|
Home
|
Does My Business Need a Web Site?
A Guide on how to Grow Your Business Online
You may have thought about a Web site for your business. And, to a certain
extent, you have already reached the conclusion that your business needs one.
But, the reasons for a Web site and the real benefits that it can bring to your
business may still be vague or unclear.
Walk yourself through the questions below to highlight some ground in your final
decision as to whether or not your business really needs a website and which
benefits it can experience through an online presence on the World Wide Web.
QUESTION 1: Is it important that your business projects a professional image?
The following quote is an excerpt from Small Business Magazine – October Issue
2003:
“Customers and other people who come in contact with your business expect to
find a reputable business on the Web, so don’t risk your credibility by not
being present.”
Imagine that a prospective client is considering hiring your business and is
attempting to use the Web to compare your services to the competition’s. If you
don’t have a site, it makes you appear less established and professional. It’s
like not having a business card.
A professionally designed website that has relevant and important information
pertaining to your products or services can help to position your company as an
expert in the eyes of your target market. By showing your customers and
potential customers that you are knowledgeable and up to date in your field, you
give them added confidence in your company and the services you offer.
|
QUESTION 2: Do your clients have a website?
If they do, you can bet that they consider the Web to be an important business
asset and would think it strange if you don’t have one.
QUESTION 3: Do your competitors have websites?
If your business is not online then you're at a disadvantage to your competitors
that do have an internet presence. People regularly use the internet to do
research about products or services before they go to buy them. If you have
local competitors for services that have a website then you are already losing
potential customers. If you sell a product then you probably have national or
global competitors that you're losing sales to.
Another issue to ponder int this context: Chances are your competition has a
website or is also thinking about it. Every day more and more businesses go
online; eventually just about every business will be online .Keep an eye on your
competitors, whether you decide to go online or not, they may be about to.
QUESTION 4: Is your Competition larger than you?
Whether you're a multi-million dollar company or a small business, using the
internet, you can present your company just as good as or better than your
competitors. The internet has been touted as a way to level the playing field
for small business vs. big business. A well-crafted, highly professional Web
site gives the appearance that your business is large and established.
In addition to these benefits, your image on the Internet has less to do with
the size of your business or organisation, and more to do with the quality of
your products and services. On the Internet, small and large businesses have the
same opportunity to reach out to the same audience.
QUESTION 5: Do you sell or offer a service that people research before they buy?
Most likely you’re not offering something that people buy on impulse and your
customers require specific product information before they can buy your product
or services. A Web site gives you an opportunity to explain your services and
highlight your results via case studies and thereby shorten your sales cycle.
Through your Web site, any potential customer can find more information at their
convenience, on their terms, without obligation.
QUESTION 6: Do you find yourself answering the same customer questions, again
and again? Do you spend a lot of time explaining your business to prospective
clients?
Does spending a large amount of your time selling the benefits of your product
over the phone only to be asked "Can you send me more information?" seem
familiar to you?
Do you find that your customers typically ask the same questions in regards to
your product/service or its support? If so, these frequently asked questions can
easily find an effective home online
Detailed online product information negates the need for lengthy explanatory
phone calls in many cases and can reduce misunderstandings. It can also negate
the need for brochures and much offline advertising. Generally less time is
needed to be spent explaining product or service details to customers.
Information is available to view 24hrs a day on a website. Often most
importantly, your business has a 24hr trading day.
QUESTION 7: Do you want to reduce your sales and marketing costs?
A website represents your online information portal and as such will replace or
at least minimize considerate offline advertising and printing costs.
With a website, you can lower printing and distribution costs for letters and
brochures. Just direct the potential customers to your website for more details
about your product or service.
Whilst offline advertising plays an important role in the media mix of your
advertising campaigns, you may minimize and thereby increase the impact of your
message in costly media such as newspapers, radio etc. by advertising your web
site as reference for detailed product information, where you may fit a lot more
information for a fraction of the cost.
By putting your website on all of your advertisements, brochures, literature,
and business cards, you can give your customers a way to learn more about your
company and products. Potentially leading to business you may not have otherwise
been able to obtain. It is much easier to go to a website to have questions
answered than it is to call or visit your company. It allows your customers to
“shop” at there convenience and with no pressure to buy.
If you need to provide updated information to customers and potential customers
on a regular basis, make price changes or other important changes to your
advertising it can be done much quicker and cheaper on your website/online
newsletter than any printed materials. This also makes much of existing printed
material obsolete.
If your business publishes public reports such as annual reports or earnings
reports, these reports can be easily posted on your website, saving you both
time and money when it comes to mail outs and printing.
QUESTION 8: Do you want to improve the efficiency of your customer care and
advertising activities?
A web site is multi-functional, and is a communication tool – not an
advertisement. Yet it may play a central role in improving the impact of your
brand and advertising campaigns.
A Web site is a great way to reinforce the effectiveness of your other business
development and marketing efforts, such as ads and press releases. If you put
your Web address on all of your materials you can draw people to your site,
where you can provide more details.
A website enabling automized transactions as well as email and newsletter
management will also easily and reliably help to maintain customer relationships
and improve the efficiency and promptness of your customer service.
A website is also a great referral tool for enhancing word of mouth advertising
– the strongest and most powerful yet most unpredictable of all advertising
channels available.
When a satisfied customer refers your company to a friend they can just send
them to your website. This is a lot easier to remember than your business phone
number or trying to find there copy of your literature or business card to hand
them. Many people communicate by email these days so putting the link to your
website in there referral email is as easy as typing www.yourbusiness.com.
QUESTION 9: What is the cost involved?
Having a website involves three basic costs: |
- Getting the website built (the highest cost) – this is where a web
developer / designer will actually build your site. The cost for developing
the site can be anywhere from R5,000 to R50,000 and up, depending on size
and functions. For most basic small business sites, the cost will run
between R5,000 and R20,000. This cost is a one-time investment for a tool
you own and can continue to use for communication and marketing.
- Hosting – Once the site is built, it must be hosted on a public server
so the general public can access it through their internet provider. Hosting
costs vary. They can run anywhere from R50 to R1,000 per month, based on the
website functionality and the hosting provider. Service varies widely as
well.
The ideal host will offer several services bundled together for one
affordable price. Look for these services:
a. The space provided for your site on the server should have ample
room for high traffic (bandwidth). When a site doesn’t have enough
bandwidth, the web visitor finds the site slow loading and difficult to
access.
b. The hosting package should have at least one email address that
can be accessed through the web.
c. The Hosting package should have a reliable track record of
maintaining high dependability. When your server goes down, your web site
and associated email is unavailable.
- Domain Name – a domain name is the web address where users find your web
site (www.yourcompany.com). Domain names are unique and cannot be
duplicated. The cost for registering a unique domain name is about R240 per
year.
|
Additional Costs – can include:
- Email services with multiple email accounts.
- Internet marketing services – researching how best to promote your site
and get the maximum visibility, drawing more visitors to your site.
- Maintenance services – updating the site continually, making changes,
adding pages, delivering web statistic reports, and more.
|
|
Get a No Obligation Quote Now -- Click Here
|
|
|
|
Why you need a website MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS WE ENCOUNTERED FROM OUR
CLIENTS |
|
|
|
Do you want a website or do you want a website design and marketing service to make you money,
and get you noticed? Read our article on profitable website design and marketing and what we will do for you!
|
|
|
|
|
Web design and profitable websites |
|
For further information contact Gordon Barker Internet Strategist co.za design4 |
|
