Articles

Why a website??

Why? Well..

You're here, so you know that the Internet is the medium of the here and now. A web site is an advertising opportunity with broad reach. Don't miss out.
More 'readers' doesn't mean higher cost as is the case with so many other media.
Our exchange rate demands that we make the most of any opportunity for export. Whether you offer e-commerce on your web site or not, the tool for communicating with anyone, anywhere should be up and ready.
Extend a new service to existing clients. Via your web site they can check information, see special promotions or send queries at any time of day or night.
Invite feedback. You can use in-coming communications to build up client communities or e-mail address lists, all for your own niche market place.
Establishing a web site can help to establish a business image. Employees will pick up the 'hidden messages' and use them as a guide in dealing with clients and with one another.
Any employee can direct customers to the company web site when asked a question they're not able to answer.
Your web site can be used to show appreciation for your staff and build team spirit. A group pic on your web site could be seen by anyone, anywhere. And if you do it, every family member of every employee will visit your web site.
The Internet is one of the infrastructural faces that any country presents to the world. Good web sites, representing the enormous diversity of enterprise on offer in this country demonstrates our ability to participate in first-world technology and international trade.

The subculture

It's all about free stuff and barter. So try and figure out what information you have to GIVE AWAY.

I saw a great example the other day. An American fire station's web site has a lookup of street names and suburbs in their district. They've probably had this information for years. Its relevant to the community they serve and on whom they depend for support. When you choose to use this lookup, the web site links to the local city on-line newspaper, very cozy and clever.

Look for information that you use that doesn't give away any of your competitive secrets. It should be useful or interesting to the community of clients your serve. It could be imperial to metric conversions, or a list of preferred suppliers. With a bit of luck, this kind of information will attract new and return visitors - which is really what we're all after.

Keep it current

You need people to actively choose to visit your web site. If it looks the same every time they visit, they probably wont bother to come back again. If your information is out of date then its misinformation and could actually cause inconvenience to potential clients - great big NONO.

Coopertition and Portals

It's why we go to food halls when we're hungry, or why we go to outdoor shows before we buy camping chairs. Competitive businesses group together to cooperatively present a large selection of similar products. Convenience and variety draws more shoppers. A Portal web site serves the same purpose. A good portal site groups information well and addresses a niche market, which means relevant visitors. And then, if its working for you, use the advertising space available on the portal, to make sure that your camping chairs are the first ones that visitors are gonna see. Portals often offer other services, like tracking visitor numbers, where they come from and how much time they spend on which of your pages.

Make sure that any clients or suppliers with web sites set up links to your web site. When you do the same in return, you effectively point visitors to additional information. Internet rings also serve to allow visitors to 'page through' related sites. Don't waste your web site, do all of it.

Thanks for the pearls Irma

So who wants a web site?