Web portal development strategies

A web portal, in simple terms, is a far bigger web resource than a website. It is usually centered on one central theme and incorporates all the links, and resources related directly or indirectly to the activities and information pertaining to that central theme. Portals on same theme can be set up in different ways to meet different objectives. Usually, these are oriented towards meeting the needs of the customers. The portal design and development is based on certain business strategies meant for achieving certain objectives. So, what could be these business strategies or objectives?

1. Incomes from listings or subscriptions: This is one of the main business objectives to be achieved by the companies setting up the portals. They would seek to generate the revenues from the people and organizations which provide the services and products related to the theme of the portal. So, if it is the education portal being set up, the various institutions can seek subscriptions to list their names and web links on these portals.

2. Income as affiliates or service providers: The portal India might also be set up with the objective of making earnings by sending the customers to the listed partners and who make a purchases from them. For example, a real estate portal might be basing its revenues on the incomes generated by sending the clients to the real estate companies listed on them.

3. Information sharing with public: The web portal might also be designed based on the information or content which is of use to the people. This are not based on generating incomes from the listed partners but are dependent on search engines monetization avenues for generating their revenues. So, there might be content rich portals for use by the public.

4. Information sharing within the organization: Some organizations might get the portals for facilitating the works within the organization and sharing information among the people working within the organizations. These are restricted for use by company employees or other stakeholders only. Any web portal developed for meeting only the organization needs is called the enterprise portal. This is not a revenue generating platform but aims at bringing more efficiency of operations, streamlining the work procedures and developing an interface of interactions. This could be used for different functions of the organization.

The successful running of a portal demands that the office based employees complement the efforts of the field marketing teams. There has to be a coordinated work plan. Some times, the companies in one country also outsource the portal development work to companies in some other country while the field teams operate in their own country. The offshore portal development and management is done with inputs from the base-country teams. The offshore portal development and management is sought to cut down significantly on the design, development and maintenance costs. However, key controls on management, ownership, data security and other aspects of a portal are sought to be maintained by the parent companies.

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