by Jonathan D. Spiliotopoulos

When musicians play, some notes are melody, others are harmony. Some techniques are meant to impress, others to soothe. The dualities complement each other — they complete each other. It’s about aural management. When melody and harmony balance – when technique and temperance mesh – the music is accessible to and enjoyable for the audience.

A successful website – one that is accessible to and enjoyable for the target audience – also strikes the right combination of complementary notes, the right balance of technique and finesse. It’s about information management. Provide too much technical flash – too much information – and your message (your music) is obscured. Provide too little of each, and you attract no audience.

There’s another parallel: As music balances melody and harmony, so should your website balance investment and return. You should invest only as much as is necessary to achieve the desired result. And a website need not be expensive to generate interest and opportunity. A site that generates both is making beautiful music.

Not all websites are created equal. In fact, there are many different types of websites, with as many different purposes. Outlining the site’s needs – and your objectives – helps determine the type of website you need. Each type of website is designed with a specific audience in mind. Each is intended to achieve a particular result:

• Marketing Sites
  Investment: Enticing information that educates prospects about how your company or product can help them.
  Return: A database of prospects (names, contact information, etc.)
  
  The best marketing websites are guided by a powerful trinity of information presentation. They establish credibility by presenting customer testimonials, mission statements, success stories, and more. They establish desire by detailing the ways in which the products or services they present can help prospects achieve their goals. Most important – the successful marketing website facilitates a prospect’s entry into your sales process.
  
  
• Online Storefronts
  Investment: Payment systems, security certification, and product listings with detailed descriptions and images.
  Return: Affordable, automated, 24/7 sales.
  
  The best online storefronts are quick to close a deal. They’re not about conversation or education. They’re about sales. Products are readily apparent. The visitor’s attention isn’t distracted by ads, articles, or opinions. Visitors can find what they want; and they can be presented with a list of complementary or accessory items. Most importantly – the successful storefront makes it easy to buy, pay, get shipping information, and move on with life.
  
  
• Content Sites
  Investment: Interesting and continually refreshed content.
  Return: Advertising Revenue.
  
  The television networks may create programming for artistic reasons, but they get paid for attracting viewers to advertising. The same premise applies to content websites. Whether visitors enjoy reading your latest stroke of literary brilliance, or they enjoy looking at the photographs you take each weekend, the ultimate goal of your content website is the same: attract eyeballs to see — and click on — your sponsor’s ads.
  
  
• Portals
  Investment: Time and information.
  Return: Improved efficiency.
  
  Most portals organize great amounts of information and allow it to be customized to individual user preferences. Some portals are gateways to protected information like product support documentation, training guides, company directories, and more. Most important – support lines ring less because customers find what they need quickly and easily.

Once you have the appropriate website, combining complementary elements of functionality and content – technique and finesse – the results always are harmonious. A site that ensures accessibility and an enjoyable user experience, that generates interest and opportunity, and that balances investment and return, is beautiful music, indeed. It can have your bottom line positively singing.