To succeed, a small business Web
site must be a carefully targeted, wisely-designed
and serve the purpose for which it was designed. To
achieve this you first need to ask: What is the
purpose of your Web site?
Be precise about what you want
to achieve and you have a good chance for success.
Let's examine concepts behind various types of Web
sites as you look for the model that fits your
business or organization the best.
Advertisement
"Advertise: to announce
publicly, especially by a printed notice or a
broadcast." Certainly Web sites fall into this
category. But this concept is deceptively simple.
Web sites differ sharply from
traditional advertising. Unlike a display ad,
billboard, or broadcast spot, a Web site is hidden.
You need a Web address, or link from a search
engine, or Web page to get to it. While people can
and do stumble across a Web site while "surfing,"
(if your Web designer/marketer has done the job
right), Web site advertising is fundamentally
different, and must be understood on its own terms.
Let's move beyond the concept
of advertisement to focus your purpose more sharply
with an examination of:
- Prospect generation
- Direct sales
- Business-to-business
sales
- Customer support
- Education
Prospect Generation
On-line forms make Web sites a
wonderful source of leads and prospects. Once
you get people coming to your Web site, make sure
you get their name, address, phone number, etc. so
you take
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qualified prospects.
You can offer lots of vital information --
enough information to generate queries and leads -- by putting
together a 6-page Web site from a 2-sided, 3-panel brochure. You can
even include
a response form and still spend less than for
a printed brochure. No printing, no postage, yet your "on-line
brochure" web site can be in the hands of hundreds of potential
customers you'll never reach any other way.
If prospect generation is your goal, and you
don't plan to consummate the sale on-line, then you design your Web
site much differently.
Direct Sales
Is direct sales on-line your objective? Be
clear about it, and think it through carefully.
On-line shopping continues to grow and could
significantly help to increase your bottom line.
But don't kid yourself. An on-line store needs
the right furnishings and equipment to do a good retail business.
A fax or 800-number option? Yes, you'll get
some inquiries or sales. But seriously consider an option to promote
immediate transactions. People enjoy the immediate satisfaction of a
task completed when they are able to order directly over the Net.
If you're marketing more than just a few
different items, plan on creating a "shopping cart" which allows
your customer to put items in an imaginary "shopping cart" and see
totals, tax, and shipping when they're ready to "check out." This
feature on a web site will add to the cost, but do physical store
owners really expect to conduct business without carts, counters,
and cash registers? Neither can you when you want to have a
successful on-line store.
Business-to-Business Sales
Your company's purpose, however, may be
business-to-business sales. You probably don't need an on-line sales
mechanism so much as a complete, up-to-date catalog. You can include
literally thousands of products, prices, descriptions, and photos,
at a cost far below that of printing and distributing printed
copies. Your catalog can prompt ordering via phone or fax, or could
even allow n-line ordering if your product is right. Again, the
precise purpose of your business will dictate the sort of Web site
you design.
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Customer Support
Is customer support your real purpose? If so, a
Web site is a great place to provide all sorts of in-depth product
information. Let's say your customer has a technical question, a
troubleshooting problem, or a special application. You can provide a
huge volume of information at low cost. Microsoft's Knowledge Base
(http://www.microsoft.com), for example, allows you to enter search
words to locate detailed information on dozens of software programs,
hardware platforms, and program versions.
What if you offered spec sheets and repair manuals
for each of your products on the Web? Wouldn't that be a great
selling point to put you ahead of your competitors? You probably have
the information in computer form already, which is the bulk of the work
involved.
But be sure about your objective -- customer
support -- and keep your focus on it.
Education
These days, sales by education is proving
effective. As you supply customers with more information, you get orders
for upgrades and new products. You can provide up-to-date industry and
product information on your Web site in the form of an on-line
newsletter, which gives people a reason to come back month-by-month.
This may be the Web version of a print newsletter you already send to
your clients. You may find, however, that the Web audience which reads
the newsletter grows much larger than your physical mailing list. And
you pay no postage for those readers!
When you archive the back issues on your Web site,
you create an enduring source of information and increase its total
value, which brings people back to your Web site again and again to look
at your readily available information.
Remember your purpose, sales through education,
and design your Web site accordingly.
Whatever your business, plan your Web site to fit
a particular business strategy, and you'll be much more successful than
with a helter-skelter approach. Just why do you want to build a Web
site? Answer this and you're halfway there.
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