Fortune 500 companies Web site comparison

Companies in any sector or industry seem to look forward to one day being on the Fortune 500 list. The list carries with it some sort of prestige with, a sense that the company has reached a sort of pinnacle in the business world. The sort that says the company has arrived, so to speak. Aside from the products or services they carry, there are other factors that weigh in the attainment of this status. In this day and age of everything being online, Websites carry as much information about these companies to guide you in the day-to-day affairs of these companies.

Just how much does having a good site contribute to the success of a company? Fortune 500 companies 3 How to evaluate a website When evaluating a particular Website, you have to go beyond the look or layout of the site. You just cannot judge whether a site is good or bad because of the aesthetic appeal of the site. Nor by the various ornaments the creator puts in the site to make it appealing. The site must be judged by certain criteria that will give you an educated decision whether a site is good or not.

The Purdue University Libraries came up with a set of criteria that will guide us in evaluating the websites of two companies listed in the Fortune 500 list, Wal-Mart Stores (Ranked no. 1) and SunGard Data Systems, Inc. (Ranked no. 500) (cited in Cable News Network, 2008) . The Evaluation Criteria According to Jennifer Sharkey of Purdue University Libraries, the Internet has become a highly used medium of communication for the world. Sadly, not all information posted in the Web is credible or even believable (Sharkey, 1998) . She suggests several helpful criteria that can assist us in determining the quality of a Web site.

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We will apply these criteria as necessary to the companies mentioned in the paper. Here are the criteria in evaluating Web sites. Accuracy By accuracy, the host/author of the information posted in the site should be able to definitively ascertain the information in the site. Questions as to the sources origin and use of these sources in the development of the site must be deduced to conclude the truthfulness of the information on their sites (Sharkey, 1998, p. 1) . It should also be obvious that the author should be knowledgeable (Sharkey, 1998, p. 2) .

It must be knowledgeable in the sense that the information should be in the field of expertise of the author. The author/s must be credible in the presentation of the information to be posted. Fortune 500 companies 4 Software processing solutions and information provider Sungard (cited in CNN Money, 2007) , though it suffers from the same deficiencies, provides even less on its home page. Though it can be categorized as a promotional site, nonetheless it can use more info on the home page if one hasn't visited the page nor is a first time visitor. Authority

Since publishing on the Web has become relatively easy, the expertise of the author/s must be ascertained as to his/her qualifications on the topic being discussed (Sharkey, 1998, p. 3) . For this criterion, only SunGard provides the inquiry or contact link right at the first page of its site. Wal-Mart, for its part, has provided for the feedback mechanism in its site, but the visitor has to navigate through some parts of the site, mainly designed for the customers of the retail firm. Rather than contact mechanisms, the site is for the services its customers might want to use. Objectivity

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