¤ Website Design
WHY HAVE A WEBSITE?
Does your Business need a Website?
This article talks about the merits of having a web presence for your business - no matter how small or big you are, no matter how well known your business is to the world, no matter how much of publicity you are carrying out via the press, media and other means.
Fifteen years ago not many had heard of the Internet. Today, most of us are aware of the Internet and know that it is the fastest and most cost-effective medium of communication. Having been involved with the Internet since 1995, we have watched it grow from a very simple & quick way of sending email to a sophisticated medium of communication.
The growth of the Internet introduced the World Wide Web - the web of websites displaying information that is accessible at mouse clicks.
The Internet, today, is one of the first places a person who has access to a computer will go, to get information. It is often said that the Internet is information. Whether it's information on health tips, art & culture, or a specific product or service, the world wide web is the place everyone looks to for information.
Businesses worldwide have taken on this economical, yet effective, means of advertising and mass communication, and are using it extensively for providing information about their products & services. The days are not far when every business will appear on the Internet in some form or the other.
The web is becoming the preferred method of choice to shop and research products and services, and business that are not on the web, no matter how big or small, will soon become yesterday's news.
Several tools and technologies have evolved that enable a business to display information and provide online interaction facilities through easily created web sites that have dynamic and interactive contents and complex functionalities. There has been an amazing growth in web functionality/technology, though the cost of implementing these functionalities have reduced considerably with time. In the late 90's it was not unusual for a company to spend a few hundred thousands of rupees to build an eCommerce website. Today, any business, small or large, can have an Internet catalog or eCommerce web site for as low as 75,000 rupees. This has been possible due to volume of scale and reduction in cost of technology with more and more businesses now opting for online presence, and an increase in the number of service providers.
One of the questions we are often asked is - What are the benefits of having a business web site?
Through this article we essentially trying to answer this question. Though, in this article I we are talking mainly about businesses, what is written here applies equally to other organizations viz. non-profit organizations, societies, government organizations, etc. who can read and perceive this article in their context.
Let us take a look at customer behavior today . . .
If you are not on the web your customers look at your business as behind and not moving with the times. If you own a business today your customers expect you to have a web presence and an email address. This expectation almost requires you to have some sort of dynamic and interactive web site.
We all know that the root place for the boom in Internet and telecommunication has been the United States of America. During the 80's and 90's companies in the USA were in a cost cutting and productivity increasing frenzy. American companies were working diligently to drive customers totally mad - not leaving out any technology option available to them then.
- New telephone answering systems that could literally keep customers on hold or wandering through a maze of options.
- Reduction in inventories (just-in-time concepts) that led to products not being readily available.
- Lack of knowledgeable and tactful employees with little understanding of the products and services, leading to inaccurate and ineffective communication with customers.
While these companies bragged about their excellent customer service, the customer perception was not in line and the latter felt that this has actually resulted in poor customer service.
Then, when most companies had given up on any hope of getting good customer service, the Internet sprang up. What an amazing thing to happen - any time, night or day, you could look up information you needed. One of the early players who took on this amazing new technology was Amazon.com, who began selling books online through their website. And the service was great. An email telling you that they have received your order, an email telling you that the order was shipped and you should receive it in a few days, an email telling you that you should have already received the order and what to do if you had not, an email telling you of a great new book similar to the one you just bought, and so on. And all this was completely automated, not requiring any human intervention.
Sure it was an automated email and not a physical letter. But it was so much better than what customers were used to, they liked it.
Even today everyone, who uses email, likes this mode of communication. Why spend the cost of making a telephone call just to listen to a voice mail and wait on hold till you are transferred to a human operator. Before the actual communication begins, your telephone bill has already shot up. Compare this against email - you can send an email at any time and you can go do other things while waiting for a reply.
So the Internet did make it possible to communicate with customers at their convenience of time and place. It has made it possible to automate information dissemination and customer service. Irrespective of where your customers are located, whether in your own city or in another continent, a web site enables you to provide information to them in a more relaxed environment.
A website allows for constant advertising 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and all days of the year. It works and advertises for you while you are busy elsewhere. It can answer most of the customer queries without having them to call your staff and take away your valuable time. Your customers can contact you and you can contact them at each others convenience.
So how does your web site keep your customer happy?
In addition to using the Internet to increase your market reach and revenue the Internet has also made it possible to keep your existing customers happy and not drive them away to your competitors.
Customer convenience: Imagine the ultimate level of convenience your website will give to your customers - They can visit your website at anytime - They can collect information and buy online at the time and place of their choice. It is this convenience factor which is the driving force behind the Internet explosion in electronic commerce. Customers today are exposed to a global market, giving them better choice and better prices.
Customer requirement The most important is that an Internet web site is now a customer requirement. Today, having a web site for your business is not only beneficial, it's essential. Customers expect you to have a web site if you want them to take you seriously. They use the Internet regularly and expect to be able to find information about you online. They are looking for things such as technical information about your product, product features, price, find answers to frequently asked questions, find phone numbers and interact with your staff quickly and easily or post a query, complaint or service request online. A web site can even help customers easily locate your address and directions to your office.
A Web site and email access are as important as having voice mail, fax, an answering machine, a telephone directory AD or a weekly listing in the local newspaper.
Customer perception of your business: Many customers gauge the credibility of a firm by the professionalism of their web site. You could be operating out of your garage and be perceived as a market leader in your industry just by having an impressive web site. Making a good impression is important as it increases your customer's confidence in your products/services. For this reason the Internet also levels the playing fields when it comes to competing with bigger businesses.
