Ten years ago, the internet was still new and companies were reluctant to take the risk of marketing online, and if they did, web designers were still very inexperienced to produce a quality product to compete with television, radio, and print. Web design has advanced by leaps and bounds since then and now it is not only expected to have a website, its necessary. As noted in “Web Marketing for a Small Business” by Stephanie Diamond, in a March 2007 survey called “How Businesses Are Using Web 2.0”, McKinsey management consulting firm found the benefits of marketing online as:
1. The ability to engage the customer in dialogue
2. The reduction of “churn rate” (customer turnover) because of blogs and RSS feeds
3. The ability to satisfy the customer and cause him to increase his loyalty
4. The option of using customer opinions and expertise to improve product design
There is no doubt that web marketing is not only effective but also efficient. The next decision is “What am I selling?” From that decision, market research should be done to narrow down a price range. This may be both tedious and disheartening because of the number of similar products being sold all over the world and the prices of these may be so low because of mass production. Being a small startup business, your raw materials cost will be higher than the companies that mass produce because you are likely paying retail for your materials. This should encourage you to produce a quality product.
In the consumer’s mind, the balance is always between price and quality; this is where the small business excels. After the price is decided, you can actually start making local sales to help fund your website. If you don’t have the time, creativity, or technical knowledge, there are free-lance web designers on the market that will take care of all of the technicalities of designing your site.
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Be careful though, if the web designer doesn’t seem interested in your input this is a red flag. Also, the web designer should have a portfolio of websites that they have designed. If you like the design of another website or a component of another website, let the designer know so they can have a better idea what you are looking for.
I strongly recommend a comment section for the customers. This a great for marketing because it’s not a company telling the customer what the company wants them to hear, it’ the customers telling themselves the honest truth. Also, make sure the site is easy to use and navigate. You don’ want potential customers getting lost in your website and just leaving out of frustration. It sounds silly but if you use a “shopping cart” application, make sure that it works first of all, and make sure there is no difficulty finding or using it.
Once you have the website of your dreams that perfectly describes what your product is and does, you can find a web hosting service. There are many on the market like yahoo, godaddy, startlogic, and dot5. Features you should consider are domain fees, setup fees, diskspace, and bandwidth. A good place to compare these is at top10hostinglist.com. Once your website is established and it’s making you money, it is imperative to maintain it. The only thing worse than a difficult to navigate website, is a neglected one. Update your products, descriptions, blogs, photos, and history.
The one thing to remember is the website is the only contact with you and your company most of your customers will ever have. It is imperative to maintain that relationship as a professional, helpful one. After all, your website and business are directly connected to your money.
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