Top 10 Functions of a Website

This may seem very old school but I found this list of top 10 things a website should be delivering, but I felt it really still applied 7 years on!

Top 10 Functions of a Website
What your website should do for your business:

1. Tell your story.
What you do, where you came from and who you are.

2. Answer questions for you.
Make it easy for visitors to find out answers so you dont have to repeat the 'same old' verbally over the phone - it's what the computer was invented for.

3. Add to your list.
Collect interested parties information, ideally an email address, and store it for prospecting later.

4. Give directions to your place of business.
Surprisingly often omitted - even nowadays.

5. Provide clear contact information.
That's clear contact information - there is an inverse rule of size which seems to mean the bigger the company the less the likelihood that you will get to find a useful contact - especially utilities companies!

6. Build credibility for your business.
An opportunity for you to appear knowledgeable on your specialist subject.

7. Qualify your prospects.
Make sure that the information they are giving you is for something relevant you want to sell.

8. Make a good first impression.
And represent yourself honestly. If you are a small company of six persons - show it off.

9. Bring in customers that you would most likely have not reached without having a website.
Long gone are the days of printed Yellow pages ads and companies who could soley depend on this for business.

10. Make you money!
The last rule on the list but the first rule of business.