I was speaking with a friend recently who was sharing with me a web site idea. Quite honestly the idea wasn’t the greatest or maybe I just wasn’t that interested. Regardless, I have the same problem nearly every time someone tries to get me excited about their whizzbang new idea – they don’t know how to pitch it to me and so they don’t reel me in.

What typically happens is that the person gets lost in the weeds – caught up in the small details such as what the site will look like or what they are going to call it. That isn’t what I want to hear. You need to be able to tell me three things:

1. What the site does (Technical)
2. Who it is for (Target Market)
3. Why it’s better than what’s out there (Competition)

You can have the best idea in the world, but if you can’t answer these questions you have a problem. All the other details can be filled in after this. Sure it’s nice to have a conception of what you want your site to look like, but if you’re not a designer you shouldn’t get too caught up with this because what you envision probably isn’t web friendly or practical.

If you have an idea that has you excited enough to go out and try and find funding or someone to join your endeavor, that’s fantastic. I don’t want to be a killjoy here, but do it right or don’t do it at all.