Why Should You Invest In A Website?
Do You Really Need A Website?
Years ago advertising in a Leaflet, Newsagent Window, Magazine, Classified Ad and so on were your only real "Advertising Avenue towards Revenue" options,
especially if you could not afford to advertise on TV!, but these days you can use a website and the internet to get your product(s) and/or service(s)
even more publicity and sales. All at a fraction of the cost.
With a lot more people using their computer and audio/video players with the internet, as opposed to watching TV and listening to the Radio, it makes
sense to invest in a website and the services that surround it. Your first question should not be Do I Need A Website? it should be How
Can A Website Help Me?
The only real reasons for not having a website is if you are a person or company that has enough work/money coming in all year around and/or a person or company that does not want to expand their business. The latter could be because you would not be able to find skilled workers or you may love what you do regardless of business size and wealth, so an expansion due to website-customer demand could be the failure of your own success.
Local Business On The Internet
On the internet I have seen a D.I.Y Shop and a Sandwich Maker mentioned, as examples, of those not needing a website. However. It could be argued that in
order to stay in business in the future that D.I.Y Shop and Sandwich Maker should think about selling their products online.
Years ago local Take-Aways (i.e. Chinese and Pizza Take-Aways) used to deliver food to your house but these days, with society becoming dangerous, a lot
of take-aways do not bother with a delivery service. A company picked up on this and started doing the deliveries for them (on a commission basis).
That company set up a website of its own with menus on it, from the various take-aways, whereby the customer can order a take-away from the menu belonging
to their local chinese take-away for example. Although a Sandwich Maker could join such a website scheme they could also sell their own sandwiches on
their own website, with no commission to pay (lower costs, cheaper for the customer).
Reasons For Having A Website
WEBSITE ASSOCIATED SERVICES / REASONS
Advertising On The Internet
When advertising in magazines, locally and/or nationally, you are normally limited by the lack of magazines to advertise in. Usually because the subject
associated with your product(s)/service(s) only has a few magazines written for it. With the internet though you have worldwide magazines, blogs, forums,
classifieds and so on to advertise your website and its product(s)/service(s) in - These include paper and web based magazines.
As many of these are FREE to advertise in, it only costs you the time it takes to post your advert all over the internet. The beauty of advertising on the
internet is that you only need to advertise your website address with a small description because your website should be advertising your product(s)/service(s)
to the full.
E-Mail / Newsletter
The main benefits of using E-Mail are that it saves on Postage Stamps and it can be delivered within seconds to groups of people from all over the world. Even unimportant/non-urgent scanned documents are becoming widely accepted as "Original" documents these days, mainly due to scanners and copiers being so perfect you might not know an original document from a copy. E-Mail is also good for Newsletter purposes (sending groups of people your Latest Promotions, News, Software Updates and so on).
File (Products) Downloads
Producing a CD/DVD for your product(s)/service(s) such as your Video Tutorials and/or E-Books is a great way to promote them and sell them, and every
penny counts, but it involves a lot of energy - Place the CD/DVD into a jiffy bag. Walk in the cold weather to the post office. Join the busy, mile long,
queue. Weigh the CD/DVD package. And then pay the postage.
Having the same video tutorials and/or e-books as File Downloads cuts out the hassle. People simply pay for your product(s)/service(s) and then download
the associated file(s). All you had to do was upload the file(s) to your website. Other forms of file download include MP3 (.mp3) Music files and PDF
(.pdf) files. PDF files that could contain an Application Form or Manual for example.
Forms
The creation of a FORM web page allows you to incorporate features such as an Application Form, Order Form, Helpline Form and Appointment Form into your
website. This in turns saves you time and money in terms of you not having to answer the phone.
Your visitors fill in the helpline form and wait for your e-mail response. They book an appointment which you can confirm in an auto-response e-mail.
They can apply for a job by filling out your online application form or by downloading your Application.pdf file (no paper and postage costs, just an
acknowledgement reply e-mail) and they can order products and services via a PayPal order form for example. Basically. Online forms make you look more
professional, save you money in the long run and target only those visitors needing your product(s)/service(s).
Forum / Blog
A Forum (Questions/Answer Board), and even a Blog, allows you to interact with your visitors and better support your product(s)/service(s) as well as get feedback. They can save you from repeating the same answer to different people, especially if you set up a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) area on your forum/blog. Once a forum, and/or blog, has been set up you can enter urgent/important product/service information for example straight into it/them.
Photographs
Photographs are very effective tools, especially when compiled as a slideshow, because they allow your visitors to see you, your products and/or your venue for example. A slideshow can eliminate the need to send out brochures while individual photographs can help visitors decide whether or not your venue is suitable for their reception party or monthly meeting place for example. With no photographs you will be losing potential customers.
A Website
Having a website means you are automatically open for business 24/7 with a potential local (i.e. .co.uk) or international (i.e. .com) audience of
thousands. An audience you only get when you have a website. They can see straight away What You Are About, What You Sell,
What You Do Not Sell, What Your Prices Are and can therefore judge whether or not to buy from you.
The beauty of being open 24/7 is that while you are asleep, and your website is running itself, you can be earning money. And because your potential
customers are already searching the internet for your particular product(s)/service(s) all you need to do is attract them over to your website, by
advertising and promoting it. In other words. Half of the work has already been done for you.
The services associated with a website, as mentioned above, can save you time and money. For example. If you spend £100 having 1,000 Advertisement Flyers
made (so 10p each) and they are printed with common problems (spelling mistakes, not sliced properly, not aligned properly and so on) you either have to
send them out (not professional) or waste your time and money recreating them (professional but costly). With a website you avoid these problems.
Spelling mistakes can easily be corrected, Prices can be changed very quickly and no paper needs to be aligned/sliced correctly. On top of this, all you
would need to put through peoples door is a little business card with your usual details on it and your website address. The business card would probably
cost around 1p each. Better still. You might only need to advertise on the internet. Many classifieds websites are free to advertise in.
Analytics And Statistics
According to the UK Government
19.2 Million (73%) Households, not people, in the UK had
access to the internet in 2010. Even if you doubt this figure, for whatever reason(s), you still have to admit that most people could have
access to the internet using a Library, Internet Cafe and so on.
Another UK Government statistic is that
19 out of 20 connections to the internet are via
broadband (December 2008 Report).
Nielsen Net Ratings also have similar
statistics
on the US market (2009 Report). For example. 163 Million people online per month (home and work combined). Out of that, 131 Million people are watching
internet video (i.e. YouTube) for an average of 3 Hours per month.
Although statistics are not to be taken at 100% face value, they do give you some clues as to the Average 50%. Meaning. Even if you said to yourself
"I will half that statistic", because you feel that would be more realistic and satisfying, that 50% would still read as over 9.1 Million (35%)
Households, not people, in the UK having access to the internet and 4.5 out of 10 connections to the internet are via broadband. So even by
halving the audience, it is still a huge audience to be selling to!
On top of this. When you get a website your web hosting package normally gives you an Analytics control panel (program) that displays all kinds of
statistics relating to your website - How many people visited your website, What web pages were visited, On what day, Which websites are linking to
your website and so on. You can also sign up for a free Google Analytics account that far outweighs any statistics you get with your web hosting
package. Either way, you have instant website statistics - Statistics that you cannot get unless you have a website.