Skyway Consulting: Good Reasons to Have a Website

Good Reasons to Have a Website

You can find a number of lists like this one around the Internet. We've culled our favorites from many (and are therefore indebted to many) before editing them down to these dozen.

You might want a website...

1. To establish a presence. The Internet World Statistics website (http://www.internetworldstats.com/) says that as of June 30th 2008 roughly 21% of the estimated world population (6,676,120,288) was on the Internet. That’s roughly 1.5 billion people, enough that even the most narrowly defined interest group (read "potential market for a product or service") is represented in large numbers. This website also cites a more than 300% growth rate from 2000, when they last checked. (Remember that while not all of these people speak English, correctly written material can be automatically converted to other languages by free translation services, such as Google.)

2. To establish that presence with a relatively affluent demographic. The average Internet user probably represents the highest mass-market demographic going. He or she usually is college-educated and making a high salary, or in progress on both counts. And they buy. The U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales report for 4th quarter 2008 (http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/ecomm.html) says that total e-commerce sales for 2008 were estimated at $133.6 billion.

3. To network. Business is about making connections with other people. Having a website is the equivalent of passing out thousands of business cards to potential clients in places you may never even be able to visit. It also can be a gateway for the kinds of inquiries and contacts that lead to business.

4. To make your business information available. A website can let people know who you are and what you do; give your location, hours, and acceptable forms of payment; and tell people about your special offers, sales, and packages. You can tell them with immediacy, too, because you can make overnight updates.

5. To serve your existing customers. Making business information available is good, but can a website actually help you serve your existing customers better? How about offering customer-printable maintenance instructions on your product? Or comparison information among the products or services you offer? Or your training schedule, with training materials that your clients can print off 24/7?

6. To raise public interest. Your website is a place to post info on upcoming events and even press releases. You won't get a lot of media coverage on a small, local store opening, but you might get them to print your web page address if you're doing something new and interesting.

7. To sell things. If this is the big thing that came to mind when you thought about having a website, we hope the other reasons have opened your horizons a bit. Although the exchange of goods and services for money is important, doing business consists of more than that. A website can assist you with many of them. And, yes, it can open the door to customers at quite a geographical remove from your brick-and-board store.

8. To answer Frequently Asked Questions. Do you spend a lot of time answering questions about your hours, location, and directions to your store? How about explaining your policies and what forms of payment you accept? Save your employees (and yourself) some of the time required to answer the same questions over and over. We say "some" because you'll still have to answer such questions for people who are not computer- literate, and because even those who are may not examine your FAQs list in detail. However, providing a FAQ can allow customers to jog their memories on such low-level questions without absorbing your time, and potential customers to decide a little more about you before commiting to a transaction.

9. To distribute information to employees. Your employees may need up-to-the-minute information that will help them make a sale or pull together a deal. You probably also have information that's solely for distribution among employees, such as work schedules and contact information. You can keep it posted in privacy on an internal version of your website (an "intranet"). In addition, if you have sales people in other cities or countries, they can log in and, for the price of a local call, stay in touch with the information being distributed.

10. To open international markets. Do you have a product that can be delivered internationally? With a website you can open up a dialogue with international markets as easily as with a vendor down the street. In fact, because websites are available across the globe, you may find yourself with international business inquiries simply as the outcome to publishing your website.

11. To make updates available quickly. Sometimes the information you want to get out changes before the ink is dry. There are excellent reasons for going to the expense of hardcopy printing, but for many purposes doing so puts your organization at risk of being left with a pile of pricey but worthless paper. Electronic publishing changes with your needs. There's no charge for paper, ink, or press time, and you can publish updated material almost instantly. Hardcopy can't touch online delivery for flexibility.

12. To gather customer feedback. Much of doing business is a guess. You take your best guess at what will bring the customers in. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't, and the differences between the two may be subtle. The more you can find out about your customer's preferences, the better. Brief online surveys can help here. They're inexpensive, fast, and convenient both for you and for your customers. A second area in which online surveys can be helpful is in helping you figure out how to position new products or services. Consider building an instant survey into your website so that you can get answers while the customer's experience with your company is still fresh.

These are all good reasons to go to the trouble of putting up a website. There also are some quite bad reasons for doing so!

