What Kind Of A Webpage Do You Have?
http://www.iwebdevs.net/articles/784/1/What-Kind-Of-A-Webpage-Do-You-Have/Page1.html
Gary Hall
Dean Arrow & Assoc is a Denver web development company. Gary Hall is a freelance writer By Gary Hall
Published on 09/9/2009
Once you know what kind of webpage you have and what else is out there you can make decisions about what you do or do not want your website to do.
There are basically three kinds of websites and not all websites are equal! While I was developing websites in Denver I found that there is one very important step that any business owner with a website needs to take. They need to take a step back and look at their webpage and understand what kind it is and if that is what it needs to be in order to help their customers.
First things first we need to know what kinds of sites exist in order to categorize our web site. You can brake it down into three basic categories, E-Commerce, CMS, and Brochure pages.
E-Commerce Sites - These sites contain highly specialized programs to analyze, compute, or process data. For example, a company might sell their products direct to consumers as well as to other dealers. Or a company might collect sales information from its sales reps in the field through a secure web page. Then an executive could view the collected data sliced and diced by the application and nicely presented in a table with charts and everything.
Content Management Systems - Are not quite as complex as an E-Commerce Site, Content Management Systems (CMS) require a database and special scripting to collect and react to events throughout the site. Procedures are set in place that allow Content to pass through a simple workflow to be approved before it appears on the web site. The benefit you will enjoy is the ability to refresh site content on demand. This is especially important as you venture into Internet Marketing. CMS features allow you to manipulate page content in vital areas to improve your Search Engine Optimization. We have not built a site without CMS features in over two years.
Brochure or Informational Sites are considered to be an entry level project as if to say, "I'm on the web too." Depending on the maturity level of your industry's or company's services, this may be all you should do. Brochure sites require little to no interaction from the user and typically range from 1 to 6 pages. An Information Site increases in size and requires a more elaborate menu systems to direct a user logically through the information. No real services are offered beyond providing information.
Once you know what kind of webpage you have and what else is out there you can make decisions about what you do or do not want your website to do. This will make your life easier as well as helping your website development team do their job faster and better.
First things first we need to know what kinds of sites exist in order to categorize our web site. You can brake it down into three basic categories, E-Commerce, CMS, and Brochure pages.
E-Commerce Sites - These sites contain highly specialized programs to analyze, compute, or process data. For example, a company might sell their products direct to consumers as well as to other dealers. Or a company might collect sales information from its sales reps in the field through a secure web page. Then an executive could view the collected data sliced and diced by the application and nicely presented in a table with charts and everything.
Content Management Systems - Are not quite as complex as an E-Commerce Site, Content Management Systems (CMS) require a database and special scripting to collect and react to events throughout the site. Procedures are set in place that allow Content to pass through a simple workflow to be approved before it appears on the web site. The benefit you will enjoy is the ability to refresh site content on demand. This is especially important as you venture into Internet Marketing. CMS features allow you to manipulate page content in vital areas to improve your Search Engine Optimization. We have not built a site without CMS features in over two years.
Brochure or Informational Sites are considered to be an entry level project as if to say, "I'm on the web too." Depending on the maturity level of your industry's or company's services, this may be all you should do. Brochure sites require little to no interaction from the user and typically range from 1 to 6 pages. An Information Site increases in size and requires a more elaborate menu systems to direct a user logically through the information. No real services are offered beyond providing information.
Once you know what kind of webpage you have and what else is out there you can make decisions about what you do or do not want your website to do. This will make your life easier as well as helping your website development team do their job faster and better.