Are websites here to make money? or an extension of your identity?
By ShockExcite Media Sdn Bhd
Hello ShockExciterz!
Was chatting with a friend of ours from the US, and we had a multi-session debate, it's about websites, are they important? how important are they? do they increase your sales? ARE hits important?
Hey,you may even ask yourself the question, "My business is ticking over nicely, why should I pay someone to design a website for me?" some may think, AIYA, what's the use? a site don't mean $$$. For such a result, there are unfortunately a few categories of such people, for example, Some conservative businessmen will invest minimum but wanting the BEST (no such thing as we know it..), some would just want one for the sake of having one (of course..paying the less the better and expect it to perform miracles...).
What is the use of a website? and how does it help you?
A website allows your business to be open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There are millions of people, from all over the world, online at any time of the day. Many of them are looking to source products or services. If you run a grocery or convenient store, you can only attract the people who walk or drive past your shop, in any one day. Having a website designed for you allows you to attract new customers that would otherwise never find you - and they can do so when your shop is closed!
Websites increase customer confidence
A professional, well designed website, with the right content, easy navigation and quickly accessable contact details, greatly increases customer confidence in your company. A well designed website shows people that you are forward thinking and customer focused, which is an important factor in any buying decision that they have to make.
Websites increase customer referrals
What is easier to remember, mysite.com or welcometomybestcheapestbestbargainsontheweb.com?
A website address is much easier to remember than a telephone number, so it stands to reason that having a website increases the likelihood of referrals - and let's face it, referrals are one of the most important sources of new business.
A website address increases the ROI when advertising
Including your website address on all of your adverts, business cards, letterheads, invoices, etc allows people to take action straight away, when they view an advert, or hear about your product or service. Visiting your website is so much easier than driving to your store, telephoning or writing a letter to you. When online, a potential customer can take their time and enjoy finding out about your products or services without the pressure of having a salesman floating about in the background.
Website sales
Your website is one of the most impressive sales presentations that you will ever have. Allowing your customers to buy your products or services online is a wonderful and inexpensive to expand your business. Spending thousands on advertising, for an ad that is featured in one mag, for one month simply doesn't compare to investing ion a long term sales marketing solution - or a website as we like to call them!
Even if you do not offer a product or service that can easily be purchased over the internet, a website still acts as an impressive first contact, convincing the potential customer that they need what you are offering and inviting them to contact you, via telephone, email or contact form on your website.
Websites promote future business
When a potential customer comes into your shop and leaves without making a purchase and without speaking to anyone, they are basically a dead prospect. When someone views your well designed website and doesn't make a purchase straight away, they can easily revisit anytime to make the purchase in the future. On top of that, you can use your website to collect the email addresses of visitors and send them periodical promotional emails, newsletters or updates on your product or service. So although they may not buy first time around, you have more than one opportunity to close the sale!
Phew, that's it. By the way, coming back to the multisession conference we had, we were playing around with a few chat programmes. the usual MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, we got to try out the SKYPE software this time round, to many, its just another chat software that supports Audio chats, and instant messaging on/offline, file sharing etc.
However noticed that the quality of the audio isnt on par to what MSN has to offer, even yahoo would be much better compared as you hear your echo buffered 5 seconds per message (this is based on a one-to-one), no video, and the photo display is small enough to be an icon.. Let's see what new features it would be introducing next!
The ShockExcite Team
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