You may not know it but your website is dead. That's because engaging with users and customers online is all about digital presence which is so much more than just your website. Note: this is an excerpt. Download the complete whitepaper at http://resources.limelight.com/WebsitesAreDead.html

1. Websites are Dead.
Long Live Digital Presence.
In this whitepaper you’ll learn:
£ Why the web is no longer the sole focus of how you interact with users online
£ What it means to embrace “digital first”
£ Simple ways to start assessing your digital presence
October 2012

2. www.limelight.com
Websites are Dead. Long Live Digital Presence.
Your website, as you know it, is dead. That’s because digital marketing is no longer about
pushing out content and hoping that users or customers read it. It’s about engaging and
interacting with your customers through your content. So you can’t just publish your videos
to YouTube and be done with it. You have to do more. Your content tells the story of your
brand and your company. And when it’s online, it’s your digital presence.
The death of “what you think your website is” isn’t exaggerated. New research from
Google and others show that your customers are consuming content across devices. It’s a
new world now—a world about consistent content experiences, about engagement and
interaction using a variety of channels. About digital presence.
This whitepaper will help you understand how the digital world has changed over the
past 10 years and how you need to start thinking and acting digitally to take advantage
of these trends and changing user behavior. Either that...or your story will never stick.
The Web is so 1990s. Are You Still Living in the Past?
It wasn’t that long ago when businesses were clamoring to get online. Not because
companies felt that the Internet and the World Wide Web were intrinsically going to
change the global economy. No, companies did so as a competitive response. Because
of that, nothing really changed. Processes remained the same. If nothing else, marketing
simply became responsible for another channel of customer communication. The website,
for many companies, was an electronic brochure. Unfortunately for many that is still the
case. They see their website as the “end all, be all” of an online experience or digital
marketing strategy.
But that is not how customers see it. They expect businesses to have a website. They
also expect those same businesses to have a Facebook page, use Twitter, and make all
of their content available on mobile phones. Why? Because the world is digital…and
customers have gone digital too.
Today’s Digital World
Today’s digital world has evolved beyond websites. The growth of social media services,
like Facebook and Twitter, has extended the original purpose of a website (making
content about a company and its products available online) to encompass immediate
interaction and engagement. Where a company’s website was once little more than a
digital brochure, it is now a powerful tool that can provide visitors with a personalized
brand experience.
Just as users have integrated social media into the way they interact with friends and
family around the globe, they now expect businesses to provide that same interaction.
Customers look for a company’s Facebook profile. They want to follow a company’s
Twitter updates. They want to consume content in a form that befits what they are doing.
Websites are Dead. Long Live Digital Presence. Page 2

3. www.limelight.com
If they are frequenting Facebook, they don’t want to have to visit a company’s website to
find what they need. They want that information in Facebook posts.
In short, websites are dead...as a standalone representation of a company’s online
experience. They are part of a larger story—a digital presence that can span many
channels including a website, social media, mobile, and even large screens. Take a look
at the data below from a McKinsey study1 measuring digital activity of over 20,000
people ages 13-64.
What McKinsey discovered is a “digital shift” that is happening right now—content
consumption across channels is increasing but especially in the younger demographics.
Still, before you dismiss the results of their study by concluding that “these aren’t my
customers,” consider the following from the same McKinsey study:
In today’s world, anything that hinders speed and agility contributes to failure. The
$500 billion future that young consumers will drive has actually begun…
Ignoring this shift could spell long-term disaster to your business! Capitalizing on it
requires a better understanding of how customers are interacting with you through
these different channels. First, though, it requires acknowledging that you have a digital
presence.
What is a Digital Presence?
A digital presence is the sum of engagement and interactivity across all of your digital
touch points. Whenever customers interact online with your brand, they are experiencing
your digital presence.
1. The Young and the Digital: a Glimpse into Future Market Evolution. McKinsey. January 2012.
Websites are Dead. Long Live Digital Presence. Page 3

4. www.limelight.com
The key to a successful digital presence is engagement. That’s what sets it apart from
an ordinary website. Rather than the traditional model of telling customers your story
by presenting content, a digital presence relies on engagement and establishes a
bi-directional conversation around your content and your brand.
In many cases, companies can be unaware of how extensive their digital presence has
become. For example, a restaurant may have a Facebook Page and a website, but not
know of all the reviews about it that exist on other sites and Web services. In essence, a
digital presence can be “intended and attended” or “unintended and ignored.” While
the later requires no work and reaps no benefits, in order to capitalize on the former, it’s
critical to understand the workflow of getting your digital presence out to the world and
how to manage it once it’s out there.
Examples of digital Want to Read More?
touchpoints Click on the link below to find out more about why your website is dead and what you
Your digital presence is can do to make sure you have an awesome digital presence.
comprised of a host of touch-
points, some of which are listed
below: http://resources.limelight.com/WebsitesAreDead.html
•• Website
•• Mobile website
•• Email/Newsletters About Limelight
•• Mobile applications
Limelight Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:LLNW) is a global leader in Digital Presence
•• Social Networks
Management. Limelight’s Orchestrate digital presence solution is an integrated suite of
•• E-commerce Store cloud-based applications, which allows organizations to optimize all aspects of their
•• Job Boards online digital presence across web, mobile, social, and large screen channels. Delivered
•• Product or Service Review exclusively as a service, Orchestrate leverages Limelight’s scalable, high-performance
Websites global computing platform to offer advanced features for: web content management;
•• News sites website personalization; content targeting; video publishing; mobile enablement; content
•• Blogs delivery; transcoding; and cloud storage — combined with social media integration
and powerful analytics. Limelight’s team of digital presence experts helps organizations
•• Discussion Forums and Bulletin
Boards streamline processes and optimize business results across all customer interaction
channels, helping them deliver exceptional multi-screen experiences, improve brand
•• Support sites
awareness, drive revenue, and enhance their customer relationships — all while reducing
•• Video
costs. For more information, please visit www.limelight.com, and be sure to follow us on
Can you list how many digital Twitter at www.twitter.com/llnw.
channels your company uses?
Do you think you can list some
that your customers use which
you may not be incorporating
into your digital presence?
Websites are Dead. Long Live Digital Presence. Page 4