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There
are still people wondering whether their business really needs a website. Or
they say: we do not have a business, but a not-for-profit organization: should
we have a website? Definitely! I could easily come up with 50 reasons why you
need a website:
1. Promote
Your Products
A website allows you to showcase your products for everyone to see. You can
explain the benefits, compare it with other products, or show testimonials of
happy customers that already bought the product.
2. Promote
Your Services
It is hard to showcase services in a store, or office. The web allows you to
introduce the service, the professionals providing the service, and how several
services can complement each other.
3. Promote
Your Organization
People buy from people. People support organizations and causes that they
believe in. A website is a fantastic tool to promote an organization and build
trust - that is, if you do it right... A well-developed website can convey trust
and credibility, making people to buy from you, or support you.
4. Promote
Yourself
Whether you are a professional looking for a job, or an expert in your industry:
you can show that to the whole world by having a comprehensive website. The use
of an associated email address also increases perceived professionalism: a
letter from someone at me-the-expert.com will certainly open more doors than an
email from a hotmail account.
5. Promote
Your Ideas
Political campaigns are now all over the web. A website can be a powerful way to
promote your ideas, and build a following of like-minded people. Or you can just
write online journals ("blogs") to ventilate some of your thoughts and
concerns.
6. Promote
Your Events
Have a fundraising event? Want to promote your business with seminars, workshops
or a tradeshow? You will increase awareness when you create a website for the
event. Show dates, programs, prices and riving directions - to name but a few
features that will be greatly appreciated by your target audience.
7. Sell
Your Events
Want to take it a step further? You may even want to consider selling (or
pre-ordering) tickets for your events on a website. Shorter line-ups, less
expenses: it sounds like a good idea to me...
8. Sell
Your Organization
Whether "selling your organization" is a figure of speech (to convince
people) or a true selling effort, a website can be considered a very valuable
asset to your organization.
9. Sell
Your Services
A website can be a great tool to not only promote, but also actually sell your
services. You can automate many repetitive tasks, such as registration, billing,
collecting and much more. Whether you are selling phone services or speaking
engagements: you can effectively do it with a website.
10.
Sell Your Products
A few years ago, after all the dot-boms, people lost faith in e-commerce. Now
e-commerce is booming. Gift moments like Christmas and Valentine's Day show
record sales numbers, and money-guzzling giants like Amazon are starting to make
money. Offering a great user-experience and minding usability is the key to
success.
11.
Save Costs
By integrating systems and automating certain tasks you may be able to actually
save costs. For instance, by integrating your e-commerce website into your
inventory and accounting systems. Build extranets to connect with suppliers and
clients alike. You can provide downloadable documents on a website rather than
mailing them out. The opportunities are endless.
12.
Build A Community
Want to be perceived as a leader? Want people talking about you, or provide a
platform for people to share ideas and ideologies? A website, especially with a
forum or bulletin board, can be a great help in building an online community. It
may even be the cement that keeps an offline community together, because of its
empowering character and 24/7 availability.
13.
Share Pictures, Sound And Other Files
I just watched wedding photos, I enjoy watching funny commercials from all over
the world, I like listening to music - on a website. You can use it to share
Media Kits, sound bites, or PowerPoint presentations. A website is a great tool
to exchange multi-media.
14.
Offer Service 365/24/7
This may not be of great value to you (it may even be a burden...), but to your
customers it is very empowering and important. The Internet puts the web browser
in control - and if you are not there, you will be more and more passed over in
favour of an online competitor.
15.
Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Answering the same questions over and over again can be a great waste of money
and employee morale. A carefully crafted list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs),
posted on a website, can reduce the stream of repetitive questions so your
Customer Support department can actually start supporting customers, and your
Sales Department can really devote their time to selling!
16.
Improve Branding
Branding is a way to differentiate your product, service or company from its
competition, and create loyalty. The content of a website, its style and tools
such as newsletters allow for many ways to differentiate yourself, make the
visitor feel good about you, and build loyalty. More worrisome: if you do not do
this, a competitor may snatch not only your prospects sales, but also their
loyalty away from you with their website! Eat, or be eaten!
