420 Design Blog
Websites: Powerful Marketing
24 Nov 2005 | Angie H
Back in March of 2005 I wrote an article on why you really need a website. (The article was turned into a Soapbox post in April.) Pretty much everything I covered in that article still holds true. And I'm willing to bet it will for a long time to come. But I think it may be time to expand on something I may have missed...
According to IDC, 58% of small businesses have a website.¹ That's a pretty good figure. But how many of those business have sites just to be online? If that's your case, you're probably missing out on the impact that an effective website can have. As I wrote in March, a website isn't necessarily suitable for all businesses, but it is for most.
When working on a website with our clients, one of the first things we ask before development is what their objective is. What do they want the site to accomplish for their company? Without an objective and clear strategies that reinforce it, the power of Web marketing is left untapped. The global nature of the Internet allows even a one-person operation to reach an audience once unimaginable without a large sum of money.
One of the things that makes the Web so different from traditional marketing and advertising is the amount of control both, you and your customer have. As a business owner or manager, you can post news, specials, new products or services almost instantaneously. And your site visitor can get information on only what he/she wants to. But to convert that visitor to a customer, it takes a bit more than just a well-designed site (though that is important too). The companies that do that effectively and consistently are the ones that are getting the most ROI on their sites. And they're probably seeing an increase in profits.
Don't you think you should too?