Why Build a Website

By Robert Blizzard

Though some may respond to such a question with “Well, why not?”, the continuing investment of time and money to have a meaningful web presence demands a better answer. I’ll offer three to start us off, even though there are many more.

• Meet organizational goals
• Increase Professionalism
• Visibility & Promotion

Goals

Before deciding on embarking on a web project, a moment should be spent on seeing what you hope to accomplish with it. It is best to view the Internet like any other marketing medium, perhaps it has more potential and functionality, but it will not provide an immediate return on investment if you’re not sure why you need it. For example, a local community garden would not find a full page ad in a national newspaper to be an effective use of resources. Similarly, a flash-driven, web database of what is growing in the garden would also be a poor use of resources.

But perhaps that garden is always looking for new community members who want to be a part of the organization. Maybe the fact that they are volunteer run makes it hard for members to receive updates and information. These are the types of challenges that can be met by an effective web presence.

Having defined goals which you expect a website to help you attain is not only a solid organizational practice to begin with, it is also a necessity to maximize the value you receive from the investment you’ll make.

Professionalism

Within minutes, anyone is now capable of creating a MySpace page, a personal blog, or any number of other template based websites. What differentiates a professional organization for “anyone” is a commitment to quality. Generally speaking, the smaller the organization, the more important it is that all promotional material, literature, brochures, etc, including websites, be as professional as possible.

Having a website with information about your company increases your credibility with clients, donors, and customers. In much the same way that a contractor is benefited by having a physical office that a customer can return to if they have any concerns, an organization is benefited by having a 24 hour a day point of information and contact through the web.

Promotion

Web sites are not promotional/marking campaigns. They can however be very powerful elements of one. A bookmark with nothing but a website makes for a great giveaway. A website in the signature line of every email you send makes every piece of correspondence a marketing tool. Just like the old strategy of stuffing extra leaflets into envelopes to maximize the value of postage, the url of your organization in the space of 12 characters can become a gateway to a host of information.