Before you develop and launch a web site, you should have its purpose firmly set in your mind.  A web site with no purpose will look it. All through the design and development process, the web site’s purpose will be the overriding factor when the myriad of process decisions are made. They all should relate back to the purpose of  your site.
 

PURPOSES A WEB SITE CAN SERVE

Enhance Communications

• 24/7 availability
• Text, pictures, as well as audio
• Provides common location for dissemination
• Allows instant easy upgrades and changes.
• Examples include Intranet and Ecommunity sites
   

Extend Your Marketing

• World wide reach
• Product information on demand
• Visitors have random access to your info - Can look up just the information they want
• Consumers get exactly what they want
• Conduct Market Research
• Print brochures on users color printer (PDF)
   

Deliver Information

• Disseminate large amounts of information
• (Web’s Core is about information)
• Deliver information and entry to other information
• News
• Entertainment
• Research
• Hobbies/Clubs
   

Conduct Ecommerce

• Sell Products
• Promote Services
• World wide sales with small cost per transaction
• Lower cost of sales
• Lead qualification done is by web
• Examples include Online order form/catalogs, Sites for use only by other businesses, or for consumers
   

Deliver Instruction

• Remote learning - Distance is no object
• Multimedia can present information using mixed modalities effectively
• Classes can be scheduled 24/7 to fit each student’s schedule
• Examples include Virtual universities, Product training for staff and customers
   

Promote a Company

• Tell the world about your company
• Show products, completed services, staff, offices
• Convey company mission, principles, policies
   

 Enhance Work Group Collaboration

• Enable workers in different locations to collaborate
• Provide virtual location for web video conferencing
• Allow employees to utilize flexible scheduling
   

Enable People to Download Files

• Deliver Information in multiple formats
• Audio - Music, Speeches
• Video - Movie trailers, Commercials, Training Video
• Software - New and Upgrades
• Images, Art, Photos
   

Organize a Community

• Provide common meeting location in cyberspace
• Conduct online meetings
• Members only classified ads
• Chat rooms, bulletin boards to discuss common concerns and current events
• Announcements
• Articles of common interest
• Links to member-recommended sites