Using the Internet as a marketing tool is a wise business decision no matter the size of your company. Here is something to ponder if you are still sitting on the fence about getting your business online.
Consider what kind of information a potential customer gets when he enters your office (showroom, restaurant or store). Perhaps your customer can...
• Read the sign stating the hours of operation (or holiday hours)
• Pick up a business card with your full business name, mailing address, fax and phone numbers
• Read a brochure about your company's history, products/services, mission statement
• Look at photos of the owners/employees at promotions and staff events
• Read notices on a bulletin board
• Get Information about affiliates, partners or suppliers
• Admire award plaques, trophies, team photos, and "Thank You" certificates
• See how staff interact with customers
• Learn methods of payment
• Pick up a catalogue, schedule an appointment, ask questions, meet staff
• Feel the spirit and energy of your company
A website provides the experience of visiting your business in person. You need a website for the potential customer who...
• Doesn't or can't drop by
• Wants to know if you are open on Sundays
• Doesn't know your location(s), phone number(s)
• Needs to know about parking/public transit/handicapped accessibility
• Wants to gain product/service information before making a decision
• Wants to compare shops before making a commitment
• Has time to browse now: at midnight on the Sunday of a long weekend.
• Wants the assurance your firm is professional, up-to-date, credible and is interested in catering to his/her needs at his/her convenience

Benefits of a Website
More and more people and businesses use the Internet to find information; it is convenient and saves time. Having a website is becoming so mainstream that customers and the general public almost expect a company to have a website. If people want information on a product or service, they are now saying, "I think they have a website, I'll check that out first."
Below are just some of the benefits you can expect from a website:

1. Increases awareness of products/services
A website provides the opportunity to publish the who, what, where, when and why of your business in a powerful and effective manner.
How many potential customers might be swayed if they could learn a little more about you, your company, your products, etc., without having to phone or taking the time to meet with you in person? A website makes it easy for customers to learn more about your business at their own pace.
2. Expands market place
A website can expand your reach to a market that may have been difficult or expensive to reach through traditional advertising. Increasingly, people search the Web rather than the Yellow Pages when looking for a service or product. You'd be amazed how much shopping occurs on the World Wide Web overnight! With an e-commerce site you can even make sales when your offices are closed. Currently over 75% of the people in the US and millions of Nigerians access the Internet, up from over 55% at the end of 2008.

3. Increases hours of operation
Not only will your website be there 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with the possibility of reaching millions of people every day, but now your customers are able to contact you outside of your normal business hours. Your website is still working for you while you are at leisure or asleep, and is not dependent on your having a PC or leaving your PC switched on.

4. Marketing tool - replace or complement existing sales and marketing channels
It's a very low-cost method of promoting your business. By advertising your website, in addition to your product or services, you give potential customers the opportunity to learn far more about your product or services than you could ever place in an advert.
Advertising experts agree the Internet will become an increasingly popular advertising medium, with anticipated spending eclipsing $25 billion and have an 18% increased share of all advertising spending by 2009.
5. Reduce costs / Improve efficiency
(i) Reduce publishing costs
One of the largest expenses a business can incur is designing, printing, and delivering marketing materials. Websites are quicker, easier and more cost-effective to update than print based media. You can keep your website more current, more affordable than any other media can.
With a website, you can instantly publish that same information: new product announcements, employment opportunities, contact information, coupons, almost anything, without material or delivery costs. People can learn about it instantly just by visiting your website.
Imagine how much it would cost to produce a catalog for 200 different products, and keep it in consumers' hands for an entire year. You can accomplish this with a website very easily, with low development cost and almost no distribution cost.
(ii) Reduce marketing costs
Buying advertising space, whether it's a newspaper ad, billboard or radio spots, can be expensive. In addition is the burden of the hours spent trying to figure out the perfect words to say in a limited space. A website is an unlimited number of full-page ads that you can change at will!

(iii) Reduce communication costs
A website can do far more than sell products. You can have pictures, details and prices of your products/services, the very latest company information, hours of operation and maps indicating the location of your company's outlets on your website. It can supply your staff, suppliers and business partners with important and timely information. Just about any printed matter can be converted to a web page and distributed by email at far less cost and time than by fax, mail or courier.

6. Build branding
Build brand awareness by having your website URL on all other marketing material you use. Having your brochures, website, business cards, ads, posters, etc... have the same look and feel increases your brand awareness.

