12 good reasons why to consider putting your business on the Internet
1. Today the technology is available to all businesses large
& small. So it doesn't matter whether you're a 'one-man-
band' or a multi national company or whether you operate
nationally or locally. You have equal status on the
Internet.
2. The Internet has opened up all kinds of niche markets
that either never existed before or were just too expensive
to reach. By linking your site to other related but noncompetitive
sites, you could attract many more customers to
your business.
3. Raise your company profile. With a professionally
designed web site, it's now easy for a small business on
the Internet to have the appearance and credibility of
being a large professional company. Your website becomes
your store front, catalogue, portfolio, brochure, sales
letter, marketing pitch and advertisement - all in one!
4. Compared to other media, the Internet enables a business
to advertise at considerably lower costs. It may not be a
replacement for other marketing methods, but the Internet
is generally cheaper than advertising on television, radio,
or in newspapers, magazines and even direct mail. Your own
website would cost less than £3.00 per week.
5. By automating a website, a business can be virtually open
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No extra staff costs and no
overtime rates to pay! Your business website is accessible
to anyone, anytime.
6. Not everyone has the time to drive all over town to shop
or thumb the 'huge' telephone directories for services.
It's a fast moving world and it seems that we all want
things to be quick and easy. Using the Internet is a quick
and easy way for potential customers to access information
about YOUR products and services from the comfort,
convenience and privacy of their own home. No fuel costs,
no traffic jams and no time wasted! Locally based
businesses are what your potential customers are looking
for.
7. The Internet makes it possible to capture information
including email addresses from visitors to your site.
Keeping in touch (via email) helps to cultivate long-term
relationships with your customers. You could quite easily
send them reminders for appointments ask for
recommendations and testimonials and confirm orders etc.
Also, the widespread use of forums is a popular way to get
quick, low-cost customer feedback.
8. Questions that would normally be answered by phone can be
answered on your website. Here's a few examples. Where are
you based? What are your opening hours? How much will it
cost? What areas do you cover? A website can list all the
answers to the most frequently asked product or service
related questions. This can save on phone bills and free up
a lot of time and maybe an extra employee.
9. The Internet offers quick and easy ways to conduct low cost
market research. A questionnaire on a website, or by
email, can test very quickly and inexpensively whether a
product or service gets a good response. What's more,
different offers or marketing approaches can be tested
using different pages on the same website.
10. It's very easy to quickly change promotions or offers on
the Internet. Emails can be sent out or a website offer
changed almost instantly. Time sensitive promotions such as
contests or product special offers can be a good way to
attract custom and sales to an online/offline business. All
your present and past customers would have access to your
website. They could easily be encouraged to pass on your
site address and email to their friends, family or business
colleagues.
97% of businesses now include their website and
email addresses on stationery, business cards, ads, etc.
11. Staff recruitment. You could have a permanent page on
your website advertising any vacancies you may have from
time to time. You may need full time staff at short notice,
part time staff, casual or temporary staff to help out
during your busy times. An advert like this on your own
website would cost you nothing and take only minutes to put
up.
12. Affordable and tax deductible. Your website could be up
and running within a few days of placing your order and at
a fraction of the cost of other forms of advertising. Plus,
because a business website is a genuine business expense,
you can offset the cost against your tax liability. So in fact, a website can cost even less than you think.
This is roughly how much you can expect to pay for a basic website:
$10/year for a domain name Registered in your name.
$10/month to host your website with a reliable and fast hosting service.
$250/page to custom design your website. ($1500 one-time fee for 6 pages.)
Your new website could be up and running in a matter of days!
Contacting Us
If you would like more information about how to create an online presence for your business, please sign up for The MBS Report.