Skyway Consulting

Home Website Layout How It Works Pricing and Packages What It Really Costs to Run a Website Good Reasons to Have a Website Some Really Bad Reasons Other Website Services Wordsmithing Logo Design IT Services Contact Us	Good Reasons to Have a Website You can find a number of lists like this one around the Internet. We've culled our favorites from many (and are therefore indebted to many) before editing them down to these dozen. You might want a website... 1. To establish a presence. The Internet World Statistics website (http://www.internetworldstats.com/) says that as of June 30th 2008 roughly 21% of the estimated world population (6,676,120,288) was on the Internet. That’s roughly 1.5 billion people, enough that even the most narrowly defined interest group (read "potential market for a product or service") is represented in large numbers. This website also cites a more than 300% growth rate from 2000, when they last checked. (Remember that while not all of these people speak English, correctly written material can be automatically converted to other languages by free translation services, such as Google.) 2. To establish that presence with a relatively affluent demographic. The average Internet user probably represents the highest mass-market demographic going. He or she usually is college-educated and making a high salary, or in progress on both counts. And they buy. The U.S. Census Bureau's Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales report for 4th quarter 2008 (http://www.census.gov/mrts/www/ecomm.html) says that total e-commerce sales for 2008 were estimated at $133.6 billion. 3. To network. Business is about making connections with other people. Having a website is the equivalent of passing out thousands of business cards to potential clients in places you may never even be able to visit. It also can be a gateway for the kinds of inquiries and contacts that lead to business. 4. To make your business information available. A website can let people know who you are and what you do; give your location, hours, and acceptable forms of payment; and tell people about your special offers, sales, and packages. You can tell them with immediacy, too, because you can make overnight updates. 5. To serve your existing customers. Making business information available is good, but can a website actually help you serve your existing customers better? How about offering customer-printable maintenance instructions on your product? Or comparison information among the products or services you offer? Or your training schedule, with training materials that your clients can print off 24/7? 6. To raise public interest. Your website is a place to post info on upcoming events and even press releases. You won't get a lot of media coverage on a small, local store opening, but you might get them to print your web page address if you're doing something new and interesting. 7. To sell things. If this is the big thing that came to mind when you thought about having a website, we hope the other reasons have opened your horizons a bit. Although the exchange of goods and services for money is important, doing business consists of more than that. A website can assist you with many of them. And, yes, it can open the door to customers at quite a geographical remove from your brick-and-board store. 8. To answer Frequently Asked Questions. Do you spend a lot of time answering questions about your hours, location, and directions to your store? How about explaining your policies and what forms of payment you accept? Save your employees (and yourself) some of the time required to answer the same questions over and over. We say "some" because you'll still have to answer such questions for people who are not computer- literate, and because even those who are may not examine your FAQs list in detail. However, providing a FAQ can allow customers to jog their memories on such low-level questions without absorbing your time, and potential customers to decide a little more about you before commiting to a transaction. 9. To distribute information to employees. Your employees may need up-to-the-minute information that will help them make a sale or pull together a deal. You probably also have information that's solely for distribution among employees, such as work schedules and contact information. You can keep it posted in privacy on an internal version of your website (an "intranet"). In addition, if you have sales people in other cities or countries, they can log in and, for the price of a local call, stay in touch with the information being distributed. 10. To open international markets. Do you have a product that can be delivered internationally? With a website you can open up a dialogue with international markets as easily as with a vendor down the street. In fact, because websites are available across the globe, you may find yourself with international business inquiries simply as the outcome to publishing your website. 11. To make updates available quickly. Sometimes the information you want to get out changes before the ink is dry. There are excellent reasons for going to the expense of hardcopy printing, but for many purposes doing so puts your organization at risk of being left with a pile of pricey but worthless paper. Electronic publishing changes with your needs. There's no charge for paper, ink, or press time, and you can publish updated material almost instantly. Hardcopy can't touch online delivery for flexibility. 12. To gather customer feedback. Much of doing business is a guess. You take your best guess at what will bring the customers in. Sometimes it works; sometimes it doesn't, and the differences between the two may be subtle. The more you can find out about your customer's preferences, the better. Brief online surveys can help here. They're inexpensive, fast, and convenient both for you and for your customers. A second area in which online surveys can be helpful is in helping you figure out how to position new products or services. Consider building an instant survey into your website so that you can get answers while the customer's experience with your company is still fresh. These are all good reasons to go to the trouble of putting up a website. There also are some quite bad reasons for doing so!
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