[Sigia-l] "core business" site and "corporate" site

[Stewart Dean]

Hi Kathy,

I've worked on many examples of both and would say that it is a natural and
expected split to have the 'about us' content aimed at those interested in
the company separate from the 'here's what we do' content which is aimed at
those that use the company.

In the UK often there is a .co.uk and a .com site - the .com site, rather
confusingly being the 'corporate' site.  An example of that is the Barclays
site. The Barclays.com site acts as an international gateway and also a very
blatant 'about us'. It's been redesigned since I did it but originally the
Barclays.com had more of a focus on international business meaning it was
more useful to customers.

On many other sites (like the site I"m working on for a large UK supplier to
the building industry) the about us section has been relegated to a link on
the footer and there is a prominent link to the umbrella company, which is
really is a 'about us' site.

I always 'about us' sections being an indication of how outward facing a
company is. Many site created internally from 1995 on had About Us as the
first link on the navigation. I feel even with corporate sites many
investors etc want to get that information off the front page then find the
stuff they want to know  (like environmental policy or yearly report).

Out of all the sites I've worked on corporate sites tend to me the most the
same and very formulaic - nothing really wrong with that.

Incidentally my favourite corporate site (odd as that sound) is this site..

http://www.allieddomecq.com/

I'm not sure it meets all the criteria needed by all audience needs but it's
well put together.

Cheers

Stewart Dean



On 11/1/06 6:12 pm, "Kathy LeMunyon" <kathy.lemunyon at raremedium.net> wrote:

> Good Day,
> 
> Interested in thoughts, experience, musings about the value of establishing
> a site for "core" business purpose as well as a "corporate" site.  An
> example would be www.homedepot.com (core business site, sells stuff...well
> sorta) vs. corporate.homedepot.com (which contains investor relations,
> careers, About Us, media center, etc. )
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Kathy LeMunyon
> Senior Information Architect
> P:  770-576-4290
> F:  770-576-4200
> Rare Medium Atlanta, LLC
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