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Why Do I Need a Website? |
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 Why should your business or organization have a website?
Greater Sales Potential. A Web Site increases your presence and
accessibility to a global market - without the expense.
Approximately
210.8
million have access to the Internet. One million Americans
per month sign up on the net for the first time. According to International
Data Corp., business-to-business electronic commerce will see dramatic
growth. Commerce reached from
$47.8 billion in 2002 to an estimated $130.3 billion
in 2006
In today's business world, the Internet is the
fastest growing source for information. Without a
web presence, your business risks never being found
by prospective customers.
Website is Always 'Open'... 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
While some small businesses are open 24 hours a day,
most business hours are limited to a more
traditional workday schedule. With a website,
current and potential customers can view your
company information, products and services long
after your normal operating hours. If you sell
products online, you can even accept orders from a
different part of the world automatically while you
sleep!
Save Staff Time and Telephone Fee by having Frequently Asked Questions answered on your
website.
Anyone ever ask for directions to your business?
Always telling people your hours or which product
lines you carry? A website can deliver details about
your business to anyone.
This frees up time to focus on business instead of
answering frequently asked questions.
Cost Effective. The expense of a web site is far
less than the expense of a building, maintenance,
and staffing of physical stores.
Expands on Every Other Advertising Venue You Use... Every Newspaper, Radio,
or Television Add that you pay for increases it's information when you
include your website address, automatically adding all of your website
content to any interested party.
Economical updating of information. You may have a lot of information on
your site. Very often, the majority of the site can stay the same, and
altering just a small percentage of the site can make the site current and
vital. Compare this to the time and cost it takes to recreate a brochure,
advertisement, or catalog; with the time and cost of reprinting and mailing.
Special Sales Opportunities. You can choose to offer special sales to your
internet customers. They can sign up to be on a mailing list in which you
can then send them this information via e-mail (or fax or snail mail).
Look Bigger Than You Really Are!
Even a one-person business can look like a
multi-person or multi-department operation through a
company website. A professional, well designed
website presents a more appealing image than a
larger competitor who's web presence appears weak or
amateur
Customers Expect It
Many Customers Prefer the Low Pressure and Unlimited Hours that a website
provides for product or business information. They will look at your
website, where they wouldn't have looked in your store. It is becoming the
shopping avenue of choice for many.
Email - The
Ultimate Contact and Networking Tool.
Has anyone ever asked for your business email
address? Are you currently using a personal email
address from your Internet service provider or a
free email account for business contacts? You can
raise the level of prestige and branding for your
business with an email address that includes your
company name or services. Personalized email
accounts are always included when you set up a
website. You can also set up multiple email
addresses for different functions within your
company, for example: sales@your-web-address.com,
info@your-web-address.com, or
yourname@your-web-address.com.
Survey Your Audience
When a visitor enters your website, they're
expressing an interest in your products, services or
information. But how can you find out exactly why
they came or what they're looking for? To gain a
better understanding of your customer base you can
set up a survey to figure out exactly what potential
customers are most interested in and also learn what
new trends or features are on the horizon.
Attract New
Business through Search Engines
A large amount of research today is done online. By
having your website listed on the top search
engines, it can be listed under the results for any
number of queries. For example, if you're selling
ski equipment and someone searches for "ski boots,"
your site could be the first selection listed under
the results
Why Have Effective Web Design Create and Maintain My Website?
Effective Web Design is Modern Technology with Old Fashioned Pride in
Workmanship. We design websites that fit your needs, desires, and budget. We
work with you to find the best solution to suit your particular business or
organization.
Effective Web Design can put an entire store on your website, or we can put
a brief (or comprehensive) introduction and description of your business and
products or services. The site can be interactive, or simple. We can make
certain areas of the site able to be changed by you, if you need. There are
many options and considerations. We will help you to decide what is best for
you. Whatever you choose, the ultimate purpose is to lead customers to your
door, expanding your profits, presence, and prestige. Please see our
Services Page for more information.
Reliability
- With Effective Web Design, your site will be on web
servers that are administered by professionals who are intimately familiar
with the ins and outs of networking, using high performance, state of the
art equipment and software (to handle the traffic, bells, and whistles).
