Website Effectiveness - The Need

Most companies and organisations now have a web presence. Yet, despite investing significant amounts, many of them find that their web sites are not delivering the results they anticipated, or have no clear idea what they hope to achieve from their web presence.

The importance of the Internet

Though earlier hype about the Internet might have been excessive, especially in terms of e-commerce, today we are in danger of going to the other extreme.

Among other things, the fundamental power of the Internet as a low-cost and highly effective tool for disseminating information is being undervalued. Various studies have shown just how powerful the Internet can be. For instance, in a November 2001 report, J.D. Power found that 62% of all new-vehicle buyers seek out product information on the Net... yet, only 6% of cars are sold through Web sites. Other studies have produced similar figures.

This highlights an increasingly important facet of customer behaviour - people use the Net to make buying decisions, even though they may actually buy off-line. This issue becomes more critical if we look at the likely global Internet penetration levels a few years down the line.

Regardless of what happened to the dotcoms, it is an undeniable fact that the Internet is a powerful tool, especially in communicating and interacting with various stakeholders. Ignoring this powerful medium could be very foolish from a business perspective.

The next question is, how do you go about making your web site effective?