Do I Need a Website?
Before you start planning your new web you need to ask yourself if you really need a website or do you just want one because you have been told that you have to have website these days.
Or have you been told you need to get a website quick before your competition does. This is probably the biggest blag when it comes to the Internet.
If you are own a Sandwich shop chances are you won't ever need a web site. How many people do you know look up a sandwich shop on the Internet. You wouldn't, you would just walk to the local shops and find one.
Below is a list of reasons why you may need a website: -
Well, lets start at the beginning and go through each one in turn: -
Promote Your Ideas or Hobbies
This is probably the biggest reason for setting up your own personal website.
There are countless websites on the Internet that people have created, not to make money, but to promote there ideas, hobbies, or beliefs.
In fact the Internet is an excellent way to do this and you can create a real community of people with the same ideas, hobbies, and beliefs as yourself. It's also great way to meet people.
To Advertise Your Company or Product
The Internet can be an excellent way to promote your company or a product, but it needs to be used along with traditional ways of advertising.
With so many websites out there and 100's more being created everyday it becomes harder and harder to promote your site on the Internet.
The best way to promote your product is to use traditional advertising and let potential customers know they can find out more information through your website.
Attract these potential customers into you website by offering quizzes and prises and give them information on your company or products while they are there. Forums and chat rooms can also help with this and allow your customers to discus your product while they are there.
Provide Customer Services and Support
Having online Customers Services and Support can be a very good idea for any company that finds that they have phone calls from customers asking them about how to use a product or service.
Companies with Customer Support departments may find that they can save money by having online support.
Many of the questions asked by customers seeking support will be the same. Therefore it would take some of the strain off the support staff by placing the most frequently ask questions on a website.
This isn't to say that you will be able to scrap your Customer Support Department altogether as many questions will not be answered through generic questions on a website.
To Keep Your Customer Base Informed
A website can be an excellent way to keep your customers or share holders informed about the company.
You can let them know about new products, or ventures the company is undertaking, and you can also use this as a way of getting customers to upgrade or by new products.
Give or Sell Information
Now this is what the Internet was created for and still used for mainly now, getting information on everything and anything.
However, if you want to sell information you need to ask yourselves some questions.
- Is there a demand for the information?
- Is it already available on the net for free?
- Is it available at a local for free, in a library, etc?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions then you probably won't sell any or much to make it worthwhile.
The only information that does seem to sell well on the Internet is pornography. You only have to see how many of these sites you accidentally stumble across to realise how many there are out there.
Create an 'Extended Business Card' for your company
Now this is something that maybe worth considering even for those companies that would otherwise never need or want a website.
This type of site is usually small and quite cheap with just one or two pages just giving a customer or business associate a little bit more information about your company than you can fit on your business card.
Provide Internal Information and Services for Your Company
This can be very useful for large companies or companies that are spread throughout the country or even the world.
This can be done either through an Intranet or a password protected area of your website.
It would allow your employees to communicate faster and more effectively. Memos will be able to be sent to all parts or persons within the company at a push of a button.
Information such as the latest sales figures and targets can be made available to all employees no matter where they are.
In house online training programs can be run across the Intranet, and many other things as well.
|
