A quick glance at the title of this post may give the impression that its intention is to explain why I think you or your business should have a website. This is not so - the point of this post is to emphasise the importance of identifying the purpose of your site.

It is not unusual for a site to exist simply because 'everyone else has one' or because a designer friend has recommended one based more on their desire to build their portfolio than to build your business.

However, a website is an investment in both time and money and these are not good enough reasons to have one. Before anything else, therefore, the purpose of the site should be identified as ultimately this will affect the final design and the effectiveness of that design

Furthermore, it should always be remembered that a website is part of your business and as with any other aspect it needs to demonstrate that it is making a return on that investment.

So how do you know if this is the case? Well, the return on investment can be measured in terms of the performance of the site against specific, measurable goals derived from the original objective.

Areas of the site deemed to be successful when looking at their performance in relation to the goals can be built upon while those areas that are failing can be reassessed. REMEMBER: Objective - Goals - Implementation - Evaluation - Action

As an example let us say that an organisation has a site where the objective of that site is to act as the first port of call for people wanting to know more about the organisation

From this objective they have defined the following four goals:

1. There will be a minimum of one update to the site each day
2. The number of new visitors to the site will increase by 10% per month over the next 6 months
3. The number of people contacting the organisation through the website will increase by 25% over the next 3 months
4. The number of people contacting the organisation directly through the post and by telephone will decrease by 25% over the next three months

Of course, many more goals could be identified and each goal will depend on the organisations current position and what it hopes to achieve but the principle is the same. Without realistic predefined goals it is impossible to determine the performance of YOUR site to the level that YOU want it. Hence we have the question 'Why have a website?' Ask yourself this question before any other because once you have a clear understanding of why you need a site you will have taken a very big step in ensuring that it is a success.