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Website
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A website can be a good investment because it can serve to both increase sales and reduce costs. A website can be anything from a simple brochure to a source of robust self-service applications for your customers, employees and suppliers. The purpose of this overview is to help answer questions about whether your company will need a website and what functionality makes sense for your business.
It may be helpful to think of a website as another location for your business. Like a physical location, a website can be a place to help customers, suppliers and employees. However, unlike a physical location, a website can be open anytime from anywhere there is an Internet connection.
Benefits
- Sales Increase Potential
A website advertises your business, can open a sales channel to new customers and can add credibility, which all may serve to increase sales.
- Cost Decrease Potential
A website can help reduce labor costs by allowing customers, suppliers and employees to help themselves by providing the right information or applications.
Features
Below is information and a few features or applications that can be run via the Internet. Keep in mind that the following features can be implemented as in-house solutions within your website or you can link to Internet services to provide the functionality. There is an amazing variety of web-based applications and services available so try searching the Internet for what you want.
- Marketing
- Display product and service information
- Newsletter sign up
- Publish a blog to share expertise
- Sales
- Quote entry
- Reservation entry
- Web store
- Customer Service
- Post directions, business hours, frequently asked questions, directions and other business information
- Provide a help desk so customers can input issues.
- Provide a bulleting board/forum or wiki so customers can help each other
- Employee Related
- Post company and employee policies
- Manage sales leads
- Employee time entry
- Project management
- Training resources
- Employee scheduling
- Supplier Related
- Purchasing terms and policies
A protected website for customers, suppliers or other specific group is sometimes referred to as an "extranet," while a protected website for employees or other company group is commonly called an "intranet." A website or portion of a website dedicated to one set of users is often referred to as a "portal".
Considerations
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Credibility
At some point, someone will likely search for information about your business on the Internet. The searcher may be a supplier, customer, potential employee, or the media. How do you think they will react when they don't find anything about your business on the Internet? How do you feel when you search for a business on the Internet and you don't find anything? It is nearly to the point that if you don't have a website you don't exist. However, it does not mean that any website will bring credibility. You must consider how you want your business to be perceived and plan your website accordingly.
- Reality
Just because you add a website, it does not mean that sales will skyrocket. The Internet is vast and so are the products and services available. You will need to advertise and ensure that your website can be seen by the leading search engines.
- Sale Increase and Cost Savings
Estimate the projected cost savings and/or sales increase to judge the cost/benefit of adding a website.
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In-House Applications vs. Internet Services
As mentioned above, features or applications can be run on your website or you can leverage Internet services. Internet services typically have minimal setup costs and can be setup "on-demand" so they can be a great way to try out an application.
- Competition
If your competition has a website you might want to add a website just to keep up. If the competition lacks a website, it may be a good to add one and differentiate your business.
- Domain Name
A domain name is the name visitors type in to access your website. Most of the really cool names, short names and initials have been taken so you may have to get very creative with your domain name. If you plan to create a website that will have national recognition, check first at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to see if a trademark exists for the name to avoid future legal complications.
See the following overviews to proceed:
If you are not ready for a website or it isn't justified, you can still have some web presence by ensuring that your business is listed on local or niche web business directories.
Outside Information
- Wikipedia: Website
Related Overviews
Facts
2 out of 5 SMBs Don't Exist Online
- 40 percent of SMBs do not yet have an online presence. Of those businesses without a website, 53 percent stated they had no idea what a website would cost each month.
- Of those SMBs already online, 83 percent report that their website was essential to their company's success.
- Currently, 28 percent of SMB owners create their own website themselves and 37 percent hire a professional Web designer from outside the company.
Source: 1 & 1 Internet, Inc. December 2008
2 out of 5 SMBs Don't Exist Online
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