Can a Web site really help your business?

The other day we asked a friend who owns a small landscaping business if he's considered getting a Web site. He replied that he just didn't see the need for it since his business provides services and does not sell any product. we quickly pointed out that he could benefit from having an online portfolio where clients could see photos of his projects, and read all about his company and services. After mentioning additional pluses to him, he soon realized that it would indeed be beneficial.

Although these days the Internet is often seen as a Mecca for e-commerce sites, it is still primarily a place where information is exchanged. A Web site for your company can be a great marketing tool for many reasons.

* It can be an online brochure or catalog, without the high cost of color printing. It allows you the flexibility to easily and efficiently change the information anytime you want. Plus you won't get stuck with boxes of outdated printed material.


* It is a great place to list your calendar of events, and upcoming sales and promotions.


* While your visitors are reading all about those events, you can invite them to sign up for newsletters and to receive additional information. It's a savvy way of developing a valuable mailing list.


* Adding informative content to your Web site gives credibility to your business. For example, a florist shop can provide a list of occasion-specific flowers, tell how to keep fresh flowers longer, or give tips on plant care. Not only does it give the customers useful information, it also highlights the expertise level of the florist.


* By including corporate information about your company, your site can also be a valuable tool in investor relations and employee recruiting. Add your URL (Web site address) to your Help Wanted ads to give prospective employees the opportunity to read about your company prior to placing an application, thus saving both of you time.


The notion that your Web site will bring you buckets full of money may be unrealistic. We've all heard about the demise of many large well-funded .com companies.

An online presence should be seen as part of your overall marketing plan, to give you one more great way to reach your customers

Why? Why are you doing this?

What is the Main Purpose behind your internet presence? Do you simply want people to know that you make the best Unified Widget in the world and all the reasons that it is so great? After that, do you tell them where they can buy it locally. Maybe you will sell your widgets directly. Perhaps all you want to do is provide service information and parts for people who have bought your widgets through retailers.


You might simply want to be using your Web Site as a marketing tool to expose your company to a wider range of people than those encountered in your normal forms of advertising. Nowadays millions of people are using the internet to do research for their primary purchasing decisions. Whether they are looking for a Bed and Breakfast in East LA or socks the right shade of purple to go with their Barney tennis shoes, putting your business on the Web is a powerful marketing tool.

You might be a retailer who wishes to post weekly or monthly sales items. One of our clients sells violin bow making materials and has the contents of his catalog online. This has exposed his company to violin bow makers worldwide who were otherwise unaware of his business. Another client teaches Italian cooking both from the San Francisco Bay Area and through Vacation Classes in Italy. Her Web Site sells her foreign classes to a geographically wider market. She will also use it to help market her cookbook when it is completed.

There are many ways to use the internet to enhance your business. The trick is to get a clear idea on what you want your Web Site to do to enhance your business.

How? Now that you know why you are doing it and what goals you have for your site, How are you going to market it?

How will people find your Web Site? Through Product Literature? Print Ads? Search Engines?

Marketing your Web Site is like any other kind of marketing. The more effort put into exposing your Web Site, the better the results. Getting high rankings in the Search Engines is almost an artform in itself these days. Are you seeking to get millions of visitors every day? Are you are simply presenting an online resource for your current customer base? How you answer this helps determine...

What? Yes, what the heck is going to be put up there?

This is pretty straight forward and in most cases consists of just Text and Graphics. In some situations functionality is improved through use of databases and other forms of back-end programming.

— Text —

The most important thing is text. If your site is supporting a product of the off-line universe, you probably already have the articles and information required to get your site online quickly.

If you are selling a product you will need articles about your product and good photographs of it. Since you are not selling your products in person, you need to anticipate any questions your client might have and provide them with as many answers as you can. Many companies use the convention of a FAQ page to take care of these things (FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions.)

Along with product information it is a good thing to have information about your company, it's history and goals.

If you are going to be relying upon Search Engines to direct people to your site you will need text. The more text the better. Most likely, your text will have to be subtly recrafted. A beautifully written, eloquent passage does not guarantee a high standing in the search engines. You have to define your target market, then try to intuit how they might be searching for your product and then incorporate those search terms into the text of your pages. In the same vein, if you are selling hats and have a paragraph that reads: "Hats hats hats..." for dozens of iterations, you will be working against yourself. Search Engines recognize the technique as spamming and will not acknowledge it at all, some Search Engines actually ban sites that engage in the practice.

We generally recommend that clients have a number of pages containing information, articles and testimonies. This is a good thing to attract the traffic that you are looking for. Think about these articles in advance and gather the materials.

We know of some people who will sexualize the language used in their site to increase traffic. By using adjectives and verbs with broader meanings you CAN increase traffic. You might feel really happy knowing ten-thousand people are hitting your site daily because of the language you used in a few paragraphs. But if those people are actually looking for something other than what your are selling, It is doing you no good. You are increasing the cost of your Web Site because you pay for increased traffic. If that traffic is not your intended market, don't seek it out. In this paragraph we could have used all kinds of words and phrases to attract that kind of traffic and remained entirely in context. But why bother?

— Graphics —

What graphic elements will you be using?

The most important graphic is your logo. If it hasn't been digitized yet, do it. It should be on every page — so should your address and contact information. Logo at the top, phone number and address at the bottom — but back to pictures....

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures not only provide information, they can convey a sense of personality. A good picture of a product can show the quality of manufacture. A picture can have little to do with your business and be there to add atmosphere to your Web Site, like this one.

Personally, we are big fans of having photos on ones Web Site with the caution that it is possible to have too many and also to have ones that are too large. The goal is good-looking pages that load quickly over a modem connection. Do not gauge page speed over a high-bandwith connection (cable, DSL, ISDN...) or off of your hard drive. Dozens of superfluous images will slow your pages more than they enhance them, this will cost you visitors. A few well-chosen images will do the trick.

For atmosphere shots you can use almost anything that strikes your fancy. There is one condition, you need to either have taken the picture yourself, or have the permission of the person who did. This has to do with copyright laws. You can't use pictures that you scanned from books and magazines without the permission of the copyright holder. There are stock photography companies that provide, for a price, images that you can use. There are also a number of photographers out there who will rent use of their photographs.

Other graphic elements can be little glyphs to add ambiance. You have no doubt seen sites that have lots of animated things that move around and repeat one motion over and over. If your intent for your site is to have it cool, and flashy and not be too worried about it's usability, then pack as many of those buggers in there as you like. If, on the other hand, you want your clients attention to be directed toward the text of your Web Site, whether it is pitching a sale or informing on something, we suggest you keep your images static.

Who?

Who stole my heart away? Is this the enigmatic Who that Horton Heard? Nay, Nay... The "Who" to Whom I am referring is the "Who" that is going to make the decisions about your Web Site. Will they be made by a committee? A single person? No doubt, by now, you are inclined to have me provide your web design service, perhaps even host your site. We only need to know whom we will report to and get information from.

This Article has given you a brief overview of some of the things you should consider when putting up a Web Site. Having answers to these questions before you make the jump to the web can save you money when it comes to getting your site online.

As always, feel free to email or call us with any questions you might have.

website2@thinkvision.com