ResourcesWhy have a web site?

The reasons to have a web site

In business today, it’s no longer good enough to be able to give a contact or prospective customer an 0800 number, an address on a business park, an  e-mail address or a smart business card. Nowadays, if you don’t have a web address too, with few exceptions, you won’t be taken seriously as a professional business.

The function and benefits of a web site can be broken down, simplistically into to three levels, which we call Basic, Value-adding and Business-critical.

Basic site

A basic site is the minimum a business should have to be seen on the Internet as a professional company. This allows prospective clients to see what you’re offering without having to call you. They can do this when it suits THEM and without any sales pressure.

You can simply use it as an extension to your business card and your brochures or you can actively push your site to people who are looking for your services through the Search Engines (Google, MSN etc).

Some of the benefits that it can bring are:

Increased credibility – be seen as a modern company

• 24/7 visibility for your business - everywhere
• Branding for the company
• Reference point for customers and referrers
• Your advertising budget goes much further
• Reach customers anywhere in the world
• Information about your business is easily accessible
• A small company can appear bigger than they are
• Customers can easily contact you by clicking on your e-mail address
• Save money by reducing printing costs (brochures etc)

To get these benefits all that is needed is a site with a professional design, clear layout and an easy to use menu/navigation system. As a minimum, the site should have the following pages:

• Home/Index with welcoming message
• About Us with basic details of the company
• Services/Products – what you do and sell
• How to contact you – phone, e-mail and address details

Intermediate (value-adding) site

When you go beyond the basics, the benefits can be huge. Whether the site is purely for external consumption or to be a source of information for employees too, there are lots of ways that a website can be used to improve the profitability of the business.

Some of these are unique to a website, others simply through access to central information.

Common examples of these ‘value-adding’ benefits that a website can provide are:

• The ability to keep in contact with current and potential clients by collecting and using e-mail addresses
• Instantly make changes to business information
• Easily reach non-English speaking countries and customers
• Save money by reducing/removing the printing costs (e.g. catalogues, datasheets and manuals)
• Reply automatically to enquiries by using ‘autoreseponders’
• Increased sales by selling your products or services on-line
• Improved customer service through the provision of ‘hints and tips’, ‘frequently asked questions’ and other helpful information sources
• The easy testing of new products and services. Get feedback from existing and prospective customers by floating ideas
• Different sets of people, internal or external, can access different information through the website. Protect access by passwords
• Target new sectors, previously difficult to reach by providing new pages specifically constructed to reach them
• Tune and modify various aspects of the site by collecting and analysing information on who’s visiting and using it
• Allow customers to check the options, sizes, colours etc for a product or service before calling by providing interactive product or service facilities online
• It’s now possible to make information easily accessible in different formats e.g. video, audio and photos
• Collect feedback, applications and enquiries through interactive forms
• Company news and developments can be instantly available. Keep existing and prospective clients aware of events and sales etc
• Expose your branding and raise awareness by building a community of like-minded people. These people can exchange ideas and comments – all whilst seeing your branding and information etc
• Be able to recruit on-line. Post job specifications and requirements for prospective candidates. If you’re always open to good people your recruitment campaign can always be there – for free
• Customers and distributors can update details on-line – such as contact details and preferences
• You can issue your own press releases
• Customer testimonials and references can be displayed
• Links to other related suppliers or information sources can be provided to give viewers even more reasons to visit the site
• A company magazine or newsletter is easier to distribute through a website and e-mail system
• Showcase the business through virtual tours of the company, properties and products
• Allowing visitors to watch what’s going on at the business premises via a webcam. This can also provide an extension to security
• Improve public awareness of your work schedule, itinerary or tour dates

Advanced (business critical) site

Advanced sites don’t support the business, they often ARE the business. Examples would be Amazon, EBay and Lastminute.com. Without their websites, they would not be able to operate. Other examples might include people selling e-books, running interactive distance learning courses, Internet banks and location/map finders.

Anyone who relies on the Internet to conduct business is in this category. They’ve embraced the technology of the web and what it can do to the point that some of them are able to provide services that weren’t available before or at a cost not previously sustainable. Examples of the types of facilities that these sites provide are:

• Downloadable, electronic products – such as e-books, music and software
• Time-critical release of information such as press releases and film previews
• Detailed technical support for a wide range of products – complete with updates, extensions and fixes
• Allow archives and catalogues to be searched – from anywhere and at any time.
• Order tracking from placement to delivery
• Detailed product training through manuals, interactive teaching, multimedia etc
• Specialised online tools such as mortgage calculators and cost estimators
• Shared or limited access to expensive, specialised software. Instead of purchasing and installing the software the client accesses it from a central location, online – effectively renting it.
• Sell company stock directly to investors
• Sell advertising space to related but non-competing businesses
• Enter information securely online – for example sales visit reports and employee whereabouts

If thinking about the design or redesign of your web site gives you a headache and you'd like some relief, please call us on 01579-342360 or e-mail us at enquiry@clarihon.co.uk