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But local businesses ( dry cleaners or shoe repair shops, for example) also can benefit from a Web site that shows their location, lists their services or offers special promotions. And woe to those who think they don't need a compelling Web site because they serve other businesses rather than retail consumers. These days many businesses search for new suppliers online. In short, if you want more customers, you should be online, regardless of your industry.
Your online marketing tool
For most small businesses, a Web site is rapidly becoming a basic requirement of a marketing plan. A site can help you reach one or more of the following goals:
1)
Help customers find you in the offline world – your
office, your storefront, your phone number.
2)
Help persuade customers that you have the right service
or product for them even before they come to visit you instore. 3) Help sell your product or service online, even across different marketplaces, to retail customers or other businesses that are too far away or that find difficult to come to the store. An excellent example of this is a hardware company whom we service their computers on a monthly basis. This company has several Native Bands outside of the city as customers, some of these First Nations have no roads and the only way there is to fly-in.
These customers find their website invaluable as they
almost daily order tools and other supplies from the website, they
simply write down the item numbers and they call in the order which is
shipped via air shortly after.. A simple site helps customers find you The simplest possible Web presence is a one-page site that tells people how to find your business in the "real" world. It should include: A) A good Web Address that relates to your company name and business. B) Your business address, complete with directions and a good map. C) Your business phone number, along with fax numbers if relevant. D) Your hours of operation E) A clear and enticing description of what your business offers to customers. This simple Web presence is most appropriate for businesses that serve local customers (a dry cleaner, doctor's office or plumber, for example) and that aren't actively looking to expand their customer base (as with a fully booked dental practice). For better marketing, create a multi-page site If you're interested in active marketing for your business, you can expand your Web site to make it a more robust online marketing tool. In this scenario, the Web site's job is to convince customers to take that next step: call you to place an order or set up an appointment, or drive to your office or storefront. Your site is essentially your online marketing brochure, one that's more effective than a printed marketing piece. Web sites enable customers to dig deep into the information they care about, without overwhelming them with the stuff they don't want or need to know. That's hard to pull off in a paper brochure. When planning a website, you should approach the concept as you would any other marketing brochure. Use color, graphics, photos and words to get across four key things about your business: 1) What you provide for customers. 2) What kind of customers you focus on and can serve best.. 3) How your business is unique from others who provide the same product or service, so customers can decide if your solution is right for them
4)
The personality or brand essence of your business – what
your company stands for. So, do you need a website? Yes, for good reasons! ..Still not sure if you need a website? Normally, the worst reason for doing anything is "because everyone else is..." However, if you're marketing a product or service and you are NOT advertising where your competition is, you'll find yourself left behind very suddenly. 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 a search engine or index 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 gold is to get information to a large number of people almost instantaneously. Additionally, the cost of maintaining a Web site is probably the most cost effective advertising you'll ever do. The Internet is one of the first places a person who has access to a computer will go to get information. As one source put it, "the Internet 'IS' information." Whether it's information on Hepatitis C or a specific product or service, the World Wide Web is *the* place your customers look to for information. Have you notices lately how every time you meet someone new or you give out a business card the first thing they ask you is "what's your website?".. why? because everyone simply expects you to be where everyone else is, at the forefront of technology. Frankly, every time I ask a business about their website and they say they do not have one, I find it very difficult to see them as "reliable", "knowledgable" simply because a lack of a website nowadays reflects a misunderstanding of today's markets and what customers want today, simply put, if they do not understand what their business needs, how are going to understand what I need as a customer? OK.. ok, I am convinced.. I do need a web site already ……what do I do now? First, you need to decide what information you would like to offer on your site. This can be as brief as one page describing who you are, where your are, what you do, and how to contact you, or it can be as comprehensive as you wish. You can include as many pages as you like describing your products and services or offering information you feel is relative to the needs of your customers and the general public. If you don't know how, you need someone to design your web site for you. Yes you can design your website yourself, but consider the cost of buying specialized programs such as Photoshop ($500-1,000) FrontPage ($199) In-Design ($400) etc.. next, you have to learn how to use these programs. You have to understand HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) a “coded” type of instructions all websites need to work. Once completed, you have to know “how” to publish your site on the internet so that everyone else can see it. And that is not all, simply put uploading your newly designing website to your host server does not guarantee you your website will be easily visible, you need to submit your site to so called “propagation engines” that will make sure your website gets “indexed” (catalogued) and visible by search engines like Google, Yahoo, Msn etc.. So, sure you can do it yourself, but you will most likely end up with a “homemade” looking website that in most cases does not work as it should and it has poor visibility on the web, chances are it will cost you more too. You will find that it is much easier to hire a professional and let them design you a website you can be proud of. That's us! We take your ideas, your information and pictures, brochures, or other graphics and combine them to make attractive, readable, professional pages. We’ll work closely with you to make sure you get what you need and want! |
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