17.
Reach A Local Market
More and more people use locally defined keywords in the search engines, which
indicates that they use the Internet do find local information. "Used cars
Toronto" or "Guelph real estate" are obvious, but mentioning a
website in a local ad may do wonders in terms of converting a reader into a
customer.
18.
Reach A Regional Market
A website is one of the easiest tools to expand your exposure into a wider
geographical area. Want to move your business from just Fergus into the whole of
Ontario? A website allows you to do that.
19.
Reach A National Market
Political campaigns are just one example where websites are being used to
service a National audience. Offering a National specific version of your
product, such as Tylenol.ca, is another one. You allows you to offer information
about specific national tax and delivery charges, or appeal to National pride.
20.
Reach A Global Market
If your target audience is "the world" then you really need a website.
But you knew that already, didn't you ;o)
21.
Reach An International Market
If you target specific International markets it may be highly effective to
design dedicated websites for them. By targeting your US customers on a
",com" site while servicing your Canadian clients with a
".ca" site you are able to cater to the specific needs and
expectations. It allows you to avoid confusion by separating different
currencies, taxes, fees and prices onto different websites. You may even want to
consider offering websites in different languages, such as a specialized ".nl"
website, in Dutch, for your loyal customers in The Netherlands.
22.
Reach A Specialized Market
Do you sell cat and dog helmets? Are you into monoclonal
antibody production
(link opens in a new window), or
other biotech products? Whatever niche market you may service, a website will
expand your possibilities of promoting or selling your product or service -
wherever in the world your prospects may be.
23.
Test New Products And Services
With a little bit of help from search engines and directories, or by linking
from high-traffic websites, you can create a new website to test new products or
services. You may even keep quiet about the fact that you are behind this new
product or service site. A dedicated website can prove to be a very valuable
test case before fully launching your new success - or quietly taking it off the
market again if the market is not quite ready yet ;o)
24.
Solicit Feedback From Customers
A contact form on a website can provide you with a lot of valuable information
from customers, prospects and other interested people. You may even get them to
take an online poll - especially if you say they can win a prize as a reward.
And if the stakes are high enough, the free word-of-mouth promotion will start
automatically...
25.
Start A Movement
Want the US Army out of Iraq? Want to preserve a local trail? A website is a
most effective way to promote your viewpoint, recruit volunteers, build a
community (by adding an online forum), make press releases available, and much,
much more.
26.
Spread Ideas
Even if you do not want to start a movement, a website allows you to share your
views and ideas with like-minded people all over the globe. It also allows you
to easily explain things by means of adding audio, video or animation to your
website. It can be like having your own radio or TV station...
27.
Educate
Online education can be very effective; more and more people are taking courses
over the Internet. If you provide workshops, or complete courses, you may
consider offering them online too.
28.
Update Information Quickly
Catalogues have been around for a long time, and they still prove to be
successful. Newspapers are still a popular way to find out what is going on in
the world. They have one major disadvantage, though: you cannot update them very
quickly. A website, however, allows you to make changes almost instantly.
29.
A Sales Tool Outside The Office
Employees away from the office can be kept informed with a website. A new press
release? A new price list? Newsworthy things happening in your industry? You can
quickly post information like that on an Intranet, which is a website only
available for your employees, so they can see it wherever and whenever they
want. If you add features like a forum you are also able to facilitate 1-to-many
communication between employees.
30.
Integrate Supply Chains
By offering your clients online ordering you are able to integrate whole supply
processes. You can offer them password-protected areas with their information,
such as prices, year-to-date ordering information, and more. This can be
considered additional customer service, but may also be forced upon you by
powerful clients or suppliers.
31.
Reward Clients
By offering clients access to a website just for them, you can reward them for
their loyalty. This website can for instance be used to offer specials, unique
tips or other benefits. You can create an online club for Loyal Customers.
32.
Run Contests
If you want to run a contest, a website may be a very viable solution. With a
carefully chosen domain name it can foster word-of-mouth promotion ("tell a
friend!"), you are able to track all the entries in an online database
(without having to enter them manually), and you are able to promote it with
links from other websites, or search engines.
