If you're like me, you tend to view every business web site as a potential lead generation machine. It seems like such an obvious use of a web site, doesn't it?

And yet, most business web sites are nothing more than an online brochure. A site may look pretty (though most don't), yet fail to take advantage of the one big thing the web offers us...

The web can be used.

Unlike a brochure, a web site doesn't have to present an unchanging face to the world. It can ask questions, and adapt its content accordingly. It can solve problems. It can engage a visitor, find out what s/he wants, and take him/her straight to it.

The web offers you and I something that hasn't ever existed before. A fully automated lead generation machine that works 24/7 to bring us new business opportunities.

I've invested a lot of time thinking about this potential over the last year, and have concluded that we're really only scraping the surface when it comes to all the web has to offer. For example, think about the problems facing an e-book...

• It can only be read easily if its printed. This is usually impractical, and tends to result in something too large and heavy to hold comfortably
• Reading it online involves looking at a computer screen for long periods of time. Most of us can't be bothered. How many substantial e-books have you ever finished?
• It works best as a linear medium (i.e. when read from start to finish like a book)

An e-book offers the reader most of the disadvantages of its offline equivalent, and almost none of the advantages of a web site. I think this is why most downloaded e-books are never read.

Why bother with an e-book in the first place?

Most people arrive at a site looking for something specific. Why not take advantage of the interactive nature of the web, and ask visitors what they're looking for? As soon as you know, take them directly to it.

This approach to a business web site has the potential to radically transform lead generation on the Internet. It circumvents traditional site navigation, which visitors have to figure out, and then navigate (the fact something has to be navigated is a clue to the problem).

Even better, this approach has a site owner start to think about what's important. My guess is, long-winded exposition about how the company has been trading since 1984 won't make the cut.

Nobody visits a business site to find out how long the company has been in business. They're looking for something specific, and they don't have time to figure out it's in some 3rd tier sub-menu. If you can take them right to it, you're half-way to securing a serious business inquiry.