What is a Web site?

A recent project at work had a group of us thinking about Web sites, or more accurately, what role do Web sites play in marketing, advertising and public relations? We determined that this role is different depending on the company and the situation. However we did come up with one consistent element: sites should be audience driven.

Far too often, with communications throughout the marketing spectrum, we approach projects with a "What do we want to say?" instead of "What do they (the customer) want to know?" attitude. When your Web site is set up to provide the information your prospects are looking for, then you have an audience driven tool that acts a resource. This requires knowing what your customers are looking for. That is where the real challenge lies, and where I think companies should devote resources. That's right, put money into research.

It doesn't have to be a statistically valid phone survey (but that would help). It can be a simple focus group, which, when properly moderated, can uncover some powerful customer preferences that translate to marketing messages.

Or you can look at your existing Web traffic. What areas are people visiting on your site. Where do they spend the most time?

This is just the beginning of uncovering your prospect's desires, but it shows that such an exploration can provide structure for your communications to become something that people actually read.