Before you even start to create your Web site, you must clearly define your online objectives. What is the purpose of your site? Brainstorm with all parts of your organization, from the frontline clerks, to marketing and sales personnel, to customer support, to order fulfillment and administration. Generate a list of primary and secondary objectives. Every element of your site should relate back to your objectives. When you decide to update, add, or change any elements on your Web site, examine how these changes relate to the primary and secondary objectives you have identified. If there is not a clear match between your objectives and your intended changes, you might want to reconsider the changes. It’s amazing how many Web sites have been developed without adequate planning or without ensuring the Web site ties in with the corporate objectives.

Some of the most common primary objectives include:

• • Advertising your product or service
• • Selling your product or service
• • Providing customer service and product support
• • Providing product or corporate information
• • Creating and establishing company identity or brand awareness.

Advertising Your Products or Services On-Line

The objective of some sites is simply to advertise but not directly sell an event, product, or service. A prime example of this is a movie studio that develops a Web site to promote a “soon-to-be-released” movie. The objective is to create awareness or a “buzz” about the movie, generate interest in the film, and, ultimately, have a large number of people attend the movie when it is released. This type of site might include multimedia clips of the movie, pictures and stories of the actors in the movie, viral marketing (“Tell a friend about this movie”) elements to encourage word-of-mouth marketing, an intriguing story about the film, press releases for entertainment writers, and other elements to help them achieve their objective with their target market in mind.

Selling Your Products or Services On-Line

Selling products or services online is a common objective. The Internet provides a broad geographic reach and a huge demographic reach. Often businesses combine the objectives of advertising their products or services with trying to sell them through their Web site. This works well because visitors are not only given information about your products and services, but they are given the option of easily ordering and purchasing online. The easier you make it for people to make a purchase from your company, the more likely they will be to buy. You will have to provide detailed information on your products and services, your return policies, guarantees and warranties, and shipping options. If you are planning to sell directly from the site, you also need to address security issues.

Providing Online Customer Service or Support

You might decide that the main reason for your business to have an online presence is to provide more comprehensive customer service and support. A great benefit of a Web site is that you can provide customer assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. If your company develops software, it is a good idea to include downloadable upgrades as well as an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section where you can provide solutions to common problems. By providing an easy way for your customers to solve their problems, you increase customer loyalty. You also increase the likelihood that they will return to your company when they need to improve their computer system. Include the appropriate contact information for customers who have more complicated problems and need to talk to a human.

Providing Product or Corporate Information

Some organizations simply wish to provide information on their products or services to a particular target market. Others might want to provide corporate information to potential investors. Information-driven Web sites tend to be text oriented, with graphics used only to accentuate the points being made and provide visual examples. These types of sites usually have an FAQ section that provides useful and pertinent information on the company and its products or services. If the organization courts the media, it might include a Media Center, which can include all its press releases, corporate background, information on key company officials, articles that have been written about the company, and a gallery of relevant pictures that the media can use, as well as a direct link to the company’s media person.

Creating and Establishing Company Identity or Brand Awareness

Another objective might be to create and establish company identity or brand awareness. To “brand” your product, a memorable name and an eye-appealing product logo are necessities. Also, the graphics developed for your Web site must be top-notch and reflect the colors associated with the product logo. A catchy slogan further promotes brand identity. The same branding techniques are also applicable to establishing corporate identity. If building and reinforcing corporate and brand identity are important to you, your Web site must have a consistent look and feel. Likewise, all offline promotional campaigns and materials must be consistent with your online presence

Based on the success of companies such as America Online, Yahoo!, Travelocity, Amazon.com, and eBay, it is apparent that branding a company or product on the Web can occur swiftly. It is amazing how quickly these relative newcomers to the business world have achieved megabrand status. Although they all had significant financial resources, each company used a combination of online and offline advertising to meet their objectives. Each of their sites features a prominent logo, consistent imagery, and a consistent color scheme. Check out the sites of these upstarts that have become big online players if branding is your goal. There is a lot we can learn from them.