7. Enhance your image / Reflect your spirit
A website can help you to establish a credible, professional image, instilling a level of trust with your customer and their purchasing confidence will follow suit. Your website can (and should) reflect the spirit and vision of you and your company.
The Internet also offers the opportunity for a small-business to portray itself as a big business. (Or, for a big business, to fall flat by having a website that poorly represents its true stature.) How will your business be perceived on the web?
8. Improve customer service / Reduce costs
Does your staff spend a lot of time on the phone answering customer requests for information on a product or service? Do they keep answering the same questions and sending out the same material? Do they spend a lot of time on the phone with customer support?
A website can help reduce long distance phone bills, postage costs, printing costs and labour costs (and frees them up to perform other tasks) by having that information on your website.
Your website can also take orders while you sleep as people can place orders on a website at any time, day or night. You would be surprised how many extra sales you could have by developing an on-line brochure or virtual store.
A website lets you publish support information with up to the minute accuracy. Some companies only offer support through their website. If the website doesn't offer the answer an online feedback form is provided. This is perhaps the most underrated usage for business websites.
9. Improve Efficiency
Email can improve efficiency of your operation - for your customers and your employees. Customers who use email don't have to deal with many problems of everyday business: pushy salesmen, remembering to call during business hours, having to battle crowds to get to your stores, spending time waiting on voice mail or getting the wrong information. It's convenient, easy, and safe for the customer. Email is also convenient for you. You can respond to all your customer inquiries at the same time, and do it when you have a free moment - not in the middle of rush hour when someone calls up to ask for product information or directions to your location.

10. Provide information
Even without an online store, people can look to your site for driving directions or a map to find your store. Tourists can look up for your business/office and stop there on their next trip to your area.
Many people use the Internet to find information. You can use your website to educate and inform the populace. This can be done in various ways: publish an online newsletter, have an advice column, offer message boards, or simply have a place where people can submit their names and email addresses to join your mailing list for more information. This is another way to gain public awareness of your business or organization. It also allows you to grow your customer base for direct marketing.
11. Create a competitive edge
If your customers can't find you online, they will find your competitors. With more and more companies making a web presence, the companies that lose business to their competitors will most likely be those who fail to represent themselves on the Internet. If a potential customer can leisurely browse your company information online but cannot find your competitors' information, your company now has an additional edge.

12. Open new channels of communication with staff, partners and suppliers
Intranet websites (websites that are generally closed to the Internet users and are accessible to organization members only) are an easy way to provide your employees with a way to reach the information they need to perform their duties in one centralized location. You can post benefits information, changes in staff, kudos for hard work, a place for their schedules, and much more. You can put as much or as little information as you want on your site and make them supply a password to access the information that needs to be kept private.

Why do I need a website?
Companies that want to be known on the Wall Street, New York City, USA, do not have to hire or build an empire there, thanks to the Internet.

Through this latest means of internet advertisement, the rest of the world will be able to know about you; your services; an online catalog that enables Internet users to see detailed information about your products and services, the catalog will include pictures and if you want, prices; an online ordering, which enables Internet users to actually place orders over the Internet; a customer survey; list of frequently asked questions about the company’s product and services; an online enquiry support, where a customer can leave a question about a problem he or she is having with a product and receive an answer within a day or two; articles and reviews of your company’s products; press releases; biographies of company employees; how to contact you and a lot more without having to see you personally, because your company will be on the world wide web (www).

Having a website will establish a global presence for your company. Millions of people in Nigeria and the world as a whole have access to the World Wide Web (WWW). No matter whom you are, what your business, company or organization is, you cannot ignore such a large amount of people. Some of them might need your goods and services, and therefore turn out to be your customers. To be part of this community and show that you are interested in them you need to be on the World Wide Web (WWW). For sure your competitors will definitely be there.

The Internet has become a vast resource of information for business people as well as students as they discover the advantages of getting online: the ease of use and the most cost-effective means of advertising.
The Internet is revolutionizing entire markets, allowing all businesses, large or small, the same opportunities to market their products, services and information on the Internet in an effective and appealing manner.
Compared with attracting new customers through advertising or conventional marketing, websites are amazingly low cost and the possibilities are endless. Search engines, referrals and the vast linking mechanics of the worldwide web provide volumes of "foot traffic" unimaginable in a "brick and mortar" storefront setting. From market research to product distribution, from customer services to sales and promotions -- running a Website establishes a dynamic presence for your organization on the Internet limited only by your imagination.
One of the advantages of a website is its dynamic nature, allowing it to evolve as your organization evolves since changes or updates can be easily implemented.

Website Design
Website design is the most crucial of all the marketing media at your disposal. All other forms of advertising (business cards, brochures, etc.) can be patterned after your website design layout. To attract prospective clients/customers who are surfing the Internet, your site must draw them in and hold their attention until your desired result is achieved. Like a good writer telling a story, you need to grab and hold your reader's attention.
Other opportunities are only a mouse click away, so a poorly designed website can quickly become a faint memory as the prospect speeds away to another destination. A solidly designed website, appealing in content and appearance, will draw the client back for regular visits and will create word of mouth traffic as well.
Designing Web pages is easy. Designing a good website is difficult.
Clearly, a professionally designed website is well what you pay for if you are serious about attracting business through your website. The good news is that web2markets.com has done all the designing and integration for you, in dynamic format and is affordable!
Final Word
It is important to understand that you cannot simply put up a website and expect that all you have to do is wait around for orders. In fact, we recommend that you use your website in addition to other marketing methods.

A website should always be regarded as part of an overall marketing strategy. A website requires the same kind of advertising and promotion as any other business before it can generate income. The customers you gain through other methods can become excellent web customers as well. Once you have traffic coming to your site, your website becomes your 24 hour-a-day, 7 day-a-week 365-days-a year web storefront!

We look forward to seeing your web store/office/showroom on the Internet.
web2markets.com