Types of web site
If you're not sure what options you have for your web site, let us help you with this brief summary...
There are many ways to categorise sites. What we try to do when discussing them is to use standard terms that you'll probably have heard before, so you'll quickly understand what's on offer. We don't do jargon.
Brochure web sites
A brochure web site is a simple online "brochure" which showcases your company's products and services. It should complement your marketing plan to help grow your business by bringing in more leads and enquiries. It's a first point of contact and allows people to find you via search engines. Our sites are naturally very attractive to search engines, but click here to read more about Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Brochures sites can come with or without content management.
Intranets and extranets
These are web sites that provide information to existing employees, customers or partner businesses. Both involve a certain amount of private data. Intranets are generally only available within a company network, while an extranet is available on the web but parts of it are password protected so only authorised users can access them. This allows sales reps to demonstrate sensitive data to potential clients, or members of staff to have access to company documentation at all times.
Portals
These tend to aggregate a lot of different types of information together in a consistent format. This information can include data from support forums, blogs, news feeds, FAQs etc. A good company portal can keep staff and clients alike well informed. An important part of any business is to provide good communication and many businesses can benefit from providing a solid online support infrastructure. Increasing the online support available to customers via support forums and FAQs can drastically reduce time spent handling enquiries, increasing profitability.
Ecommerce web sites
Ecommerce sites sell directly to the public or wholesale customers, taking money online via a card services provider. Items for sale can be shippable products like books, or downloadable products like music or software.
Ecommerce sites must be search engine friendly in order to rank well with Google, Yahoo, MSN etc. and they must also provide total control over the content on the site so products can be added, edited and removed with ease. The Beetlebrow ecommerce package is both friendly to search engines, and has powerful content management built in. See our ecommerce page for more information about ecommerce and what we offer.
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