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What is the primary consideration in creating a business web site?

We are often asked this question and, of course, our answer is "it depends". What else would a web design consultant say?

I have decided that it is time to outline these considerations when we have to answer the question for a web design customer. For those of you who are not our customers and are not familiar with our process for designing a web site please read our web site section "Create an Effective Web Site" before you continue. It will help you understand this information.

Creating a business web site: Every web site design is different but one thing is consistent across the board. Every web site owner wants the web site to be successful. While the definition of successful changes the fact that it must be successful remains. Our primary consideration in creating a web site design is the customers definition of successful.

• What are the business goals? We work hard to create a set of precise business goals for our clients. These goals determine the design of the business web site. We don't want to create a web site that is successful in NOT helping you meet your business goals.
• What are the goals for the site and do they relate directly to the business goals? Once we have the business goals we look at what the goals of the site will be and how those goals relate to the business goals. In other words, if we are successful with the site goals will it positively effect the business goals? (For an in-depth view of cause and effect, See Creating Alignment for more information.)

Once you have established the goals for your business and your business web site you can begin to work on the details of your web site design. From this point of view there are only two primary considerations in creating a business web site... Business Goals and Site Goals! Every other decision about your web site design, content, features and marketing stem from these two sets of goals.

So, for those of you who are worried about our primary concern when designing a business or e-commerce web site, there it is. And, it is so important that all the rest is just details.