Web sites – how to get the most value from them.

Web sites are a powerful tool for survival in the Information age, but like any tool the way it is configured and used has a strong impact on how useful it is. The two main features in determining a web site’s value is its presentation and content. It has been said 20% of a site’s value is in presentation and 80% in content. If either factor is compromised your site will fail badly.

Designing a web site should not be based on a one size fits all model. Some features will be common to all sites, but the way they are used will vary. The use of other features will vary from site to site.

First question – what is the function of your web site?

Functions can include –

 Supplying information to the public about your product or service
 Getting feed back from the public about your product or service
 E-commerce

Web sites are a cost effective way to advise clients and potential clients of products and services you can supply to them. They also offer an easy way to get feed back from the end user about his needs or wants. They can easily be fine tuned to the exact products or services you provide. As conditions change they can be updated to deal with these changes, quickly and easily.

They can also be used to take orders from clients, process payments, advise clients of order status. They can also process queries from end users or update details about order.

The internet lists many companies that will supply any thing from a simple 3 or 4 page web site with minimum features to a full blown 50 page site with all the whistles and bells you can think of. Many of these companies will deliver top quality web sites with little input from the user. But if you want to get the very best results from the site they build, you need to have some understanding of what makes a web site work best.

Membership in the Sydney PC User Group’s Web Site special interest group is a good way to gather information about factors that make a good web site.

These factors include:

 Who is your audience?
 What are their needs?
 Is the site dealing with business to client (B2C) or business to business (B2B) operations?
 Checking how other vendors are satisfying their clients needs,
 Explain how your services are better,
 Creating web sites; do it yourself or outsource,
 Web content, should you hire a copywriter to create it? 
 Landing pages, how important are they? Mini-sites, are they a useful tool?
 Do you need more than one web site?
 How often should you update the content in a site?
 How many web sites link to your site?
 How many sites does your site link to?

The presentation needs to focus on a specific group of people or Audience if it is to address their needs effectively. This is the only way the site will create enough interest to generate sales. At times these sales will not be immediate but if enough interest has been created it may lead to a sale in the future.

The appeal of a web site is strongly impacted by content – copywriters are needed to create the most effective content. The copy that is placed on the web site is only the tip of the iceberg when looking at the total efforts that went into creating the material.

Landing pages can be the final step in making a sale. They must paint a clear picture of what is on offer, offer proof that the product or service will satisfy their needs or wants, state what is unique about the product or service, make an offer with a call to action to close the sale.

In today’s competitive business world a web site can be a important element. To get the most value from them the user must have some understanding of how they work. Membership in a group that enhances a persons knowledge in this area can be useful.