33.
Communicate With Your Target Audiences In Their Own Language
In 2003 I reviewed websites for the main candidates in the California
Recall election
(Ahhhnold!)(opens in a new window),
and was amazed to learn that so many websites did not have sections in Spanish -
even though many Californian voters are Hispanic. Addressing your target
audience in their native tongue will certainly improve your chances of success.
34.
Inquiry Marketing: Be Found - Period!
A major advertising conference mentioned recently "advertising is
dead". Interruption marketing does not work as it used to, due to video on
demand, TiVo, the Internet... The consumers are more and more difficult to
reach. Instead, they are in control; they are searching - on the Internet. It is
inquiry marketing. Search and be found, or fail to be found and lose the
customer.
35.
Improve Communication
Brochures and flyers only allow for a few lines of communication. A carefully
crafted website can guide your clients, suppliers or employees through page
after page of information. Another advantage is that you can add audio and video
to these pages - something that paper communication tools cannot offer.
36.
Change Communication From One-To-One Into One-To-Many
Conventional marketing tools allow you to promote or sell 1-on-1. A website can
cater to many prospects at the same time. An effective website will also help
you build a buzz: word-of-mouth promotion.
37.
Share Basic Business Information
People use the Internet often trying to find quick answers to basic questions.
What are your opening hours? Do you offer payment plans? What is your phone
number or email address? These are the days of "Inquiry Marketing"; so
get a website if you do not already have one, and make sure that people can
actually find it in the search engines and directories.
38.
PR Tool
A website can be a great PR tool. You can post Press Releases on it, or
articles, or a complete Press Kit - with pictures, sound files, bios, and more!
You can also start a forum or blog (an interactive type of online diary), which
can be a great PR tool.
39.
Expand Your Product OR Service Offerings - Exclusively Online
A website allows you to differentiate your product or service offerings. You may
want to consider offering slightly different services online than you do
offline, for instance to foster repeat visits, using it as a test market, or
target different geographical areas than you do with your store or office.
40.
Communicate With Audiences Worldwide
The world is your oyster - especially with a website, which allows you to
communicate with audiences worldwide (as long as you both understand the same
language). Geographical locations or time zones are no longer a problem with the
24/7 availability of a website.
41.
Cross-Sell
When it is busy in your store, not all visitors will be able to speak to one of
your sales people. Opportunities to cross sell ("did you see that we also
sell ...") are lost. But on a carefully constructed website you can make
sure that people are exposed to other offers that may interest you. A classic
example is Amazon.com, which is very successful with an automated suggestion
feature ("Customers who bought this title also bought:...").
42.
Increase Customer Loyalty
By Giving Them More Control These are the times of inquiry marketing, and
anything-on-demand. The customer wants to be in control, and websites are a
perfect example of that. The customer decides what they want to see, and when,
and if you do that right, you will have acquired a loyal customer.
43.
F U N
Websites allow you to present your target audience with something fun. Flash
animations as a quirky way to make a point or explain something, can build a lot
of goodwill. Skilful copywriting can be used to solicit a wink and a smile from
time to time. Sales is all about emotion, and websites allow you many ways to
evoke these in a favourable way. But make sure that the FUN is appropriate, or
else you will be evoking powerful negative emotions.
44.
Family Sites
Many families are no longer in the same geographical area; they may even be
spread over several countries... A website can be a great way to keep in
contact. Share pictures, movies, stories on a website for all family members to
see. Added benefit: you will have an email address @ yourname.com or .ca, so you
will never have to change addresses again! (Not even in case you decide to witch
Internet providers - for instance from sympatico to cogeco)
45.
Make Life Easier
Websites can make you customer's lives easier - and yours! Look at online
banking, or ticket ordering. Whole new industries have emerged because people
want to be able to do things themselves, from their home or office - because it
is easier. So: what will make your customers' lives easier?
46.
Find Employees
A highly effective way to use a website is to use it as a recruitment tool. You
can obviously use it to post vacancies, but you may also consider placing a more
general invitation to send resumes. This way you may already know the right
person for the job before a vacancy even occurs.
