Top Ten Reasons to go online.  

Business and marketing experts have offered many reasons why a business should have a meaningful internet marketing effort. The Internet has been used effectively by marketers since 1994. Most businesses will benefit immensely from having an online presence.

1. The most effective form of advertising

There isn't another form of advertising that can reach as many people, or present information better then a website. A website provides far wider exposure then a physical store at a fraction of the cost. Compared to printed material, changes and updates are far cheaper and faster.

2. Lower Overhead, Lower Costs, Better Service

While it might seem like a high initial outlay, a properly done site that has a shelf life of many years. Compare this to other forms of advertising like the local paper.

Upcoming trends and technologies, such as Web / TV convergence will not have a noticeable impact for the next 5 years.

Ongoing costs involve:

• Web hosting and domain registration. Shop around, there are good bargains to be found online. If your designer handles these for you, always ask how much, as many grossly overcharge you.
• Updates and maintenance. One of the reasons you cannot use a backyard developer. Long after your site goes live; will he or she still be there to support you?

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3. Impulse Purchases

It is easy to impress the customers with a well-designed website, and with an easy purchase and payment process, the Internet is proving to be the ultimate venue for making impulse purchases. This is especially true in our credit card society.

4. Effective target marketing

You can research the customers. By tracking customer usage, you can find out information about demographics and buying habits. With this information you can maximize the impact of your advertising, and conduct far more effective marketing campaigns.

5. Customer interaction and follow up

Through properly designed forms and other features, such as email, newsletters, forums, boards, and chat rooms, a website allows faster and cheaper interaction and follow-up with customers. This is vital.

Most sales don't occur on first contact. Proper follow up is one of the best ways close a sale and build rapport.

Interaction and support also builds trust, increases referrals and reputation. It turns customers into repeat customers, and encourages them to refer you on.

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6. Better customer service

• Cost savings can be seen in areas such as customer service and phone calls. Providing a knowledge base on the website reduces the costs in fielding these calls dramatically.
• Field salespeople can refer prospects to the website before a meeting, reducing the time spent on basic information and focus on the selling.
• A top website acts as a top quality storefront, salesperson, and showroom, available 24/7 in a location convenient to all.

7. Customer Trends

Customers still visit stores, talk to sales representatives, look through magazines, and talk to friends, but a rapidly increasing number of customers turn to the Internet as their primary source.

A website increases awareness, and businesses have to keep up to date with these trends or risk losing out. A proper website not only increases awareness, it increases desire.

8. Credibility

It's often been said by marketing experts that in this day and age, not having a website is similar to not having a business card. All respectable businesses must have one.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more then 66% percent of adults used the internet in the year 2000. For 2002-2003, 39% of all businesses had placed orders for goods and services over the Internet. This is a share of customers that you cannot afford to lose.

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9. Stand out amongst the crowd
Unlike the previous eight, this point refers to well-designed sites. Everybody is online now, so how do you stand out? Image is everything.

There is a story regarding the selling of soap. A company marketed and packaged their soap as an everyday product, and sold it cheap and wholesale.

They then marketed the same soap with new packaging - as a form of spiritual healing and pampering. The selling price was four times as much.

This is how important image and packaging is. A poor website will actually hurt your business, drive away your customers, and lower your reputation. Would you use a piece of soap that came wrapped in second hand tissue paper?

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10. E-commerce.
E-Commerce is essentially the transferring of money in return for goods, memberships, and other things online. Examples would be paid membership sections, or straight out buying and selling. Amazon.com is a good example.

E-commerce is a cost-effective channel for the right industry.

Software and information can be directly distributed via the Internet, saving time and money on distribution, shipping, packaging and so on.

Having the option to accept payments via the Web can speed application processing, reduce processing costs immensely, and make it more convenient for the customer.

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Businesses that won't benefit:
Shops that are based on location won't benefit much from a website. A good example would be a small fish and chip shop that gets the customers from the busy street. No one would go online to find some fish and chips.

High class restaurants and cafés are a different story though. Many think that they would not benefit from a website, but the fact is an expensive night out, an important date, dinner, or function, is something that many people will research and look for. The top restaurants all have websites.

Article written by: Albert Foong, Web Consultant