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In today's world, web presence is an extremely important part of your business. Your website is arguably the most powerful tool in your marketing tool kit. As such, it is worth your while to understand what is needed up-front to get the maximum ROI from your website. This article is designed to help you reach that goal.
A website can be viewed as an internet marketing machine for your business. This is the case regardless as to whether one is actually selling a product or service, offering some type of information, subscription or membership, or advertising an event.
Additionally, web 2.0 takes website functionality to new heights by enabling a visitor to interact directly with your organization’s operational processes. Making the best use of this capability can greatly cut costs and increase revenue.
Form following Function
A website is considered successful if it meets or exceeds the objectives that it was created for. While how “nice” it looks is certainly of major importance, it is none the less a secondary consideration. In fact, an overly flashy presentation can be a distraction that draws the visitor’s focus away from the main objective of the site. Unfortunately, placing form before function in website design often leads to a great looking marketing failure. The look and feel of a website, the graphics, media, and text are best selected to support the objectives of each page.
The three main considerations in creating a successful website include; (1) branding, (2) marketing and (3) design. These three ingredients must work together to ensure the maximum effectiveness of the website. Your company or organization’s branding is generally taken to already be in place. It is essential that your marketing objectives are clearly defined before the design process starts.
As for the design, it is helpful to provide the designer with your graphical preferences. This can be accomplished by sighting other websites that you do or don’t like, and specifying why.
Finally, the designer will need to know what functionality and what content you would like to see on your site. You may know specifically what you want, or you may have only a rough idea. It is important to let the designer know as these elements will impact the website layout.