Your web site will operate at peak efficiency. You can be sure your site is
up and serving customers with 7 day 24 hour monitoring. |
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E-Commerce Market Size and
Trends |
Ecommerce Resources for Online Business----------Ecommerce
Resource Center
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Whether you are new to ecommerce or
looking for ways to make your present online store
more profitable, the following collection of
ecommerce resources is designed to help you make the
most of your ecommerce endeavor
The increase and penetration of online use in
the US increases the potential market size for
E-Commerce on an annual basis. A large share of the expected growth in
Internet commerce can be attributed to the increase in the online
population:
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- U.S. online retail sales will grow from $47.8 billion in 2002 to
an estimated $130.3 billion in 2006 (see Figure1 ).
- U.S. online population estimated to increase nearly 50%, from
141.5 million in 2001 to 210.8 million by 2006 (CAGR of 8.2%). (see
Figure 2)
- There are 2.3 million small companies in the
U.S.; with 16% of these in the retail trade and 60% of all small
companies have an online presence – potential market size for our
service is upwards of 200,000 companies.
- Annual spending per buyer will increase from $457 in 2001 to
$784 in 2006.
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Figure 1: U.S. Online Retail Sales (http://www.jmm.com/xp/jmm/press/industryProjections.xml)
(US only) |
Figure 2: U.S.
Online Users
(http://www.jmm.com/xp/jmm/press/industryProjections.xml)
(US only) |
Internet Fascinates Teenagers
Web is closely becoming an indispensable part of teenagers. A survey claimed
that 80% of online teens (in the age group of 12-17) visit online stores to
satiate there shopping needs. Most people might consider it natural for the
present affiliate of teens to Internet for all there needs including shopping.
However, Teens are restless and would require all the decision parameters (like
price, quick checkout, sorting by preference etc) to be within the reach of a
single click.
In brief, online shopping for teenagers is becoming a huge business. Read the
content to learn more about the details and get tips to lure teen towards your
store.
Read the complete article...Source: ecommerce-guide.com
Adult Americans Depend on Internet
Web is becoming an important part of American. A survey conducted showed that
roughly 22.3 % of all Adult Americans are relaying to Internet before they
decide what to buy and where to buy it. These adults uses web to research
products and services. Additionally, Americans having income more than $ 75,000
depend more on Internet out of all the other income groups.
In brief, online shopping becoming an important part of Americans life and is
catching up Americans daily life.
Read the Entire Article...go to Source: emarketer.com |
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Website Benefits
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Gain
The Advantage On Your Competition!
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Give
Your Business Credibility and Build
Your Identity!
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Save
Money on Traditional Advertising
Mediums!
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Improve Your Customer Service
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The following quote is an excerpt from
Small Business Magazine
– October Issue 2003.
“Customers and other people who come in contact with
your business expect to find a reputable business on the
Web, so don’t
risk your credibility by not being present.”
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Credibility & Brand Building
- Potential customers make critical judgments of both
you and your company based on presentation, looks and
image, regardless of your skills or expertise. No
matter which industry you are competing in, or the size
of your business, an attractive and informative web site
will give your company more credibility in the eyes of
customers and clients.
- Branding influences the perception that your target
market has about the true character and purpose your
company. A well designed web site will facilitate the
company branding process.
Save Money
- The cost of developing and maintaining a web site is
only a fraction of the cost of producing and placing
advertisements in traditional media, yet it has the
potential to reach a much broader audience.
- Existing and prospective customers can access
product / service information directly; greatly reducing
the need for costly printed materials and reducing the
amount of time your staff must spend on the phone
answering commonly asked questions.
- You can easily reduce the cost of customer contacts
by driving correspondence via email, instead of more
costly telephone and fax communications or lengthy snail
mail distribution.
Integral Piece of Your Promotional Mix
- It is important to recognize that a web site is not
advertising - it is a marketing tool which compliments
and empowers your existing marketing and advertising
efforts. A web site will allow potential customers and
clients to gain access to additional information that
isn’t suitable for traditional advertising mediums.
- Visitors to your web site have found your site
because they are interested in your products and / or
services. Your marketing therefore becomes more focused
on real customer prospects.
