First, identify clear marketing goals for your site, such as generating leads, building a database of potential customers’ names and e-mail addresses, or putting a product catalog online to save the time and expense of printing and mailing. Quantify your objectives—such as increasing sales by 15 percent—so you know whether or not your site is successful. 

Then, figure out what your potential customers need to know before buying your products and services. This might include:

• An overview of your company, its products and services, and their applications
• Complete product or service descriptions, including features, key benefits, pricing, product specifications, and other information, for each product or service
• Testimonials, or success stories so customers can see how similar individuals or organizations have worked with you
• A FAQ section that anticipates and answers customers’ common issues

Plan the structure of your site, focusing on making it easy for customers to learn what they need to know, make a purchase decision, and then buy quickly. Create a site map that outlines every page on your site starting with the home page and mapping how customers get from one page to the next. Use tools that quantitatively measure site activity-where customers are clicking, how often, and whether they end up purchasing-then compare the results with your goals.