Your website : the world's window to your organization

I fail to understand why most Indian companies fail to realize the value of a good website. Not only companies, some of India's finest educational institutes too have pathetic websites. In a world that has shrunk due to the Internet and other technologies, it is vital that companies realize that their websites probably touch more people than their physical offices or even the products/services they offer will ever do. Your website represents your brand to the rest of the WORLD.

When companies spend so much on television advertising to strengthen their brand identity and recall, why don't they realize that their websites are like open windows to their companies?

Any good corporate site must have the following features:

• Excellent use of the brand identity: Just a cursory look at the website must reinforce the brand's core values.
• Repeat value: A site must offer users some reason to come back. This could be in the form of a live news ticker that has updates on the company or even online contests for visitors.
• No registration please: Never ask a user to register to access any part of your site. If your idea is that more and more people should learn about your company, then creating artificial barriers like registration does not help your cause.
• Reinforce, reiterate, repeat: This can't be said enough, but use your site to reinforce your brand values as much as possible. Anyone who has been watching the slick and sexy State Bank of India ads on TV will be dissappointed when they visit their old world style online incarnation here.
• Live mail ids please: If you mention any e-mail ids on your site, please make sure that those ids exist and are checked on a day to day basis. Dead e-mail ids are a major irritant!