Through the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Internet transformed the way in which companies, organizations, and individuals interact with the world. Over that period, a new medium, the World Wide Web, gave birth to what became one of the most prominent means by which entities convey their personality, character, and features: the Web site. Increasingly, the Web site has emerged as a primary and central means by which information is transmitted. By the 21st century, it was the rare company—particularly if it were larger than a local small business—that did not maintain a Web site, and the field of business competition had likewise expanded to include Web strategies as well.
Over the course of just a decade, the conception of the Web page and Web site evolved considerably. The earliest Web sites were characterized by long strings of relatively undifferentiated text, separated by browser-length horizontal lines. Since such sites were primarily mere depositories of information, little attention was paid to aesthetic design or user-friendliness. Moreover, the mode of presentation was overwhelmingly informed by existing models of documentation in books and periodicals. It took designers a while to realize and implement the actual possibilities inherent in the interactive Web form of presentation.
By the 2000s, however, Web sites were among the most prominent means of communication, and the starting point for interacting with companies over the Internet. Business Web sites evolved quickly from the basic "brochure" sites—pages that simply established the company's presence in cyberspace but did little beyond explain the company's purpose, products, and services—to the myriad forms that graced the Web by the 21st century. Web sites all contain core elements, but on top of that basic infrastructure they take on personalities and forms of their own.
Ideally, business Web sites come to reflect in the most complementary manner possible the core strategic purposes of the company itself, and thus no small amount of research went into devising Web strategies that most fully took advantage of the Web's opportunities and added value to the company's operations. As competition—particularly Web-based competition—heated up, firms scrambled to find ways to generate the maximum amount of return on their Web efforts. One of the greatest challenges facing companies in the early 2000s was figuring out how to turn their Web sites into revenue generators. Venture capital firms, advertisers, and investors alike were all bringing pressure to bear on companies to transform their Web sites from simple business prerequisites to positive revenue streams. All demand a greater return on their investment into Web sites, and thus companies were under fire to enhance the per-page bottom line.
As a result, not only were Web sites growing more sophisticated in their design and implementation, but business strategies in the physical world increasingly pointed toward the Web. Television, print, radio, and billboard advertisements increasingly broadcast company Web sites so customers, clients, and investors can retrieve the most extensive information and interact with the company directly. Perhaps most importantly, however, the Web site has emerged as a key vehicle for buying and selling. The e-commerce boom of the 1990s and early 2000s was due largely—though not entirely—to the explosion of the World Wide Web.
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