Create Public Websites Using Salesforce Sites on the Salesforce Platform

Use Cases for Salesforce Sites

Some types of sites are well suited for Salesforce Sites, but others are not. Here are the most common use cases:

• Corporate or intranet websites that display static information to visitors. These are the easiest to build, even with limited HTML knowledge, and only contain static pages. However, they are less flexible than data-driven sites.
• Store locators or product catalogs that capture or push information to visitors. These interactive sites use Visualforce pages and Apex code, so they require a developer or IT resource to build.
• Insurance applications or event management applications that integrate your Salesforce data. These sites capture visitor input and push that information directly into Salesforce (for example, when visitors fill out an application or sign up for an event). Building such sites requires development resources.

Sites that are NOT a good fit for Salesforce Sites include those with heavy bandwidth requirements (large file uploads/downloads or heavy processing), as these may hit daily bandwidth limits.

For more information about these limits, please view the Sites Best Practices page.

Best Practices and Considerations

When building sites on Salesforce Sites, keep the following in mind:

• Content: Because your site is publicly accessible, do not publish inappropriate or confidential information.
• Testing: Test your site for every type of visitor and varying levels of demand. A site that performs well with 10 concurrent users may fail under thousands. Test across different browsers to ensure a consistent experience.
• Performance and daily limits: Salesforce imposes limits on Salesforce Sites pages. Review the Salesforce Sites Usage and Billing page to understand these limits before launch. Refer to the Salesforce Sites Usage and Billing page for more information.
• Schema design: Well-written SOQL queries and careful data schema design are keys to top performance, especially for high-traffic sites. Consider indexing your schema to optimize data retrieval.
• Site design: Consider whether you are porting an existing site or building a new one. Porting existing sites may require additional performance testing and optimization.
• Web authentication: If your site requires password protection or visitor authentication, use Experience Cloud (formerly Communities) rather than Salesforce Sites to support authenticated visitors and protected content.