Thor Torgersen has a question for you: Would you fire your Web site?

Granted, it's a bit unusual to fire an inanimate object. But Torgersen wants to make a valid point: Just as you set expectations and objectives for employees in your company, you should also set expectations, objectives and goals for your Web site.

Torgersen is the president and CEO of Pyramid Marketing Design & Technology (www.pyramidmdt.com) in Groton, which specializes in Web and graphic design and brand identity — so he knows what a good Web site can do for a business.

Torgersen says a Web site is a powerful tool for educating customers and potential customers about your company. A good Web site can serve as your communicator, marketer, prospector of new clients and revenue-raiser for a potential worldwide audience.

Or it can be a static, stodgy impediment to your firm's potential growth. Which would you prefer?

Torgersen says he tells his clients, “Your Web site should be seen as a round-the-clock employee. ... You are paying a wage to keep it working for 24 hours a day.”

So is your Web site pulling its weight as a 24/7 portal to new business? Or it is merely a click-through as potential business goes elsewhere?

Torgersen believes a Web site should be dynamic, interesting and enticing to those who click onto it. Given that most of us click through Web sites faster than television channels with boring advertisements, he's got a very valid point.

In his newsletter to clients (available on the firm's Web site), Torgersen explains why businesses with Web sites should consider the site as yet another employee of our firm — one with a “very large role” to play in a firm's success.

The Web expert offers a few suggestions to ensure a Web site is serving its role as a communicator, new-business developer, customer relations guru and online marketer:

• Make sure your site has clearly defined roles and responsibilities, with clearly stated goals and objectives. Know what they are before you slap something onto the Web — where it can be viewed in Canton, Conn., or Canton, China.

• Monitor the results of your Web site to ensure it is successful. Don't just launch and leave. As Torgersen explains: If you had an employee whom you hadn't heard from in six weeks, wouldn't you be a bit concerned? Your Web site should add value to your company and be dynamic and evolving, not the same thing week after week, month after month, year after year.

• And if your Web site's principal goal is to communicate, then make sure it does. Is it getting your message across, does it promote your company's value to clients and prospective clients? Does it communicate effectively to actually bring in sales?

Once you begin to take a critical eye toward your Web site — defining its roles and responsibilities — Torgersen advises close tracking of the site's traffic and performance. The beauty of Web sites is that they are, indeed, very “trackable.”

Your Web site managers can tell you how many clicks were registered, how long potential clients viewed the site and where they went.

Did they linger on the link for the “weekly specials”? Did they wander over to the link explaining your company's services?

Torgersen says companies expect performance and a return on investment, so to speak, from their employees. So they should also expect a high level of performance and return on their investment from their Web site.

Anthony Cronin is The Day's business editor.