47.
Pre-Ordering
A well-promoted product launch on a website allows you to take fully automated
pre-orders. This is a great tool to supplement your sales force. You can have an
online presentation, and shop, so that enthusiastic clients and prospects can
pre-order immediately.
48.
Build An Appetite
Pre-launch campaigns can be highly effective. Websites can be used to build the
buzz, have a few teasers, a countdown clock, press releases and news about the
ongoing campaign. You may even show a picture of just a tiny part of the new
product: "can you guess what it is?"
49.
Email Address Forever
Let's say that your domain name is agoodname.com. Using email address you@agoodname.com
is a good way to promote your website, because people will guess your website
based on the email address. And if you keep your domain name indefinitely, you
will have that email address indefinitely. No more sending of emails to your
friends and business, stating that "you moved to another email service
provider; can you please update your address book?"
50
Already?
50.
Play With The Big Guys
Many small companies successfully take on the big Guys. Websites can be
relatively inexpensive (compared to running a brick-and-mortar store), and with
proper usability and search engine optimization your website can be as good as
your larger competitors, or even better!
O.k.
then; I will throw in a bonus: 10% Additional reasons!
51.
Check You Out Anonymously
One of the things many people like about the Internet is that they can research
anonymously. No pressure. This is why it is so important that you have a website
that is easily found on the Internet - you cater to the preferences of your
target audience.
52.
Facilitate Knowledge Building
You can use a website to sell seminars or e-books, for people to learn from. You
can create password-protected modules so people can learn online. You can build
forums where people can exchange questions and answers. A website is an ideal
tool to facilitate the exchange of knowledge.
53.
Enhance Marketing Effectiveness
Success does not come from doing one thing right. What you need is a marketing
mix, and a website can be a powerful ingredient. Mentioning a website in a
radio, TV or print ad may just be the thing that wins people over - especially
if the online experience feels similar to the offline communication.
54.
People Expect It
By having a website you show the world that you are a viable business. Not
having one makes you suspicious in the eyes of many prospects. It is silly but
true: a website will enhance perceived professionalism.
55.
Competition Forces You To(o)
Your competition will force you to get a website, if you do not already have
one. Customers (especially the newer generations) will demand you have a
website, and will pass you over if you do not have one. It is a matter of
adjusting to shifting market conditions. And things will continue to shift, at
an amazing speed - just look at how fast the Internet has become an integral
part of our lives...
Conclusion
I am sure that at least one of these 55 reasons will apply to your situation.
One last bit of advice: if you DO decide to have a website built: make sure that
the designer has the right skills and knowledge to make your website as
effective as possible. Good marketing and business advice, usability
consulting and search
engine optimization are just as important as great design skills. Your
website should not only look great, it should be Easy to Find + Easy to Use.
Article
by Nardo Kuitert - U-CWEBS.com
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March
18, 2006 - Lawrence Salberg
Wrote
an article for another
site of mine that I thought I’d share here. Sometimes a small business
owner will think, even in 2006, that he or she does not need a website - at all.
Here are ten very good reasons why that is never the case - assuming the goal of
the business is to prosper and succeed.
“Nowadays
a company without a Web site is in loser territory-out of touch.” - John C.
Dvorak, PC Magazine columnist, June 5, 2006.
1.
Competitive Pressure: Your competition has websites. While this alone may not
drive every business decision, knowing what your competition is doing is a
healthy part of self-evaluation. Do they know something you don’t? Have they
or are they experiencing something you might not yet have realized?
2.
Forever Fresh: A website is the only form of advertising that works for you 24
hours a day, 7 days a week, and doesn’t have peaks and valleys like print
advertising. When you buy an ad in a newspaper (or even the yellow pages), there
is a cyclical effect. A six-week run in the paper, or a six-month run in the
local five-and-dime, all eventually end as the paper becomes stale and people
move on with their lives. The website is always fresh, always inviting, and
always ready to serve.
3.
