Why You Need a Website
A website today is as essential as the name of your business, your
phone number, or the façade of your retail store. Every business --
from a restaurant to a biotech research firm to an industrial
laundry -- needs one. Yet research has indicated that about only 50
percent of small businesses in the U.S. actually have websites, with
those numbers lower in less tech-savvy markets, according to a
report by Internet consultant Peter Krasilovsky, of Krasilovsky
Consulting, in Carlsbad, Calif. The Yankee Group puts that number
close to 43 percent.
Here are some compelling reasons why you need a website:.
Development and distribution costs are extremely low
When you compare the cost of establishing a website to what it costs
to promote your business in print or on the air, you'll see that a
website is the cheapest form of marketing ever created. A radio
campaign featuring several 30-second spots per week for three months
could run you $5,000 - $10,000. That gets you five minutes per week
of exposure for three months in the local area only. Newspaper and
magazine ads are similarly highly priced, and only last for the life
span of that particular publication. A website has virtually
limitless space. You could put up a website with dozens of
photographs and several thousand words, and keep it up and running
for a few hundred dollars per year after that. What would it cost to
run a newspaper ad of this size for a year? Imagine how much it
would cost to produce a catalog for 200 different products and keep
it in consumers' hands for an entire year. You can accomplish this
with a website very easily with low development cost and almost no
distribution cost. Websites are in full color - a palette of 16.7
million colors for your photographs alone.
Globally Accessible
A website is globally accessible; that means your website can be
viewed by anyone, anywhere, as long as they have Internet access.
There are no physical limitations to broadcast areas, as in radio
nor circulation region restrictions, as in newspapers or magazines.
Current more affordably
You can keep your website more current more affordably than any
other media. You can update a website immediately and as often as
you like. Imagine you sell products whose prices fluctuate. With a
website, you can change these prices every time they go up or down,
so your marketing materials are always accurate.
Compete with the big guys
The little guys can compete with the big guys since a website is
economical and not limited by size. This means a small business can
present as large or creative an image on the Internet as a bigger
company — with the right design team.
Easy, safe communication
A website also allows easy, safe communication between you and the
consumer so that anyone who visits your site can contact you at any
time by sending an email. Unlike communications that originate from
other forms of advertising, consumers who send emails don't have to
deal with many problems of everyday business: pushy salesmen,
remembering to call during business hours, having to battle crowds
to get to your stores, spending time waiting on voice mail or
getting the wrong information. It's convenient, easy, and safe for
the consumer. Email is also convenient for you. You can respond to
all your customer inquiries at the same time, and do it when you
have a free moment — not in the middle of rush hour when someone
calls up to ask for product information or directions to your
location.
Remain open 24/7
Few businesses keep their doors open around-the-clock. But a Web
presence can make it seem as if your business does. Through click-on
e-mail, customers, clients, or partners can contact you when it's
convenient for them. Potential customers can find out information
about what you sell and how you sell it at all hours -- on weekends,
in the middle of the night, or in different time zones.
Launch promotions easily
On the Web, it's much simpler to change your product or service
offerings, or your prices, than in a print catalog. You can also
launch new promotions with a few keystrokes. Walton suggests adding
fresh content and incentives to bring customers back for more. "If
the website remains static, there's no reason to return," he says.
"Weekly updates with web-only deals and coupons is a great way to
keep your customers checking back if you don't have any actual
content to add. For a small company, a regularly-updated news page
is often enough to keep you in the loop.“
A well designed web site can increase sales, increase public
awareness of your company and your products as well as polishing the
public image of your company. If you are wary about taking this
first step, you can start small, perhaps with a 4 - 5 page web site,
costing not much. If you feel that your sales have increased, you
can later expand and have anon-line catalogue or even e-commerce
sales.
You can save money
You can save money on tech support and answering questions. If your
employees spend a lot of time answering the same questions and
sending out the same material, you can reduce that labor cost
significantly by providing the information on the website. For
instance, a client can avoid having to mail or fax information for
over 1,000 phone call solicitations in a one-year period simply by
providing the information on their site. That improves on labor
costs and provides a real cost savings in reduced long distance
phone bills (for faxes) and postage. Your website can also take
orders while you sleep as people can place orders on a website at
any time, day or night.
But most importantly, no salesmen manning the store, no utilities,
no insurance, no payroll ... computers don't need a benefit package
or overtime. For every second of every day, your website is working
for you!
Contact us
For questions, comments, help or price quotation please don not hesitate to contact us.