Having a Website is Essential

Learning Objectives:

1. Know why having a website is important for a business
2. How a website builds credibility
3. What customers expect from businesses
4. What the new customer feedback is that has developed

Today business moves at an astronomical rate. Back in the 80’s we used the “brick� cell phone and could only get reception in a limited geographical area. The cost was very high but at the time we thought it increased our productivity by 50%. Today you can call anywhere in the United States with no long distance charges, and with a phone that will down load and play music, provide video and TV programming from most networks.

Just as the cell phone industry has exploded, the Internet has again revolutionized business. E-commerce has expanded the market of many businesses world wide making globalization possible. Businesses use to provide printed brochures, manuals, and other materials for customers, but today they can put all of that information on line for customers to access 24 hours a day. Ordering products on line makes doing business faster and more accurate. How has it affected your business?

• Today customers expect businesses to have a website. The absence of a website now causes prospective customers to wonder about the credibility of a business.
• Customers want to be able to get information on a businesses’ website. People shop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Do you carry what the customer is looking for?

What can be done with a website:

a. Simple one page site to tell what you do, list the services or products you offer, and tell why doing business with you is better.

b. How and where to create a simple site: www.sitecresatorplus.com. www.godaddy.com. www.networksolutions.com .

c. Certain customers, buying printing for example, can place orders through your website: each customer has a special password that lets them into their own pages with a list of all the products/services he can order. There he places the order, or if he needs to modify the product such as new names on business cards he can do that and can make sure the new information is correct. No sales person or customer service person is needed.

d. A company’s sales reps can receive company information by going to the company website. He can access all of the brochures, forms, and other materials from the website, print them out when needed for a presentation.

e.  He can also place his orders through a secure area. The order form used to fill out orders are pre-set and cannot be changed by the sales rep so it keeps things correct, and the order processes is faster and more accurate.
The power of review

Amazon.com and ebay.com have had a rating system for several years. When you make a purchase, the customer has a chance to rate the seller and the product. He can also make comments about the transaction.  Positive comments, and reviews increase the success percentage of the seller and negative reviews lower the percentage of the seller.
  
Example: My seller ranking is 98% positive rating over the last 12 months, 99% over the last quarter, and 97% over the last month.

Buyers use reviews to make buying decisions. Positive reviews by other buyers cause people to do business with the seller, negative reviews or ratings will cause many customers not to buy from the seller.
 
The review of the seller can be a very powerful tool for a small business to use to increase sales.
Various sources for web builders.
Various business industries have associations that provide simple websites for their members.
Get a friend or family member to build one. Be careful.
Use a web builder for simple construction: It has prebuilt professional looking templates that you use to put text and photos into and even a shopping cart for selling things. Cost $15/month and up. Following are some web hosts that have web builders:

www.sitecresatorplus.com.   (10 day free trial)
www.godaddy.com.
www.networksolutions.com

Summary
-You know why having a website is important for a business
- How a website builds credibility
– What customers expect from businesses
- Why new customer feedback is important for success