A corporate website or corporate site is an informational website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 operated by a business or other private enterprise such as a charity

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 or nonprofit foundation

Foundation (charity)

A foundation is a legal categorization of nonprofit organizations that will typically either donate funds and support to other organizations, or provide the source of funding for its own charitable purposes....

.

Characteristics

Corporate sites differ from electronic commerce

Electronic commerce

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, eCommerce or e-comm, refers to the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. However, the term may refer to more than just buying and selling products online...

, portal

Enterprise portal

An enterprise portal, also known as an enterprise information portal or corporate portal, is a framework for integrating information, people and processes across organizational boundaries. It provides a secure unified access point, often in the form of a web-based user interface, and is designed...

, or sites in that they provide information to the public about the company rather than transacting or providing other services. The phrase is a term of art referring to the purpose of the site rather than its design or specific features, or the nature, market sector

Market sector

The term market sector is used in economics and finance to describe a set of businesses that are buying and selling such similar goods and services that they are in direct competition with each other...

, or business structure of the site operator.

Nearly every company that interacts with the public has a corporate site or else integrates the same features into its other websites. Large companies typically maintain a single umbrella corporate site for all of their various brands and subsidiaries.

A recent study (April 2011) of corporate websites was published by The Financial Times. Further information is available to download by the authors of the study.

Common Features

Corporate websites usually include the following:

• A homepage
  Homepage
  A home page or homepage has various related meanings to do with web sites:* It most often refers to the initial or main web page of a web site, sometimes called the front page ....
  
  
• A navigation bar
  Navigation bar
  A navigation bar is a sub region of a web page that contains hypertext links in order to navigate between the pages of a website....
  
   or other means for accessing various site sections
• A unified look and feel
  Look and feel
  In software design, look and feel is a term used in respect of a graphical user interface and comprises aspects of its design, including elements such as colors, shapes, layout, and typefaces , as well as the behavior of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus...
  
   incorporating the company logos
  Logos
  ' is an important term in philosophy, psychology, rhetoric and religion. Originally a word meaning "a ground", "a plea", "an opinion", "an expectation", "word," "speech," "account," "reason," it became a technical term in philosophy, beginning with Heraclitus ' is an important term in...
  
  , style sheets, and graphic images.
• An "about us" section with some or all of these:
  • A summary of company operations, history, and mission statement
    Mission statement
    A mission statement is a statement of the purpose of a company or organization. The mission statement should guide the actions of the organization, spell out its overall goal, provide a path, and guide decision-making...
    
    
  • A list of the company's products
    Product (business)
    In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
    
     and services
  • A "people" section with biographical information on founders, board
    Board of directors
    A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
    
     members, and/or key executives
    Corporate title
    Publicly and privately held for-profit corporations confer corporate titles or business titles on company officials as a means of identifying their function in the organization...
    
    . Sometimes provides an overview of the company's overall workforce
    Workforce
    The workforce is the labour pool in employment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic region like a city, country, state, etc. The term generally excludes the employers or management, and implies those involved in...
    
    .
  • A "news" section containing press releases, press kit
    Press kit
    A press kit, often referred to as a media kit in business environments, is a pre-packaged set of promotional materials of a person, company, or organization distributed to members of the media for promotional use...
    
    s, and/or links to news
    News
    News is the communication of selected information on current events which is presented by print, broadcast, Internet, or word of mouth to a third party or mass audience.- Etymology :...
    
     articles about the company
  • An "investor" section describing key owners / investors of the company
  • A list of key clients, suppliers, achievements, projects, partners, or others
• Pages of special interest to specific groups. These may include:
  • An employment
    Employment
    Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
    
     section where the company lists open positions and/or tells job seekers how to apply
  • Investor pages with the annual report
    Annual report
    An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance...
    
    , business plan
    Business plan
    A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about the organization or team attempting to reach those goals....
    
    , current stock price, financial statements
    Financial statements
    A financial statement is a formal record of the financial activities of a business, person, or other entity. In British English—including United Kingdom company law—a financial statement is often referred to as an account, although the term financial statement is also used, particularly by...
    
    , overview of the company structure, SEC filing
    SEC filing
    An SEC filing is a financial statement or other formal document submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission . Public companies, certain insiders, and broker-dealers are required to make regular SEC filings. Investors and financial professionals rely on these filings for information...
    
     or other regulatory filings
  • Pages for employees, suppliers, customers, strategic partners, affiliates, etc.
• Contact information. Sometimes includes a feedback form by which visitors may submit messages
• A terms of use document and statement of intellectual property
  Intellectual property
  Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
  
   ownership and policies as they apply to site content
  Web content
  Web content is the textual, visual or aural content that is encountered as part of the user experience on websites. It may include, among other things: text, images, sounds, videos and animations....
  
  
• A privacy policy
  Privacy policy
  Privacy policy is a statement or a legal document that discloses some or all of the ways a party gathers, uses, discloses and manages a customer or client's data...
  
  

The arrangement of these features, and terminology (see the "synonyms" section below)
varies considerably from site to site.

Other Features

Corporate sites sometimes but do not always include the following:

• A splash page
  Splash page
  Splash page may refer to:* Splash page, a comic book page that is mostly or entirely taken up by a single image or panel* A splash screen on a website or software...
  
   as an entry point that directs users to the site's home page
• Embedded search engines allowing users to search pages from within the website, or external searches of the Web
  World Wide Web
  The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed via the Internet...
  
  
• A site map
  Site map
  A site map is a list of pages of a web site accessible to crawlers or users. It can be either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design, or a web page that lists the pages on a web site, typically organized in hierarchical fashion...
  
  
• A blog
  Blog
  A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
  
   with news and commentary about the company, its products and services
• "Community" pages describing the company's environmental / sustainability, charity, corporate citizenship
  Corporate social responsibility
  Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
  
  , and other policies as they affect the public
• A "store locator" or similar feature used to find nearby retail
  Retail
  Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
  
   locations of the company or where the company's products or services can be found
• A "downloads" or "media" section for users to obtain web tools, free or trial software, software patches
  Patch (computing)
  A patch is a piece of software designed to fix problems with, or update a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing security vulnerabilities and other bugs, and improving the usability or performance...
  
  , company demos, promotional material, and the like
• A calendar or events section
• A "links" page with hyperlinks to consumer-oriented or other websites, or information about specific brands or subsidiaries of the company
• A FAQ section

Synonyms

Terminology used for site navigation is far from standardized. Following are some lists of terms used interchangeably for corporate site navigation:

• Terms of use, legal, user agreement, privacy policy,
• People, the team, employees, biographies, executives
• About us, contact us, about the company, history
• Community, our values, corporate citizenship, standards of conduct
• Employment, jobs, careers, join the team, join us
• News, in the news, press, publications, brochure
• Contact us, send a message
• Investors, ownership
• Downloads, media, library
• Store locator, find a store, find our products, locations
• Links