Many organizations treat a web site as a static object, which leads them to treat web development as a capital project. Buying a web site based on its look and feel is like buying a car based on its color and styling. Your web site serves as a dynamic set of marketing collateral, and a powerful communication channel between you and your customers and clients. In theory, you can adapt your online materials much more quickly than your print materials. In practice, many organizations wind up paying huge sums for sites that look great but don't quite fit with their evolving communication needs. Others settle for an inexpensive platform that, while easy to use, limits their options for expansion or complexity. In either case, they eventually wind up back at square one where a new design company pitches them the moon and the stars with prices to match.

You need a web site that grows with you and adapts to your needs, even if you don't know all your needs just yet. I treat site design as an ongoing process, whether we start from scratch on a brand new site or refocus an existing site to make it better fit your needs and workflow. You don't have to do everything all at once—in fact, it's often easier if you move incrementally so that you can capture and use new ideas you may have along the way. But there's no reason not to get started.