At home on the Web - designing a Web page - includes related articles on firms that do not need Web sites, picking a provider, the anatomy of a successful Web site and Web glossary - Internet

Home Office Computing, April, 1996 by Rosalind Resnick, Jim Sterne

Finally, keep looking for ways to improve and expand. For example, future plans for Virtual Vineyards include opening other cyberstores, such as a specialty food shop, and adding personalized shopping lists, a fast-track ordering system, and real-time order fulfillment that tells customers immediately if their desired wines are in stock.

Measuring Success How many times do people reach across the Internet to access your home page? The number of hits will help you gauge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts over time. But before you announce that hundreds of thousands of people have visited your site, consider this: A hit is generated every time someone accesses any file associated with your Web page. Let's say you have a main graphic image, your logo, a list of five items with a different graphical bullet next to each one, a new emblem next to one of them, and a menu bar at the bottom. One person visiting your home page can rack up 10 hits. As a result, Web site hits alone are a poor way to tell if you're doing a good job.

Knowing how many times people requested specific pages within your site can be much more informative. You can get a feel for what information is most important to people. And you can see which products are most popular and which are being ignored.

A better measure of your success will be the vote of confidence you get from your Web site visitors. When you ask them questions about your products, your company, and your site, do you get useful responses? Do they take the time to give you some insight into their likes and dislikes about your products? Are they expressing delight at your superior customer service? If your invitation to communicate isn't working, you need to make some adjustments.

One way not to tell if your site is successful is if you're making money from it--at first. For example, despite stellar sales figures, Granoff's company has yet to break even. The Web designers, programmers, and administrative staff all cost money--and the company recently hired another wine expert to help Granoff write the reviews and a vice president of engineering to allow Robert Olson, the company's president, more time to run the company.

Still, Granoff feels his strategy is paying off. The bootstrap operation started by Granoff and Olson received $1.75 million in venture funding last year. The company has expanded its staff to 12 and expects to double its roster of wineries to 80 by the end of June.

Finally, when measuring your success, remember your primary aim. The Spindlers hoped that by putting up a virtual storefront on the Web they could bring their chocolates to the world. An unexpected benefit is that the Web site is bringing the world to them. Located in rural Pennsylvania, Ann Hemyng Candy Inc. (the corporate name of the Chocolate Factory) doesn't ordinarily attract much walk-in traffic. But that's begun to change. "I just e-mailed a woman in Rochester, New York, who's planning a vacation in the Poconos and wants to visit the store," Spindler says. That's at least one customer she wouldn't have had if it weren't for the Web.