Improved support for your customers: With a web presence, a business can reach a larger, international market and keep its customers better informed at a lower cost. It can maintain closer contact and promote greater product loyalty. Your Web site is always on and available to anyone looking for information about you. Potential customers can find the information they need when they need it, without additional mailing costs, without requiring a personnel to answer a phone or voice mail messages to be returned. They can quickly and easily collect information about your products, place orders and track order fulfillment. It is this ease of doing business, which attract and retain customers. Consider the example of Amazon.com.
Additionally, a web site gives you the ability to capture customer information through feedback, complaints and query receiving mechanisms, allowing you to make informed decisions in the future and correcting and improving your service
Capitalize on the most effective marketing method ever invented: Having your business presence in online business directory (Example: National directories like www.Business-India.in or your city specific directories like www.RanchiBusiness.com & www.JamshedpurBusiness.com or state specific directories like www.Maharashtra.ws, works better than any other form of online (or offline) promotion. It is a genuinely customer-focused marketing practice that puts you in front of people exactly when they are looking for you.
Right now, while you are reading this article, somewhere on the web, someone is looking for the services and products you offer. A listing of your business pages in an online directory service or a search-engine-optimized web site can bring them to you.
In the past, when your customers were looking for a product or service, their easiest option would be to pull out the Yellow Pages to search for a store or company in their area that provided the product or service they were in need of. Sometimes this supplied a name and phone number, sometimes an address, on more rare occasions, a picture advertisement with a list of services or products. With the Internet today, that same customer can go to an online directory service and be presented with a list of businesses that fit their needs, with links to their web pages. Those web pages are loaded with product pictures and price lists, maps and phone numbers, and even online shopping cart system which allows the customer to order products and services - all without ever having to leave the house or office.
Perhaps you have a service oriented practice such as accounting, law, or medicine that's already doing well and you're wondering why you should burden yourself with the added expense of a web site. Simply put, not having a web site will soon be like not having a listing in your local yellow pages. In the web world, this is referred to as a corporate presence. Even if your best business comes by word-of-mouth, your potential customers may want to check you out. A well-designed, professional web site can give you added visibility and credibility. Especially if you provide a public service and your goal is to get across information to a large number of people almost instantaneously.
Don't miss out !
Compared to the more traditional advertising mediums, the Internet has potential circulation figures/coverage area that can't be matched - and all at a fraction of the cost of a simple series of advertisements in local or national newspapers - let alone a sustained TV or radio campaign. And your competitors are already there, so if you are not there, you are already one step behind in competition. Your competitors are online, aggressively promoting their products and services. They are putting their web address in print, television, radio and newspaper advertising as well as on business cards, letterhead, printed brochures and handouts. What are you waiting for?
You'll be very lucky if your competitors have not already got a website. And if they have, then it is taking business away from you. If you are marketing a product or service and you are NOT advertising where your competition is, you'll find yourself left behind very suddenly. Why not try a search at Yahoo Search, MSN Search or Google to see what your competition is up to?
Tap into a growing phenomenon to expand your target market
The Internet has gone though a period of extraordinary growth, and it is estimated that more than 300 million people use the Internet and that at least 40 million companies have a presence on the Internet. Most of these are, of course in the USA and Europe presently. The use of the Internet is also showing phenomenal growth in East Asian countries such as India, Japan and China. Likewise, interest in South Africa has grown quickly and there are at least 2 million Internet users in South Africa.
The number of Internet users is increasing by nearly 50,000 daily. With the Internet, there are no geographical boundaries, so you reach a larger audience. If you are thinking of expanding regionally, nationally or even internationally, a web site can be a very effective means of reaching new and existing customers easily.
A new paradigm for conducting business - the Virtual Shop
What is a Virtual Shop?
A virtual shop is your shop on the internet. It is not a physical store and hence does not require you to buy expensive property in an expensive market place. It is a piece of software hosted on an internet server that runs 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and is accessible to anyone anywhere in the world at any time of the day. It is a shop which never sleeps.
A virtual shop is a way of extending a physically existing shop to reach out to a large set of other wise untapped customer base. And the initial and running costs are so less that it never hurts to open one. So, why reject the possibility of an extended avenue for fetching business if it merely entails an investment of a few thousand rupees. Even if you add a few new customers through your virtual shop, your investment in it is recovered.
Remember, as we have mentioned earlier, there are thousands of potential customers who surf the internet on a daily basis in search of products and services that they are planning to buy. Many buyers are now-a-days finding it more convenient and less stressful to surf the internet for reviewing product profiles and taking buying decisions. By not being present on the internet, you are killing your chances of getting spotted by these customers, whom you cannot afford to ignore. In today’s competitive world, each customer is important and with one customer you can build several customers.
With the widespread penetration of computers in India and easy access to the Internet from home, office and cyber cafes, hundreds of thousands of Indians are now finding it more convenient to use the internet for their requirements. These customers hate to drive down to today’s crowded market places (where it is very difficult to even find a place to park), struggle amongst the crowd of customers in a small-sized shop to review the products they wish to buy. Some customers are even shy of asking the price of each and every item, though they would like to - such customers prefer to make their buying decisions from the comfort of their office desk or their home where they can review the photos of the various product designs vis-à-vis their price and take a better decision to suit their pocket and taste.
Further, there are several bulk buyers/traders who are always on the look out for good suppliers/manufacturers. These traders often operate at a bigger scale catering to the export market or the large volume metro market. They spend a lot of time surfing the internet in search of better suppliers and better deals, and can fetch you bulk orders. By not being present on the web, you are missing the opportunity of getting noticed by such bulk buyers who may find your products appealing and may get interested in you.
In short, by having a website, and more so by creating a virtual shop, you are opening newer avenues of making customers and increasing your chances of making it big in your business.
The above are just some of the merits of having a website for your business. The possibilities are endless!
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