Why have a website?
Before embarking on procuring a website, the benefits should be assesed to establish what return on investment (ROI) is expected. Some aspects of this are subjective, and some can be measured. The most common (valid) objectives are:
- Raise awareness of company/service
- Generate leads
- Support customers (at a lower level)
- Solicit feedback/ Request information
- Show a product range
- Sell a product/range
- Share Information
Once you have an awareness of what you want to achieve with your website, you can start to design it so that it serves this. The criteria for success will help determine:
- how much you spend on it
- who writes the copy, and in what style
- how much technical information you include
- how much sensitive / proprietary info you offer
- whether you need to register to gain access
- whether you can provide downloads
- if Frequently asked Questions (FAQs) will save phone calls
- ...