What is the purpose of your web site?

What is the purpose of your web site?

The purpose of your web site is not the same for every business, and you will need to define this according to your business needs.

When using the OM4CP online marketing approach there are a few different things that one needs to understand very clearly, and the purpose of your web site is one of the major issues that you need to have a very clear understanding and well documented interpretation of.

The OM4CP marketing technique has four major FUFISM based  pillars that each need to be integrated into your total marketing plan. these are 

1. your  website
2. your blog
3. your social media marketing efforts
4. your offline marketing efforts.

Your web site will form your core online marketing platform and serve a multitude of DIFFERENT  purposes, so you do need to understand how your website will function and what the purpose, aims, objectives and intent of your website are.  Defining the the purpose of your web site is one of the first parts of your OM4CP marketing project, and you need to take care that you document the procedure that you used to derive this purpose, then also have a policy document in place that will guide you further, as this purpose may change, and have additional elements added and some removed as time goes on.  You should keep well documented records of the decisions taken during the investigation into what functions your web site is expected to perform, and how these will be managed, as this will help you in your efforts to document the purpose of your web site.

Always remember that your website is your primary online communications tool, and that you blog and social media activities are in place to enhance and distribute the communication efforts  and information flow patterns that are generated within your web pages.

The aims and objectives as well as the intent of your web site also need to be documented, and these will help you to define the purpose of your website.  It is a good idea to brain storm what functions you want your web site to perform, and document these activities.  Remember that this is for a small business that has few resources, so do not go over board, but rather limit the  the functions that you want your web site to perform to a few core business functions such as but not exclusive to

• generate leads for the sales team
• handle customer queries with the help of social media pages
• inform customers of where your business is and what you do
• show case your primary products and services

You business needs will dictate what you include as the core core functions of your web site, so be sure to have a very clear and well documented business action plan that dictates what your business does, and who your customers are, along with how you are going to convince these folks that they should use your services or buy your products.  You should update this action plan to include your OM4CP project.

Defining the purpose of your web site is not an easy task, but it is also not rocket science.  You just need to be very clear on what your business does, who your customers are, and how you want to communicate with your customers, your suppliers and those who have an interest in your business.  Once you have this information documented then defining the purpose of your web site is quite simple.  The issue is that you need to have all the other information about your business first, and this can be quite time consuming, but is an essential part of your business planning that needs to be done anyway.

quote from the 4u brand blog  see full page 

From a FUFISM based marketing perspective your web site is the primary hub of your online presence, and needs to be used as  the core element  of your customer  /  supplier / client communications network.

recommended further reading

what is the purpose of your website - 4u brand blog - note that the embedded HOA (Hangout On Air) with ammon Johns and    Vincent Messina will help you understand the issues around the function, intent, aims, objectives and purpose of ylour web site, so set aside the necessary time  to read the post and watch the video, as well as discuss this with the managment of your company or organisation.

The comments on the event page for this HOA are also part of the recommended read, so you will need about two hours, as the HOA is a full hour plus, and there are quite a few well thought through comments that you will need to digest and put into perspective of your own situation. Remeber to have a pen and paper so you can take notes, as this will help you when you sit down and list the purpose, aims and objectives of your web site. There are a few Google plus posts discussing this same issue that add extra value to this blog post and the HOA embedded at the blog post.,


These are also listed as recommended reading here. 
https://plus.google.com/+FrankGainsford/posts/TvcSJ8ET9bF
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+OmiSido/posts/ZKfdBJ29PLU 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/07/17/what-is-the-purpose-of-your-website/
http://webmarketingtoday.com/articles/web-purp/
http://www.htmlbasictutor.ca/website-planning-purpose.htm