why do you want a website?
What is the purpose of the site?
Whether you're an individual or a small business you have to decide what you want your web site to achieve. This is a very important step... and one that most people don't consider at first.This step alone will help you keep your budget in hand and will also help you decide which features are essential to your goals and which ones can be crossed off the list.
Below is a list of the most common objectives a website might set out to achieve.
- To present a favorable image of your company or organization over the web
- To provide information about the company and its products/ services to clients and vendors
- To improve customer service and enhance customer communication
- To gather information about qualified customers for subsequent marketing
- Advertise job availability information/recruit new employees
- Keep current and potential customers informed about company news
- Advocate a cause or position
- Sell products, services, or other items over the web (E-Commerce)
- Reduce operating costs by providing business functions over the web
- To provide relevant information or educate the public at large
- To experiment and test market demand
- Entertain users to keep them coming back to the site
Realistic site objectives result in more concrete results.
Don't think of a website as a screen-based version of a magazine - it is much more than just a static page, or advertisement.
Because the web offers so many avenues of communication through text, sound, pictures and interactivity, it requires a freshness of approach and a knowledge of the medium.
Both its possibilities and limitations.
For this reason a useful place to start planning
your own website is to critically evaluate websites of organisations similar
to your own...
Your website should:
- Positively reflect your organisation.
- Look attractive.
- Download quickly.
- Be easy to navigate.
- Work properly on a wide range of browser/computer combinations.
Analysing your needs and exploring methods presently in use by your competitors will give you a solid idea of where you need your site to go. Put those ideas in a marketing plan and you are well on your way to developing a solid well-thought-out website.
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