access: a web presence can help you achieve your access and education objectives because it

enables you to make contact with audiences you might not otherwise be able to reach 

  interactivity: the web enables your supporters to communicate with each other and with

you. E mail newsletters, feedback forms, discussion forums and bulletin boards can all

help to generate positive PR for your show or company

  young audiences: the web is a great way to reach young people and enlist them to

generate word of mouth publicity

  removing barriers: the web provides an anonymous way for people to find information on

your show.

Creating a website

Websites can be permanent or temporary. Temporary websites are generally created for a

short term project. Creating a permanent website is a good idea if:

  your production is going to have a long life

  your production company is going to produce multiple shows

  you want an ongoing profile.

Before creating a website, you need to consider the following: 

  the purpose of the site (e.g. Do you want just an online brochure or do you want people to

buy tickets from the site?)

  your target audience for the site

  the look and feel you wish the site to have

  the  information you wish to put on it.

If you choose to work with a website developer, he/she will help you work out how to

organise the information, including what information or headings to put on the homepage

and how people will move around the site. Beware of making your site inaccessible either by

being too flashy or by people needing software applications to view it.

There are five cost areas to consider when developing a website:

  purchasing a domain name (e.g. www.mycompany.co.nz)   an annual cost, paid in advance

  site hosting costs   generally monthly

  web design and development costs   these can range from very low to very high, depending

on the complexity of your site and who does the work

  ongoing maintenance (changes/additions/revisions)   an ongoing cost that can be reduced

by learning how to do it yourself

  web authoring software such as Dreamweaver or Frontpage   only necessary if you decide

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to handle the ongoing maintenance in house.

Maintaining the website

There are different options for keeping information on the website up to date. The

approach you choose will depend on the complexity of your site and whether it's feasible

to handle the maintenance in house. The options are: 

  to engage someone external to handle all ongoing maintenance

  to handle maintenance in house, using web authoring software such as Dreamweaver 

or Frontpage

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