why do we need a web site? -
Yes, we said it is almost idiotic to ask this question now, but there
are reasons you may question the need for a web site. Do you have all the customers you can handle? Have you been
in business for years and years and everyone knows your name - you do not need any more advertising or publicity?
Are you making fantastic profits and do not want to increase those profits? Are you currently the sole supplier
for a product and have a captive market? Or are you a captive supplier, with capacities to supply only a few established
customers? OK, maybe you do not need a web site if you can "yes" to any of these questions.
It is a rare company that can claim not to need more exposure and or to develop additional customers. A web presence
can go a long way to achieving those goals. A list of the benefits of a web site could go on forever, particularly
if it is being written by a web site development company. To give a realistic summary of the benefits, let's just
look at the following -
Visibility -
While most people still go to the yellow pages to find a local business, more and more people
are looking to the Web as any easy way to find services and products. Directories and search engines give your
customers the ability to find your company on the basis of more than just your company name. If a customer is looking
for a certain product or service, or a business within a certain geographical location, or wants to find products
and services which match unique manufacturing or material qualifications, they can more easily find it on the Web
with a search engine than elsewhere. If you sell red wagons, a customer searching for a red wagon should be able
to find your company.
Communication -
E-mail, FAQ's (Frequently Asked Questions), forms, newsgroups, chat rooms and other forms of Internet communication
can make communication between you and your customer much easier. FAQ's (like this page) can allow your customers
to find answers to their questions easily, and it can be done at any time of the day. E-mail can be used in the
same way when a customer cannot find the answer he or she needs, or when additional information is desired. Reading
and writing e-mail is an activity which can be scheduled, improving the use of your time. Automatic responses can
be set up to respond to certain inquiries, and forms and surveys can be created for on-line use, giving you the
ability to get more information about your customer than you might get in an e-mail message.
Newsgroups and chat rooms can provide your customers with ways to interact with you and your other customers, depending
on your business requirements. This feature can almost serve as a help desk, where your customers can answer questions
as well as get answers to their own questions.
Not all of these options are right for all companies, but all companies can use at least some of these features
to ease their communication workload. Your customers will appreciate both the ease of contacting you and your responsiveness
to their requests.
Cost -
Advertising is not cheap. A simple Yellow Pages listing can cost hundreds of dollars and a full-page listing is
beyond many companies' budgets. Compared to many traditional forms of publicity, a web-site can be very cost effective.
A well designed web site can give your customers a lot of information about your company at a small cost to quantity
ratio. A web site also offers a benefit that you will not find anywhere else - the ability to update your advertising
(web site) whenever you want, at a very low additional cost. If you needed to, your web site could even be updated
daily. Try that with any other advertising medium. You can get a rough idea of the costs associated with a web
site in a later section of this guide.