Two Words Say Everything: A website is the most in-depth information that you
can give the public, usually in a word or two. By promoting your website, on the
front door (when you are closed), on your business cards, on the telephone to
someone looking for your location, in your radio advertisements, on your yellow
pages ad, everywhere - you can essentially “tell” everything about your
operation with that simple word: MyBusiness.com.
4.
No More Yellow Pages: People don’t use the yellow pages as much as you think.
Almost every employee in the country that gets paid more than $30,000/year has a
computer at their desk. Few have a copy of the yellow pages nearby. Habitually,
they will type in “gift shops Melbourne” in Google — long before they hunt
down the one copy of the yellow pages that was left in the breakroom.
5.
Time is Money: How much time do you spend on the phone giving out trivial
information? Directions, what you carry, what you don’t carry, what hours you
are open, directions again, the price of some service, how one of your services
“works”, directions once again, and yes you’ll be open until 6pm tomorrow
night. If you could hire someone for just a few hundred dollars a year to take
an increasing number of those calls for you - so that you could concentrate on
running and growing your business (what you do best) - wouldn’t you do it?
You’d be surprised how much your website will take off your shoulders while
simultaneously driving business to you.
6.
Repeat Customers: Your repeat business is your whole business. I’ll say it
again. Your repeat business is your whole business. If you can’t keep people
coming back to you once you’ve finally acquired that customer, you might as
well lock your doors today. When your customers are reminded of you more
frequently, they’ll be in to see you more frequently. They don’t get
reminded by any other advertising method you use - those are all to acquire new
customers. They get reminded when you invite them to sign up for your monthly
specials at the checkout counter. Did you want to mail those specials (at
considerable time and cost to you), or did you want to email those specials to
them (at no cost and little time to you)? Most of your clients (even seniors!)
will prefer an email - you will be surprised if you haven’t been doing it.
Don’t let those clients discover somebody new. Keep them coming back to you!
7.
The New Word of Mouth: Some business owners say, “Most of our business comes
from word of mouth”. Isn’t that great? Of course, the business has little
choice to grow any other way if the owners aren’t pro-actively soliciting new
clients. Word of mouth is the only way anyone will find out about it. But the
New Word of Mouth is email and the internet. So even though your business
reputation carries on the wings of a dove, the wings of an eagle is a website.
When people can look at their receipt, their bag, your business card, and shoot
an email to 35 of their friends at once and say, “I just love the service at
XYZ, Inc” and point to your website - that is Word of Mouth that goes much
further than you could buy.
8.
Existence is Everything: Without a website, you simply don’t exist. Now before
you look back at all your success and dismiss this idea, consider this simple
exercise. It’s 3:00pm, Friday afternoon. I have to get my hair done this
weekend. (Or find a kennel for the dog, or an auto transmission shop, etc…) I
type in my favorite search engine at work: “Palm Bay hair salon”. The first
three links all look promising. I look at their hours, their locations, read a
little about the owner of one (Wow - she’s been doing this for 23 years!) and
pick up the phone and make an appointment. But guess what I didn’t know. I
didn’t know that you run a hair salon six blocks from where I’ll be having
lunch tomorrow. I didn’t know that - because your website didn’t come up.
For me, you didn’t even exist.
9.
The Future is Automation: Even though you aren’t selling things online, you
can highly automate some parts of your business online - even today. You could
give your customers the option to pay for their storage unit online. You can
automate furniture deliveries to them. You can post your craft class schedules
online and have them close registration automatically once filled. You can allow
them to book appointments with your salon online - or make restaurant
registrations. You can give customers the option to be notified that their dry
cleaning is ready for pickup. And it is only getting easier and more convenient
for customers to shop at places that serve them around their lifestyle.
10.
Inexpensive and Almost Risk Free: All the above benefits are great. In the past,
these benefits would have been costly. But while every other advertising medium
has increased in price over the past decade, website development and hosting has
decreased significantly. For a few hundred dollars a year, you can obtain all
the benefits above. There is virtually “no risk”. You don’t have to spend
thousands of dollars and wonder if you should have bought a bigger yellow pages
ad. You can guarantee a new beginning for your business today for a very small
investment in yourself and your future.
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