- In less than a decade, most consumers of goods and
services will look to the Internet instead of their
phone book for local business listings. Sure, your name
and telephone number will be listed, but you will lose
out to those competitors who provide a link to a web
site. How will potential customers react if you aren't
on the Internet?
Customer Service
- Your business is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a
year so that customers can learn more about your
products and / or services and make inquiries without
the pressure of a salesperson.
- A website allows your customers to get to know more
about you and your company's background, optimizing the
personal side of doing business.
- A Website provides detailed information regarding
your geographic location, and answers to commonly asked
questions by providing the information on your web site.
- Customer service is only an email away. Some
customers may feel uncomfortable on the phone or coming
to your store in person, and would therefore choose
e-mail as their preferred method of communication.
Gain an Advantage on Your Competition
- A web site will help strengthen your company’s
identity - making your business appear larger than it
actually is, and allowing you to challenge superior
competitors.
- Many people use the online Yellow Pages, or local
searches such as Google Local to find businesses in
their area. If your company does not have a web
presence, you are losing business to competitors that do
have a website.
- Get listed in the search engines. Search engines
give higher rankings to companies with websites that
have been established for many years. Therefore, it is
imperative that the website implementation process is
not delayed any longer.
- Do it now, before your competition does!
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Maintaining Your Website's Search Position
10 quick and easy tricks for staying at the top of
your customers' search engine results.
By Ayana Glaze
June 26, 2006
You invested a lot of time and
money
into search engine optimization to get your website
in a good position. Your investment has finally paid
off, and you find yourself on the first page of
search results. After a week or two, though, you
notice your website drops from the #5 position on
page one to the #3 position on page two. Were all
your SEO efforts even worth it?
Wait! Don't give up on search
engine
marketing
yet. If your website seems to be losing ground,
don't panic--get back in the web marketing game.
Fight back with these 10 tricks, and keep your
website from fading into oblivion.
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Update existing
content. If it's been a while since you last
updated
your website
content, now's the time to do it. Update
headlines, sub headlines and body text.
Remember: Search engine spiders aren't looking
for just any content; they're looking for
content that's fresh and keyword-rich.
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Add more content. Make sure there are at
least 200 words on your main and landing pages.
If there aren't, add more words. If there are,
add 50 to 100 more words. Don't forget those
keywords.
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Add new pages. If you're trying to optimize
an image-based or small website, add new content
pages. Consider adding landing pages, articles,
blogs, newsletter archives, site maps, etc.
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Add internal page links. Link every page on
your website to your main pages (i.e. home,
about, products, etc.). Main links should appear
near the top (i.e., top or side navigation) and
should be repeated at the bottom of every page.
Link to landing pages from within body text.
Also, use your images to link to internal pages.
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Add links to your website from relevant external
sites. The key here is relevant. Link
from sites that matter, such as online ads,
published online articles (Tip: Create a
signature line; see mine below), professional
groups and organizations, testimonials from
client sites, etc.
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Rename pages. Incorporate your keywords into
your page names. Don't just call your about page
"About". Call it about_keyword.htm. For example,
I'm an Atlanta-based SEO copywriter, so my about
page is: about_Atlanta_seo_copywriter.htm.
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Rename images. If your images have generic
names, rename them to include your keywords. For
example, if you're a Houston-based dog sitter,
don't name an image littledogpics.jpg; instead,
name it Houston_dog_sitter_littledogs.jpg.
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Update alt tags. Add alt tags to your
images. Make sure your keywords are included as
part of the tag. For example, if you're a
residential painter, your alt tag should read:
alt="residential_painter_yourname".
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Update meta tags. Replace irrelevant
keywords. Limit meta tag keywords and
descriptions to the keywords and keyword phrases
used on the page. Refresh your description meta
tag regularly.
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Update the page title. Update the title
every few weeks or every other month. If you add
another page by copying an existing page, make
sure your page title and keywords coincide with
the page content.
SEO
is an ongoing process that takes time, skill and
patience. Schedule regular updates and keep those
keywords and content fresh, and you'll be well on
your way to holding your position. If you're
frustrated because you're not getting the results
you want, don't give up; it may take a few weeks
before you see the results you want. If you're still
having problems, consider hiring an SEO coach or an
SEO copywriter. |
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