A few days ago, I was chatting with someone about browser cookies. He wanted to know why this site collects them. I told him it was to help keep statistics, that without cookies there's no way to determine the true number of returning visitors. You see, many ISPs use rotating IP addresses, particularly when people log off, then log back on. Without cookies, I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between 1000 people who visit once (and never come back) and 200 people who visit five times. If the former, I'm wasting my time. If the latter, I'm doing something right. As a web developer, my goal is to attract and retain visitors, so stats are useful.

The conversation reminded me of several I had in Sanibel, where I often found myself explaining my business viewpoint to the semweb crowd. At ISWC, I felt like an "entrepreneur in a strange land," with academics and researchers looking a little strangely at money-grubbing me.

My wife's a professor, so this is not new to me. It drives me bonkers when I hear academics playing petty politics, spending $5000 in salary time to decide what to do with $1000. And it's not just academics. When I worked at Lotus, I told people I could "coast on what they spill." The everyday waste I witnessed astounded me. Return on investment isn't just some Dilbertian catch phrase; it's the cornerstone of business widsom.

"Why all this emphasis on money?" comes the inevitable question. Either that or "You've got your head in the clouds." My trouble is that I'm stuck between worlds. The people that like my "save the world" rap can't understand when I talk about money. The people whose ears perk up when I talk about "making money" roll their eyes when I show my idealistic side.

Well guess what. Unless you do both, neither will succeed. Sure, you can make money, but it'll cause people pain unless you pay attention. Yes, you can march on Washington to save the rainforests, but until you find a viable alternative, the Brazilian farmers will keep burning away.

And to all us semwebbers: unless you really think about people like me, people who want to make money from semweb technology, your efforts will fall short. You can design the most beautiful plan, but no one will listen. Unless you can demonstrate that the investment in time and money will bring an even greater return, people won't use your tools. As Pat Hayes put it, we shouldn't be "arguing about which wine goes best with the meat when the people are starving." Picking the low hanging fruit means making tools we can use right away.

Whether you're tracking return visitors or repeat business, the core of our efforts is return on investment. The return may only be enjoyment, but if you're not getting something from what you do, why do it?