can’t count the number of times I’ve read about a cool application but couldn’t figure out how or where to download it because the site was built with no regard to the visitors. Many don’t even offer screenshots. I may not be a smart man, but I know that people want screenshots of software and applications.
Restaurants
They sell food, but rarely have an easy way to view the full menu with prices online — “easy” being the key word. I’m not even going to ask for pictures of the food. As an industry, this seems to be improving, but how long does it take a business to figure out that people want to see your product and pricing? The internet has been here for quite some time.
Online Newspapers
There are some in this industry that really get it. However, as a whole, this industry seems to be a bunch of people who have spent their whole careers working with print trying to translate that knowledge to the web. Some of them honestly have more ads than they do content.
Summary
These are just some industries off the top of my head. On some days, I want to e-mail them and beg them to come let me work there for free to help them out, but then I realize that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Hopefully someday, things will improve. I can understand certain businesses not getting it and dropping the ball, but for entire industries to have it all wrong makes me really wonder what’s going on.
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as someone who is actively looking to buy a condo, i wholeheartedly second that about the real estate industry.
why doesn’t MLS have a RSS or something that could notify you as new listings are posted on it within your criteria? i have to search the listings everyday and eyeball which ones are new listings. paul
Agreed. Especially on the Real Estate front. One thing that I have never understood about a lot of industries online, is the idea that “hiding things will make the user contact us”. It is the old salesman way of thinking that is holding back a lot of these sites. Their sales are still based on commission, so they would rather you call them to have them upsell you rather than provide the information right there.
One example is the boating industry. I challenge you to find a boat manufacturer online that will tell you what the price of a boat is. The only one I know of, is Crownline. Why hide this information? Car dealers allow you to even BUILD your own car. I just don’t see the advantage to hiding information from a user. Josh Dura
This band seems to get it: The Meeting Places huphtur
I’ve had at least one representative from each of those areas mentioned contact me for work. After an initial consultation and presentation of a proposal, they become disinterested. Put quite simply, they’re cheap and stubborn (generally speaking and with all due respect).
When recomendations are put forth and shunned, due to presuppositions on what they want and how they want it, the web developer/designer is left with a decision to make. “Shall I take they’re money and channel what the want into reality or run as fast as I can far,far away?”
Somebody took the money. I’m still running. Kevin Schumacher
Garrett: stop reading my mind! Get out of it now before I have to refashion the tinfoil helmet! Peter Flaschner
Can I please add education and automotive sales to that list? And I’ll add that they think they know, but really don’t. At all. Lisa McMillan
Lisa – Automotive was definitely on the early list, but I feel like the major ones do alright letting you build a car, etc. It’s the small dealerships that do a piss poor job of showing you their stock, etc.
As for education, could you clarify? Do you mean schools or the online tools used by classes? Or even something else? I firmly agree that all of the online class tools that I have seen are incredibly bad. Garrett
In my opinion It’s greed that has sunk the ship in most cases. Money before customer/user, even on the web, means bad news all around. Cody Lindley
Cody – I wouldn’t say it’s just greed. It’s short-sighted greed. Google is the best example in my opinion. They are doing things right by building things people need knowing that the revenue will come if they do things right. Their ads are unobtrusive and highly successful.
It takes a lot for a business or person to sacrifice small-short term gains for potentially much larger long-term gains. Garrett
MLS data is highly guarded – kept as private and privileged as possible.
In years past, ‘ve worked on websites where we quietly grab the the MLS data feed (thanks to a tech-savvy real estate agent) without the board even knowing it’s going on for years. Then hands get slapped and lawsuit threats are issued when they discover the export. But it can be done – although without following the rules, which is dangerous. Geof Harries
As someone who spent many years writing menus for restaurants I kind of agree and disagree with you on that score; yes menus could be a lot better presented on the web but no, I don’t see the need for pictures.
A well written menu should be sufficient to get the message across. Pictures on menus are throughly naff, in my food snob opinion.
Sorry to pick on just one point. John Oxton
Geof – Yes, that’s been my experience. Honestly, I think it’s ridiculous. People pay to have listings in the MLS for maximum exposure. The more open they are with the data and the more places that have access to it on the web, the more value they provide through their services. More value means better business. It seems so incredibly backward to me. The Amazon API has been wildly successful.
John – I’m not really referring to having pictures next to menu items like you’d find at McDonald’s, but when choosing a restaurant, it’s nice to see the level of effort put into the presentation and quality of the food.
Some of the restaurant sites I’ve seen either have poor quality pictures or no pictures at all. The quality of the presentation and ingredients says a lot doesn’t it? Garrett
Garrett,
I completely agree. But knowing some of the people who work at the regional MLS offices – until they retire or leave their roles for greener pastures that data is locked down harder than Fort Knox.
geof Geof Harries
I agree with you on all counts. I’m in the middle of some real estate transactions now and found that the web sites I visited sucked across the board. I think part of it is because they consider it brochure-ware and nothing else. Another part is pure greed.
The RSS idea with MLS listings is a great idea, but the agents would love to keep that as hard to get to as possible so you still need them. Most real estate companies try to maximize the commission money by keeping listings private within their company for a few weeks to try an avoid giving up the money for being both buyer and seller agents.
Smaller restaurant sites are pretty bad, but the larger chains tend to be a little better.
