Another of the major strengths of the Internet is that it is interactive. Your audience had to do something to arrive at your web site, and now you are able to reveal your information in layers, letting the visitor peal away the pages to focus in on the specific information he seeks. And at every point where your visitor makes a decision, think in terms of rewarding him for his decision.

Thinking in these terms will begin to reveal to you how your web design should evolve.

Now, think about what a visitor to your site may be looking for, and in conjunction with that think about what you want the visitor to know about your products, services and company. Most people have a pretty clear picture of this step, but where they fail is taking it to the next step. How does your web site fit within the total picture. This may be one of the most important decisions you make during the planning of your web site. Remember, your web site is not an island but part of the larger community of information. When you identify the purpose of your site, try to visualize how it may or may not work in harmony with related sites. For example, an RV dealer's web site is going to be significantly different in scope and focus from an RV manufacturer's web site. Should the RV manufacturer's web site be focused on selling RVs? We don't think so. Should an RV dealer's site have to provide volumes of information about the various product lines he carries? Again, we don't think so. However, through a magic bridge called the "link" the two web sites can work in harmony and both the dealer and manufacturer work together to reward the visitor by fulfilling the visitor's need. But if either the manufacturer or dealer failed to consider how their web site could work in harmony, then the potential may have been forever lost.

To Link or Not to Link

The issue of links is one that has always troubled us. For example, RV America is very conservative about linking. One of the reasons being it is a long and complicated process a visitor goes through to end up at a particular web site. A company that uses RV America's hosting service is the beneficiary of a lot of hard work through hours spent at the computer registering that web site with dozens of search engines and directories. We feel that we have done a good job to get the visitor in the customer's front door, and not only that customer but other customers that might benefit from the person's discovery of a large reservoir of information and companies also available on RV America. So here the visitor stands inside your web site and one of the first options you give him is to go somewhere else. Is that why you invited him here?

In most cases the linking phenomenon makes absolutely no sense. There seems to be an unwritten code that states every web site has to have a "links" page. One so-called Internet expert and web designer with an advertising agency told us, it's the "tradition of the Internet!"

Let's be realistic. It's been less than five years since commercial web sites were permitted on the Internet; hardly enough time to establish traditions that breach etiquette if violated. As a business and marketing medium, the Internet is very young. Those using and experimenting with web sites are pioneering this medium, and out of that pioneering effort certainly traditions will be formed. But for now those planning web sites should view links with the same yardstick they would for any other element in their site -- does it contribute to the mission and goals of the site?

We are not saying never link, we simply say if you do link, make sure it contributes to your site. A good example of a link that works is on the SMC Corporation web site (www.rvamerica.com/smc/). On their corporate page, there is a link button to NASDAQ which pulls up the latest stock market figures on SMC. And then there is a link back to the SMC web site. Simple, clean, perfect. That's a great link. This is what we classify as an "expanded information link." Not all expanded information links are perfect, however, and we will discuss those later.

There are various other kinds of links. The next is what we categorize as "gratuitous links" -- links that serve no purpose nor contribute to the goals and purpose of the web site. Then, there is the "reciprocal link." This is the "show me yours and I'll show you mine" approach. What it is, however, is a web site that's not done its work in establishing a presence on the search engines and wants to increase their exposure by riding another's coattails.

Gratuitous and reciprocal links have their place in the larger picture of the Internet, for use on individual's home pages for example, but we see no value for these types of links for a business web site. Links that business sites should consider are the expanded information link.

And "consider" is the key word here; it should not be automatic. One of the best examples of an expanded information link would be a link to an RV manufacturer's web site from a dealer's web site to expand the information about the product line the dealer offers. And if both company's web designers understand their web site's role in the total information presentation, it works great. A dealer's web site should first and foremost be a source for qualifying a potential buyer and ultimately selling that buyer a product. A manufacturer's web site should be a source of information about the products and services they offer, and assist a potential buyer in finding a dealer from whom to buy their product or service.

The designer of the manufacturer's site has to keep in mind how people are going to access their site. Obviously, if they have done their ground work, they will have a high visibility in the various search engines and directories so visitors will be accessing the site directly. And that's usually where the thought process ends. An equally important gateway to a manufacturer's web site is through its dealer network so the site must be "friendly" to this gateway as well.

The problem with any link is that it takes the visitor out of the site with no reassurance that he or she will return. So when a dealer sets up the bridge to the manufacturer's site he needs to feel confident that his customer will be able to get back. The worst thing a manufacturer can do here, is to have a link page to it's dealers. Why would a dealer want to link to a site that immediately lists each of his competitors? So the value of this potential expanded information link is lost -- the manufacturer and the dealer both lose.

Instead of dealer lists and links, a manufacturer should consider a response form where a visitor contacts the company providing their address and then the manufacturer provides the visitor with the dealer information that serves the area where the visitor lives. SMC Corporation uses this technique and it works very well. So if a Safari dealer, for example, wants a link to the product information on the SMC site, he has the assurance that all his competitors will not be listed there too.

At RV America we recognize the value of keeping a visitor focused on the dealer's site while he or she is there so we have developed an interface that allows the visitor to link out for expanded information but for all practical purposes remain on the dealer's site. That way, the dealer does not risk losing the visitor during the link.

Now, if the manufacturer where the link goes has a linkable list to other dealers, the visitor could actually pull up the competitor's site on the original dealer's web site. Obviously, that potentiality would make neither dealer very happy -- and probably would confuse the visitor.

So as you plan your web site be extremely conservative about links. Your web site may be more expansive if you have fewer links, not more links. And also remember that your site is part of a bigger picture and not a island by itself.

Executing Your Web Site Plan

Once you have a plan for your web site, the next step is execution. Who should build your web site? Your options are in-house, a relative, your advertising agency or a web site design company. You are probably going to contract with an outside agency to produce the site. This selection process is just as critical to the success of your web site as understanding how your web site fits into the larger picture of the Internet. Your decision here can spell success or failure of your effort.

We see companies taking a variety of routes here, some good, but too often not so good. The thing to consider here is that building a web site is a communication function. It combines organization, graphic design and text to communicate your message -- and not everyone has equal talent in these areas. We often hear, "My son/daughter who is in high school has learned HTML (HyperText Markup Language, the format language of the Internet); can he/she make our web site? How do you answer that without hurting someone's feelings? If you go to an amateur then you are going to get amateur results.

Another potential hazard to avoid is putting it out for bid. Going this route pretty much communicates to those bidding that cheap is what you want, not quality. And when you present your image to the world wide audience of the Internet, cheap is what you will be showing. There are software programs that will build the structure of a business Internet site in a few minutes and then you simply go in and fill the pages with data pertinent to your company. So in a few days you can have a 20 to 30 page web site, fully interactive, but it has a generic look and feel and fails to create in the visitor's mind the uniqueness of your company, its products and services.

You could of course have the site created in-house, but this is probably not the most cost effective way to go. If you add this task to an employee's workload, you are Continued