When thinking about developing your website  and how you can obtain revenue and business out of it, functions can help you obtain that objective. If you have spent any time online, you will know that the number of functions on a website are endless. Some are interesting and fun, however they may add little or no benefit to acheiving your objective. Some functions can tend to confuse your target audience and use too many resources, both in terms of creating them and maintaining them .

Below are some functions and features that you might find useful when thinking about how to acheive the best out of your website.

• User forum: Where people can help people, share ideas, and receive support from your business. While this particular function requires time to moderate and maintain, this can be an effective way to engage clients and generate some traffic on your website.
• Social networking tools: Facebook, twitter, youtube, myspace, vimeo….the list is endless. If you use any of these tools effectively, you can reach thousands of new projects and  keep in touch with existing clients.
• Blog: an effective but sometimes time consuming way of finding new clients and interacting with current ones. A well written blog is a great way to build site traffic and share your knowledge of your business/trade/services.
• Newsletter signups: in a similar fashion to blogging, it is a great way to  build client loyalty, but it can take significant time to create valuable content and execute campaigns. Content from your blog can be used in your email. Some amazing tools for building newsletters are Eazymail ( which allows you to manage your customers and have a customised newsletter ) or constant contact.
• Media Gallery: A picture is worth a thousand words and the same goes for displaying your work on your website. This helps your target audience get a feel for your product.
• About Us: We humans are a curious breed. Tell  your visitors about you. Don’t just have a name, but include a picture and a brief description of who you are. Start a relationship with visitors from the moment they go onto your website.
• Free Stuff: Everyone likes free stuff, whether it be a discount, voucher, merchandise, newsletter…the list is endless.

These site functions are great, but there is a note of caution. Be sure to consider your site design, as you choose which ones to use. It’s important that each function will contribute to your specific site objectives. Often it’s best to begin basically and add function slowly, seeing which ones work and which ones simply consume time and money.