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nthemid-1990sthebusinessquestionofthedaywas“DoyouhaveaWebsite?”Awell-designedWebsitewasanewandexcitingmarketingmediumthatbusinessesandusersalikesawasanovel,nice-to-havetool.Fast-forwardadecadeandnice-to-havehasgivenwaytonecessity,andquestionsofWebpresencehavegivenwaytoquestionsof Webpurpose.Nowadays, it’s no longer aboutwhether you have a Web site butrather how your Web site repre-sents your business, and whetheryou’re using the medium to itsfullest potential. A Web site is abusiness’s face to the world; andas such, it must reflect the toneand style of the business in a pro-fessional and polished manner. Sowhy, after 10 years, are there stillso many poorly designed businessWeb sites? Simple: Becausethey’re easy to build.With all the commercial and freeware do-it-yourself Web tools on the market — and the relative ease withwhich they can be used — everyone who knows how toturn on a computer considers themselves a Webdesigner. But Web sites are much more than the sumof the bits and bytes that makes up its design. Thereare a lot of pre-development planning and strategyissues to deal with before you can successfully repre-sent a 3-D business on a 2-D medium.Representing your business on the Internet requirespreparation and a well thought out strategy. You shouldnever adopt a quick-and-dirty solution simply becausethe advertisement for a particular Web tool boasts thatit can get you up and running in 20 minutes.Professional Web sites don’t come in a box — theyneed to be created, not unwrapped.A truly effective Web site reflectsnot only the image of the busi-ness, but also its objectives.Settling for a cheap and amateur-ish site will devalue your businessand can do more harm to yourprofessional image and reputa-tion than not having a Web siteat all. Remember: Building aWeb site might be easy, butbuilding a good Web site is not.
Understanding Formand Function
A professional Web site is a perfect marriage of form(i.e., how it looks) and function (i.e., what it does). Thesite must be aesthetically pleasing, and sometimeseven entertaining, in order to catch the audience’sattention. But the site must also be informative andfunctional in order to provide value for the audience’stime and to get them to come back.
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Best Practices for Developing a Web Site, an Internet.com Project Management eBook. © 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.
Best Practices for Developing a Web Site
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Developing a Web Site Strategy
By Paul Chin
Jupiterimages
A truly effective Web site reflects not only the imageof the business, but also its objectives.
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