What is the purpose of your web site?

Some websites are electronic brochures and some are communications vehicles between an organizationand its customers or members. Still others are electronic commerce sites selling products or services, providing access for technical users or billing support or making it easy to make reservations for dinner, the movies, hotel stays and more.

If you do not know what your web site is supposed to do for you, it’s hard to see if it’s doing it.  Or, as Lewis Carroll said, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.”

Assess your website with these questions:

• Why do you have a website?
• How do you use your website?
• Do you send people to your website?
• What do you want to get out of having a website?
• Can your website do work for you?

Websites are used for many purposes: selling products, providing support, communicating information or making reservations. It isn’t news that the web is constantly changing, but it is something to consider when asking yourself if you are making the best use of this powerful medium.

When you answer these questions, you will be ready to assess the effectiveness of your current website. Consider changing your website to reflect change in your business. You may be ready for a new look or approach. It may be time to incorporate some of the interactive techniques that were unavailable or too costly several years ago.

When people come to your website you are given an opportunity. Is your website ready to make the most of it?