There’s no denying it, the Internet has changed our lives – it’s
allowed the entire world to communicate, share ideas, and do
business faster and more efficiently than ever before. From
Toronto to Tokyo, people are connecting with one another in
ways that just a few years ago would have seemed impossible.
Sure, Windsor, Ontario might not be the largest city in
the world, but the fact remains that to stay competitive,
a website for your business or organization is practically
a must-have. For example, e-commerce has changed the way
that companies do business – small, privately owned
stores are able to open and operate solely on the Internet,
and actually compete with the big brand-name stores.
The following is a compiled list of the reasons and benefits
why any company or organization would benefit from having
a website:
Low-cost Advertising
Getting your business or product to the consumer can be challenging,
especially with the high cost of more traditional advertisement
mediums like direct mail, newspaper ads, radio, and television.
Comparatively, a website is cheaper than these more conventional
advertising methods, and will reach a world-wide audience.
Say Good-bye to Reprinting Costs
While printed advertisements are great when they are hot
off the printing press, they become outdated rather quickly
as new products and services are introduced – as
a result, you are forced to spend more money to reprint
the advertisement. On the other hand, with a website, information
about new products and services can be updated at any time,
so your customers will always have relevant and up-to-date
information about your business.
e-Commerce
You hear it everywhere; e-commerce is booming, and has permitted
the entire world to easily trade and do business with one
another. Now, setting up an e-commerce site has never been
easier – professional web-developers can easily and
efficiently set up your website for e-commerce. Essentially,
this enables your customers to effortlessly and conveniently
browse and buy your products online, and effectively gives
your sales a boost with no direct involvement from you.
Open an Online Store for a Fraction of the Cost of a
Physical Store
Imagine opening a store without needing to pay for rent,
utilities, property and liability insurance, property taxes,
repair and maintenance, supplies, and labor costs. Moreover,
your store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and reaches
a worldwide customer base of over 400 million consumers -
heck, if your suppliers will drop-ship, you don't even need
to maintain an inventory. It might sound too good to be true,
but that’s what a website with an online store can
offer – in essence, an e-commerce website allows you
to display information about all your products, complete
with images, detailed written descriptions, audio clips,
and video clips without the need to open a physical store.
Allows your Customers to Check Product Availability
Having your e-commerce website automatically check your product
database allows any potential customers to instantly check
if the product they want is in stock, or when it will be
available – moreover, this will save your sales representatives
time by allowing customers to directly check product availability
themselves. Fortunately, a web-developer can program your
website to do just that, making your e-commerce website
a powerful tool for both you and your customers.
Have Increased Brand Identity
Having your own domain name for your business or organization
(www.yourcompany.com) will allow you to establish a very
strong sense of online brand identity with your customers – moreover,
it allows you to set up e-mail addresses specific to your
business, so that customers can communicate quickly, easily,
and professionally by e-mail with any person of your company
(i.e. you@yourcompany.com).
The Ability to Reach Specialized Markets
Many customers looking for rare or specialized products,
services, and information oftentimes look towards the Internet
rather than limit themselves to their local area stores – a
website can help you reach these specialized markets because
of the sheer number of Internet users.
To Have an Improved Customer Service
A “Frequently Asked Questions, or F.A.Q., is a great
feature you can add to your website which allows you to publish
your own list of questions that are asked all the time, or
even questions that are rarely asked. Using well thought
out questions and answers, written in as much detail as you
like and exactly as you’d like stated, will provide
your customers with immediate help with their questions.
In addition, it can provide your own customer service staff
with a reference tool.
Provide Efficient Technical Support
No doubt, providing technical support to your customers is
absolutely vital, and with a well developed website it
can be made much easier. With your website, you can provide
your customers with up-to-date user manuals, detailed diagrams,
and product specifications – with all this information
easily laid-out to your customers, this can also save you
the cost of extra technical support staff.
Permits Customers to send Immediate Feedback
The Internet allows you to receive immediate feedback from
your customers – using features such as customer
surveys, contact forms, and of course e-mail enables you
to have feedback straight from your customers. As a result,
you can tailor your products, services, and even customer
service/technical support based on what your customers
really need and want.
Your Competition May or May Not have a Website
Simply put, the Internet is an integrative part of our daily
lives nowadays, and not having a website puts you at a
competitive disadvantage against your competition if they
have a website – remember, at any time, potential
customers can visit your website for information or even
to buy the product/services you offer.
On the other hand, if your competition does not have a website
and you do, then you are at a much more competitive position
then they are – they are limited to local customers,
while you can literally reach a worldwide customer base with
your website.
Give your Customers a Valuable Source of Printable Information
When someone visits your website, they can download and print
just about anything that appears on their screen. This allows
you to provide your customers with things they can print
out, such as product literature, a map to your business,
application forms, assembly instructions for your products,
dimensional drawings, etc.
Construct a User/Customer Database
When someone visits your website, you now have a new contact
that can be saved to build a user / customer database – this
allows you to pull up demographic information about people
who visit your website. Using this information, you gain
a better understanding of who your online customers are;
as a result, you can use this knowledge to create complimentary
marketing strategies which are customized to their interests.
Moreover, having a database of your customers is a great
way to stay in touch with them, and enables you to send
a follow-up e-mail, or even occasionally send them information
about new products or services.
Even More Free Advertising
Undoubtedly, a very important and powerful feature of the
Internet is the ability for your website to link to other
sites – well, more importantly, the ability for other
websites to link to YOUR website. In effect, this permits
people to find your website through several different channels – hence,
this increases the potential traffic to your website, and
essentially is free advertising for your business or organization.
Using your Website to Supplement you’re Advertisements
While your company might use more traditional advertising
media, such as newspaper ads, radio, or even television,
having a website is still a great way to supplement your
existing advertising. Essentially, by adding your website
into your current advertisements, you are letting your
customers know exactly where they can go to get more information
about your business, products, or services right away,
conveniently in their own homes.
Easily Recruit Qualified Employees
If you have a position open in your business or organization,
one of the easiest and most efficient ways to find that
new employee is to announce the opening on your website – in
effect, the Internet has become a driving force in recruiting
qualified and valuable employees.
More and More Customers Now Expect a Website
Nowadays, your customers or clients expect most businesses
to have a website, if only to provide basic information
about the business, such as product, service, and contact
information. Let’s face it, most of us have become
enthralled with the global phenomenon that is the Internet – the
number of people using the Internet has literally grown
exponentially, and many consumers look to the Internet
for information about a business, product, or service.
The Time is Now...
As you can see, there are numerous reasons why having a website
would be beneficial to your company or organization – simply
put, the Internet is now a part of our infrastructure,
and if your business hopes to remain competitive in today’s
technologically savvy and fast-paced business world, a
well-developed and designed website is absolutely crucial.
If you currently do not have a website, it’s not
too late, the time is now...
Sharbel Lutfallah is a Web Developer and Programmer in Windsor.
Visit
Wired
Solutions to gain more valuable information when looking
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