Class Overview

     Today in class I took screenshots of 10 different successful sites and saved them as JPEGs.  I then uploaded these pictures onto blogger.com

10 sites

  

This site is successful because it is very functional well still being aesthetically pleasing.

Amazon is a good site because it gives people an easy way to find almost any product they want on one site.

Blogger gives people the opportunity to create a blog for free to get people to notice what they are doing

ESPN helps people to follow just about any league in the entire world.

Google gives people a way to search for anything on the entire internet.

Bing is similar to Google but it is not as good.  It looks cooler though.

Microsoft explains their products very well and makes their site very creative at the same time.

Wikipedia gives people information on almost anything they want to know.

Yahoo combines many things into one site, it has email, a search engine, and many other tools.

The Weather Channel lets people know the weather of any place they want to know.

Class Overview

     Today in class I commented on Mo's post to give him URL.  I also customized my blog and changed my profile picture.

Five Commonalities

     Five things that all of these sites have in common is that they are; visually attractive, functional, informative, easy to find, and unique.

Class Overview

     Today in class I created my blog on blogger.com and created my first post.  I finished my paper that I started writing yesterday and that was my first post.  I also blogged about 5 things that popular websites have in common.

Pupose of a Website

Jake Andrews

The Purpose of a Website

I do not have that much experience with computer graphics.  Although my sister has shown me how to use Photoshop so I have a basic understanding of how to use that.

There are many misconceptions about the purpose of a website.  Many people believe that a website has to be creative and unique.  While this is true, the site has to be functional and people need to be able to find what they want very easily or they will not give you the time of day.  The primary purpose of your website has to be to promote your business.  You need to be able to turn any visitor of your site into a prospective customer.  The creative aspect of your website is not the most important but it still has to look attractive.  If you are able to be creative it is just a bonus to your site.  Your site needs to be able to lead people to where they are looking to go with only using their own power to do so. This is why the creativity part can not be over done.  If they can not figure it out they will just go find another site that is more functional and gives them what they are looking for.  This is why it is very important to find the correct balance of functionality and creativity while making your website.

Creating a website is very important for any business.  It serves as a great way to reach your customers to communicate what you can do for them.  Of course to get to this point you need to be discoverable.  You need to make sure your site is easy to find for the people who need it.  You can see what keywords people use to find you and strategically add more to make it easier for people to find your site.  The website also needs to be able to pull people in and convince them that your business or product is worth it to them.  The functionality of the site is very important in this stage because the customer needs to be taken on a full tour of your business.  This tour also has to be self lead by them and you have to think about what they want to see and the order you want to show it to them.  To help promote your business you need to make sure that there is something important on every page.  You also need to make sure that you do not put too much on one page because something can then be easily overlooked and then they will not know what you wanted to tell them.  There also has to be a way for a customer to contact you in case of an issue or question.  You can just add something that says “contact us” and list any way you would like your customers to reach you.  This can help you in the future because they could have a complaint that might force you to change something on your site to make it better.

Marketing is also very important for your website.  You need to have ways of advertising your website to people so they can find it.  This can include paying for an advertisement on a social networking site or being in the featured results on Google.  According to “The Purpose of a Website” by Mark O’Brien, people need to ask themselves three question.  These questions are “Are you discoverable by expertise?” “Does your site give your prospects a full tour of your firm?” and “Does your site encourage prospects in various buying stages to convert into leads?”  If you can answer yes to these questions then you will be able to have a successful website and business.

Works Cited

O'Brien, Mark. "The Purpose of a Website." The Purpose of a Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.