But the truth is that the average business needs to generate a return from its web site investment as quickly as possible. What are the success factors you should use to measure your firm's web performance? Many of them are actually similar to traditional business success measurements.

Here's a checklist of suggestions with varying degrees of difficulty designed to help you generate a greater return from your web site. By implementing some of these ideas you will be able to better measure how well your site is contributing to new business growth.

Market your Site Relentlessly

Maintain a current site registration with all the search engines. You can use an inexpensive, all-purpose service like Web Site Garage at http://websitegarage.netscape.com to promote and maintain your site.

Provide your web designer with the key words you want the web crawlers to see when they visit your site. These terms belong in the HTML meta tags on your site's home page. Also make sure your site provides a descriptive site name in the title.

Update your site regularly. Services like www.alexa.com rate sites on timeliness and other factors. A site that is not actively maintained will cause visitors to wonder if the information is current.

Establish an Online Community

Use your web site to build closer relationships with visitors, prospects and clients. Offer an online registration form, if you don't have one already, to build a web visitor database. At a minimum you will want to capture email addresses for future correspondence. Once you start to build this customer data, use it strategically to stay in regular contact with your web prospects.

Consider E-Commerce

It's fairly easy to offer sales of non-tangible services, according to Lois Messner, Vice President at Fort Lauderdale based Internet Billing, Ltd. (www.ibill.com). A service like ibill can help you get started with minimal up-front fees.

"Hire the experts and give them the authority to get the job done if you plan to implement a large-scale e-commerce site" advises Keith Butler, Vice President of Office Depot Online.

Recruit New Employees

Create a Jobs page on your site that lists open positions. If you can hire even one high tech professional through your site you can save thousands of dollars on recruiting fees.

Give Customers Response Tools

Make it easy for customers to communicate with you via your web site. Office Depot (www.officedepot.com) and Federal Express (www.fedex.com) offer good examples of customer service features on their sites. "Your site should provide customers with all the knowledge of your best sales rep," according to Butler.

Highlight your Site in all Marketing Programs

Prominently display your web site address on all corporate literature. Encourage direct mail recipients to visit your site as a way of responding to a special offer.

Exchange banner ads with your partners, customers and vendors to draw qualified traffic to your site at no cost.

Keep an eye on your competition with a service like http://mindit.netmind.com. And don't just monitor the activities of traditional competitors. Watch for start-ups and analyze their business model.

Measure your Results

The bottom line is to measure results from each of these activities. Calculate the lifetime value of new customers gained from your site. Determine how much you save by hiring through the web. Quantify the benefit of Internet-based Sales and Marketing programs. Taken together, you can start to benchmark the return your web site is generating for your firm.