There are lots of great goals your website can help you achieve. Do you want your web site to provide general information about your business or organization? Do you want more qualified leads? Are you trying to improve brand awareness? Are you trying to improve customer service? Do you want people to sign up for events? To book a reservation? Download your visitors guide or brochure? Once you identify what your goals are then you can maximize your web site by tailoring it around the goals you have set.

Here are some common problems your web site can help you solve.

1) Promote your products

Maybe your product can't logically be sold online, but you do want people to know that you HAVE a product. Many businesses provide information about the products they are selling from a physical store.

2) Create sales

Even if you are might not be selling online, you can create additional sales. Many people prefer to walk into a physical store to purchase items. If you provide information online about your products, and directions to your store, hours and phone numbers, you could increase the foot traffic.

3) Sell information

Do you have information to share? You can certainly sell that information. Whether you provide an electronic copy, or provide access to a "members only" section of your web site, information can be a valuable commodity.

4) Take orders

Sell your product on an e-commerce site to increase your business revenue.

 5) Provide samples

You can provide electronic samples of your product. If it's software, you can provide a "lite" version. A book could provide a chapter or two. Even accept mailing addresses to provide "free samples" of your product or newsletters.

6) Provide information about your organization

Who are you? You can provide information about your organization, your goals, your history. Anything that a prospective customer would like to know about your company is good web site content.

7) Provide support or service to existing customers

Already made the sale? You can provide support to existing customers. Electronic/PDF copies of your manuals. Are you constantly answering the same questions over and over? A Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page can almost eliminate those time consuming phone calls.

8) Web Presence & Business First Impressions

There is nothing wrong is simply wanting a web presence. Potential clients will judge your business based on your web site.

It takes less than two-tenths of a second for an online visitor to form a first opinion of your brand once they've perused your company's website, according to researchers at the Missouri University of Science and Technology. And it takes just another 2.6 seconds for that viewer's eyes to concentrate in a way that reinforces that first impression. Given that tight timeframe, making a good first impression should be among your first orders of business.

9) Event Sign Ups

Holding a fundraiser, community event or conference? Make it easy for attendees to sign up and even pay online.