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Do I Need a Web Site Tutorial
Before you start planning your new web you need
to ask yourself if you really need a web site or do you just
want one because you have been told that you have to have web
site these days.
Or have you been told you need to get a web site quick before
your competition does. This is probably the biggest blag when it
comes to the Internet.
If you are own a Sandwich shop chances are you won't ever need a
web site. How many people do you know look up a sandwich shop on
the Internet. You wouldn't, you would just walk to the local
shops and find one.
Below is a list of reasons why you may need a web site: -
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Promote your ideas, hobbies, or beliefs
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To Advertise your company or product
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Make loads of money really fast
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Provide customer services and support
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To keep your customer base informed
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Give or Sell Information
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Create an 'Extended Business Card' for your
company
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Provide internal information and services for
your company
Well, lets start at the beginning and go through
each one in turn:
Promote Your Ideas or Hobbies
This is probably the biggest reason for setting up your own
personal web site.
There are countless web sites on the Internet that people have
created, not to make money, but to promote there ideas, hobbies,
or beliefs.
In fact the Internet is an excellent way to do this and you can
create a real community of people with the same ideas, hobbies,
and beliefs as yourself. It's also great way to meet people.
To Advertise Your Company or Product
The Internet can be an excellent way to promote your company or
a product, but it needs to be used along with traditional ways
of advertising.
With so many web sites out there and 100's more being created
everyday it becomes harder and harder to promote your site on
the Internet.
The best way to promote your product is to use traditional
advertising and let potential customers know they can find out
more information through your web site.
Attract these potential customers into you web site by offering
quizzes and prises and give them information on your company or
products while they are there. Forums and chat rooms can also
help with this and allow your customers to discus your product
while they are there.
Make Loads of Money Really Fast
Yeah right. If you want to make loads of money really fast then
the Internet is probably not the place to do it.
Most of the large companies on the Internet such as Amazon don't
make a penny from the Internet. In fact they are losing money
hand over fist.
This is not to say you won't make any money from the Internet,
as there are many people who do.
The main companies making money from the Internet are companies
offering Internet services such as Web design companies, Web
Hosting companies, ISP, etc.
Other companies making money on the Internet are mainly smaller
companies that are bricks and mortar companies that make there
main living through normal outlets such as shops, but also make
some money each week from Internet sales.
The only other types of company making money through the
Internet are small companies with low overheads offering unusual
products or services that cannot be found locally. This still
requires a lot of hard work, the right type of promotion, and
allot of luck.
Provide Customer Services
and Support
Having online Customers Services and Support can be a very good
idea for any company that finds that they have phone calls from
customers asking them about how to use a product or service.
Companies with Customer Support departments may find that they
can save money by having online support.
Many of the questions asked by customers seeking support will be
the same. Therefore it would take some of the strain off the
support staff by placing the most frequently ask questions on a
web site.
This isn't to say that you will be able to scrap your Customer
Support Department altogether as many questions will not be
answered through generic questions on a web site.
To Keep Your Customer Base Informed
A web site can be an excellent way to keep your customers or
share holders informed about the company.
You can let them know about new products, or ventures the
company is undertaking, and you can also use this as a way of
getting customers to upgrade or by new products.
Give or Sell Information
Now this is what the Internet was created for and still used for
mainly now, getting information on everything and anything.
However, if you want to sell information you need to ask
yourselves some questions.
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Is there a demand for the information?
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Is it already available on the net for free?
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Is it available at a local for free, in a
library, etc?
If the answer is yes to any of these questions
then you probably won't sell any or much to make it worthwhile.
The only information that does seem to sell well on the Internet
is pornography. You only have to see how many of these sites you
accidentally stumble across to realise how many there are out
there.
Create an 'Extended Business Card' for
your company
Now this is something that maybe worth considering even for
those companies that would otherwise never need or want a web
site.
This type of site is usually small and quite cheap with just one
or two pages just giving a customer or business associate a
little bit more information about your company than you can fit
on your business card.
Provide Internal Information and
Services for Your Company
This can be very useful for large companies or companies that
are spread throughout the country or even the world.
This can be done either through an Intranet or a password
protected area of your web site.
It would allow your employees to communicate faster and more
effectively. Memos will be able to be sent to all parts or
persons within the company at a push of a button.
Information such as the latest sales figures and targets can be
made available to all employees no matter where they are.
In house online training programs can be run across the
Intranet, and many other things as well.
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