ongratulations. You’re in charge of putting your company on the web, or revamping your existing website.

Sure, you’ve been using the Internet for years, for research and for communicating with your peers. But now you have to master the fine art of marketing your product or your company via the web – a skill very different from FTPing into a scientific database or searching a Gopher site for an obscure journal article.

If, back in 1995, you asked an executive why his or her company had (or was planning to have) a website, the response would most likely have been this: "Everybody else has one." Today, corporate websites are evolving into mission-critical business applications, far outgrowing their original goal of just being there.

Customers expect to go online and find detailed product information, facility/manufacturing site locations, customer service support and even online ordering. An increasing number of companies are using the web to sponsor continuing education programs, to deliver via download software programs that support their products, and even set up online discussion areas for peer-to-peer communication.

Marketing your company’s web presence is also evolving into a highly specialized skill, with web-based advertising spending expected to top $1 billion this year.

Clearly, building a website that provides your customers with valuable information and ensuring that colleagues and customers know about your site is a task not to be approached lightly.