I’m about to leave the Philadelphia area and figured I’d have lunch at one of my favorite restaurants so I checked the lunch hours on their web site. This is a small place and after driving a 1/2 hour to get there found they were closed for the summer for renovations. Needless to say, I was a little upset. Wade Winningham
Totally agree with the one about Software. My blog is about solutions, so I am looking constantly for the next great application. If there are no screenshots or any sign of a demo, I will not continue looking at it unless the site shows something worth while.
I also agree with the Real Estate comment. I work as a Web Programmer and have had to make many systems so far. Unfortunately, I cannot decide how the system is to function, I just have to make it work. Paul’s comment about adding Feed features would be ideal for any Real Estate company.
And it really is depressing with these news websites. I try to read an article and either get bumbarded with Advertisements, or a halting message saying I must signup before seeing it. That fine, because it is their loss. I just click the X button of the browser and find an alternate source.
Great article. Brian Benzinger
Another band that gets it is The Big Mighty. The website looks good, is easy to navigate and validates XHTML and CSS. I don’t know who did their site – there’s no credit that I could find – but they did it well.
I agree with you on the apartments, too. If I have AdBlock activated, I can’t use ForRent.com at all; the search form is all in Flash. Then again, I could have an overly-agressive AdBlock setup. Still, maybe I do want Flash disabled. That makes ForRent.com a rather inaccessible website. michael
I want to comment that as expert web users, we expect everyone to cater to us.
I’ve worked with the clients in each field and they all have similar needs: I just need a website so they know we exists and have a way for them to call me.
It is up to us to show them the value in investing in a web site. How will it improve their business?
The sites you mention, in my opinion, are businesses that do well without the web. Why change something that works? ..ak
..ak, I think you’re missing the point. We’re expecting better customer service for everyone. I agree with your comment about us showing them the value in investing in a web site and that’s what’s going on here. We’re tossing around ideas from a customer’s perspective and a healthy company should pay attention to its customers balanced by it’s own corporate objectives.
For example, while an RSS feed of MLS listings is an awesome idea from a customer’s perspective, it may not mesh well with most real estate companies bottom-line. But maybe there’s a middle ground that works best for both worlds.
Businesses may do well without the web, but, IMHO, they’d do better with it. I can’t even imagine banking anymore without an online interface to my account and it helps me have access to my info anytime I want, and helps the bank keep costs down by providing self-service. Wade Winningham
Wade – I also agree with real estate agents and businesses trying desparately to protect the future of their careers in the face of the internet. I would like to see more of them take the approach of real estate consultants rather than the gateway between me and my dream home. Online listings will happen eventually, and people will adapt.
..ak – Wade is right on. The problem isn’t that they do alright without using the full potential of the web, it’s the fact that they could do so much more if they would recognize it. Garrett
Garrett – I think that most sites developed by higher educations miss the boat entirely. There have been some nice ones lately who’ve entered the mix, but given the number of schools it’s pretty pathetic. I work for a school and can say that it’s a very difficult industry to work in as a web developer. Architecture is based on internal organization and writing is out of control boring. The needs of the institution are unclear, as are the goals. In fact, internal departments are actually in direct competition with eachother and politics often kill any worthwhile development. Then there’s the money factor: Hopefully one day it will be clear that web development is even an important area for schools to put some budget. It’s better in the US. They are starting to get it. I hope I just don’t burn out before that spreads north LOL
Oh, and the tools they use suck too. LOL the application developers are so behind the times and are stuck in the same political hell as the rest of us. The least they could do, though, is wise up to web standards to make their own system development/maintenance easier. Lisa McMillan
John: In your food snob opinion, what do you think about Japan where they have wax displays of all the food in the windows? brian breslin
What about Movie sites?
Sometimes they are impressive technically and visually but most just feel like a bad DVD menu…maybe it is just me. todd
As far as movie-related websites go, there is a movie review website that kicks some serious butt: rottentomatoes.com
geof Geof Harries
This is a great estate agent site in the uk :
http://www.foxtons.co.uk/
They have floor plans and photos for everything. All the other uk sites i’ve seen are very bad in comparision. Tom
hi,
lol I know your pain. I deal with every industry you can imagine and it is the same all over. FLASH, FLASH, FLASH, and bullshit, bullshit, bullshit.
I was watching an episode of an HBO series, deadwood last year. One character, Al, referring to goldminers, says something like …can’t we hit the mfer’s over the head and take their money.
I think it fits must biz sites.
jim Jim Wilde
Hey everybody, interesting comments on bad websites. I am an agent and am currently scrambling to make my website useful… I’ve only had it a few months, but it’s the first site I’ve ever really managed (probably the case with 99% of agents). Most agents I know don’t go too far to make their sites user-friendly simply because they don’t know how to (or are unwilling to pay for it). Making changes takes hours. I still get leads, but I know deep down, I should be getting a lot more. There are some cool features like what Paul’s looking for (Updates). But I am working on it. Though, I understand totally where you are all coming from. And yes, the MLS is guarded, but most agents will put your interests first, and you’ll know the ones that don’t, just trust your instincts. Kervin
Understanding this shift is, I believe, critical to understanding why Web 2.0 matters. And I think this discussion has taken us the furthest in the direction of that understanding. I only wish to add to this discussion that one of the critical phenomena of such a shift is a transformation in perception. Kuhn analogized this phenomenon to a gestalt switch. A professor of mine had another way of putting it I always liked, which was the idea that you can’t un-ring a bell.
Ken DrydenComments are closed for this entry.