Benefits of having a Web Site - Reaching Millions of Potential Customers Quickly and Inexpensively, Leveraging Advertising Dollars

Benefits of having a Web Site

1. Reaching Millions of Potential Customers Quickly and Inexpensively

Tens of millions of people worldwide have access to the Internet. A recent study found that 75 million people used the Internet, and 45 million used the WWW in the three months preceding the survey in USA & Canada.

Generally, the population on the Internet is well-educated and affluent. Most own a computer; others have access to one. Internet users, like most people, are interested in convenience. Many prefer the ease of finding services or shopping and ordering directly from their computer screens. "Net Access" advanced equipment and technology make everything faster and easier for their customers.

i) Selling Products and Services

Web sites are powerful because they join your advertisement to your order or inquiry form. This is also the greatest distinction between electronic and other advertising channels. Users can have direct  communication with your company as they see your ad. With the click of a mouse, they will transmit their inquiry or order directly to you. This, the entire process will be faster and more cost effective.

ii) On-Line Publishing

On-Line publishing requires a fraction of the investment that conventional publishing requires... and it works. Dawn, one of Pakistan's best known newspaper, gets thousands of hits per week.

2) Leveraging Advertising Dollars

There is a limited amount of information that can be stuffed into a radio, TV or print ad. These mediums are expensive. However, include your company's URL in a small print ad or 30 second spot and you have now directed your customers to your Web site which contains enough sales information to make the sale.

i) Increasing Sales

Many times when you run an ad, your customers hear, see or read it and have to wait until business hours to contact your company. They might remember to contact you, or they might get busy. If your company's Web site is mentioned in your ad, customers will be able to look at your Web site and buy your products or learn about your services as soon as the urge hits them.

ii) Reduce the Cost of Printing and Mailing your Catalogs

Companies can save hundreds of thousands of dollars in printing and mailing costs by putting their  catalogs on the Internet. In fact, with Net Access, the cost, is amazingly affordable. It is an especially good value when you consider the number of people you can reach.

iii) Updating Information Quickly

Web sites can be updated as often as you like. The Nando Times, an online newspaper, updates  its site every five minutes and gets over 5.5 million hits per week. No other advertising medium is so quickly and economically changeable and the dynamic sites are those that get the hits.

iv) Bringing More People Into Your Stores or Offices

Your Web site is particularly helpful in this area for those running TV or radio ads. Your customers can look at your Web site in order to get all of the information that they need.

v) Bringing More People Into Your Distributors' Stores

Wholesalers also benefit greatly by having a Web site. They can include on their site a search engine for all of their retailers. Therefore, when customers see a product advertised, they can look at the wholesalers Web site to find out where they can purchase it.

vi) Making Pictures, Sound and Film Files Available

The Web enables you to display photos, sound and short movie clips with less expense. Guitarist Jeff Smith for example, gets over 200 hits a day and markets his band's CDs on-line.

3) Getting Your Foothold In Cyberspace

Today, there are thousands of companies with Web sites. You can be certain that a few of your competitors already have a presence on-line. However, it is still possible to become the dominant on-line influence in your industry. It is the way to gain a decent market share of Cyber shoppers. In a few years, when almost every company in the world will be on-line, customers will not be able to search through all of the thousands of names that a specific query in a directory found. They will, however, keep returning to the sites that gained their popularity now.

4) Reduce the Costs of Serving Your Customers

You will find many ways to serve your customers using WWW technology. For example, you can make forms available to pre-qualify for loans, or have your staff do a search for that classic jazz record your customer is requesting. (without tying up your staff on the phone to take down the information.) Give your clients valuable back-packing tips or "The 10 Best Ways to Pay Less Taxes." All this can be done, simply and quickly, on the Web.

i) Making Business Information Available

You can save phone calls and your staff members' time by just posting basic business information on your Web site. Posting the upgrade information on your site will save you money and keep your customers informed of every reason why they should do business with you.

ii) Answering Frequently Asked Questions

A lot of your staff's time is probably spent answering the same questions over and over again. These are the questions customers and potential customers will ask before they deal with you. Display the answers on your Web site and you will have freed up a lot of time for your office staff.

iii) Receiving Feedback From Customers

With a Web site, you can ask for feedback from your customers and get it instantaneously. E-mail can be built into Web pages and will give you the answers while they are fresh in your customers' mind, for a fraction of the cost. Another benefit is that you can respond to your customers when you choose to and not necessarily at the exact moment that they call.

iv) Creating a 24 Hour Service

If you have ever remembered too late or too early to call the opposite coast, you know the hassle. We are not all on the same schedule. Business is worldwide but your office hours are not. Trying to reach America or Europe is even more frustrating. Web pages serve your customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week  without adding to your costs.

5) Public Relations

This is becoming an exceedingly important reason to have your company on-line. Even without creating a complex site like the Federal Express site, your presence on the Internet is like passing out your business card to thousands, may be millions of potential clients and partners. It is virtually a worldwide announcement saying, "This is what I do. If you are ever in need of my services, you can, 24 hours a day, inexpensively and simply, reach me on the Web."

i) Releasing Time-Sensitive Materials

Information can be made available on your Web site at the time you specify, with all related materials such as photographs, biographies, etc.

ii) Reaching The Media

Every kind of business needs the exposure that the media can bring. With the Internet hype at the eclipse of its power, an innovative Web site will almost certainly get written up in one publication or another.

6) Streamline Information Distribution to Workers

Web site is the fastest, most economical way to disseminate information within your organization. Instead of relying on the haphazard distribution of memos, employees can visit their company's Web site at their convenience. Net Access can also password protect an employee-only Web site so that sensitive information remains within the company.

i) Staying in Contact In Any Time Zone

If you send employees abroad or have offices around the world, having a Website is an expedient way to communicate. It costs no more than a local phone call to access the site and the Web is available in over 150 countries.

ii) Employees on the Road

Your employees on the road may need up-to-the-minute information. A quick local phone call can keep your staff supplied with the most detailed information, without long distance phone bills and tying up the staff at the home office. Additionally, salesmen on the road can enter orders on-line so that the company can immediately begin working on them.

7) Opening International Markets

There is a whole new high-tech world out there, populated by millions of people on all parts of the globe, and marketing on the Web is the easiest way to begin doing business internationally. With a Web site, you can open up dialogues in international markets as easily as with the company across the street.

8) Test Marketing New Services and Products

If you demonstrate your new product on the Web, you will know what your customers think in a fast, economical manner. For the cost of a page or two of Web programming, you can gain insight into where to position your product or service in the marketplace.

9) Reaching Specialized Markets

 There are over 13,000 newsgroups representing every sport, hobby or interest imaginable. No matter what your niche, your customers are probably on-line. Furthermore, it has been found that some of the most successful businesses on the Web are those that target niche markets. Since Net Access will submit your company to several different Internet directories, your interest group will be able to find you. Certainly, they will find some of your competitors.

i) Reaching The Education and Youth Market

If your market is education, consider books, tutoring or counseling services, study courses, youth fashion and any other items or services. These markets need to be on the Web.

ii) Serving Your Local Market

The power to serve the world with a Web site is clear. What about your local markets? In most cities today there are probably enough local customers with Web access to make it beneficial to market through the Web.