I awoke to a wet drizzly spring morning … uninspired by the weather I decided that walking to work may provide some motivational inspiration while silently voicing my dissent to rising gas prices. Swallowing the last gulps of morning java before setting out I noticed a tweet about earthworms regenerating from a single cell. Admittedly interesting enough trivia for a game of trivial pursuit, or a boring cocktail party, not interesting enough. I never clicked the link to pursue what may have been the seed that germinated the beginning of a amazing scientific journey to unlock the unknown.

As I walked along I seen others jogging and biking to destinations unknown.  And I see earthworms. Writhing on the damp sidewalk. Thinking to myself, they can rejuvenate themselves from a single cell. If only I had clicked that link I could know whether a single worm could be turned into multiple mini-mes…. I just step over them as I walk.

People happened to be lining up at a bus stop signaling the impending arrival of a faster mode of transportation to take me where I wanted to go. Deciding that would hasten my journey without compromising my embargo against the energy giants, I jumped on.

Glancing at others on the bus, I thought these people are all going somewhere. I noticed an advertisement with the slogan “dreams to reality” and my mind began to drift. I realize that life is like that… incremental steps that lead to somewhere. Many people when they start out on a journey have no idea where it will lead but through a series of steps you arrive at a destination.

We can walk, crawl, bike or jog. We can bus, or take a car. The journey to our destination. Yet the mode we use can determine our arrival time. Technology can just get us there faster. Dreams to reality! As the bus nears my stop I notice two police cruisers sitting in an obscure location waiting to thwart some inattentive motorist. Pitfalls in life.

But like the earthworm from a single cell, life grows into something that never resembled the starting point! I arrived at work….. inspired

When determining the recipe for a social media strategy, one of the most interesting recurring themes has been the importance of having a top-notch Web site. It’s not something many professionals think about when they’re getting into social media. They are more focused on deciding whether a blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or LinkedIn make the most sense.

The importance of having a strong Web site to support a social media efforts is frequently overlooked, if not ignored. This approach has increasingly struck me as wrong because social media and a professional Web site are a powerful and complementary one-two punch.

Why?

At the end of the day, social media is, among other things, is a way to drive in-bound traffic. If traffic is being driven to your Web site, it better meet expectations. It needs to do a good job of telling visitors what you do and why they should care. It should deliver well-articulated, clear and great stories. And it should encourage people who have been attracted by social media to do something – be it asking for more information, buy a product or service, or more importantly having your name “dropped” in conversation.

If your Web site isn’t up to the task, if it’s boring, difficult to navigate, or fails to quickly tell visitors why they are there, it doesn’t matter how good or engaging your social media efforts are because you have failed to follow through on expectations. It’s like having great advertising for a terrible product.

For clients, it means I’m an advocate that their Web sites are an asset that can support social media rather than cutting it off at the knees. A high-quality Web site is the fact many professionals have ignored. Why spend money on a Web site when business is booming. It’s the old “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” adage. Now, however, many Web sites are several years old, making them dated in terms of content, features and design. Unfortunately, many websites looked tired when they were new!

So while social media is new and sexy, it should not distract professionals from making sure their Web sites do their job so Facebook, Twitter, et al can do their jobs effectively as well.