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Why You Want a Website

There are many reasons to build a website. One of the first questions you should ask yourself is, “Why do I want a website”? This article gives a brief look at the different reasons to build a website and the challenges that each provides.

Strictly Business

Building a website for business, regardless of type, should be grounded in one central idea: to increase the bottom line! Let’s face it, no one in business would spend money on a website if there weren’t the possibility of a tangible return. A return usually comes in the form of increased prospects, new sales, improved service, or lowered costs.

Increase Prospects

Creating new leads can be expensive! By carefully crafting your website you can leverage the power of the web to generate new leads. If you’re building from this perspective you’ll need to think long and hard about your marketing plan. Just because you build a great website, doesn’t mean new visitors will line up on launch day. Integrating your current offline promotions with your website should be high on your list of priorities.

New Sales

Do your current products lend themselves to being sold online? E-commerce is a booming $60 billion a year industry that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. But just because e-commerce is everywhere, doesn’t mean it’s easy. Developing a successful e-commerce site will require lots of planning to ensure smooth, trouble-free transactions. E-tailing can be very high maintenance and jumping in without a plan can mean disaster. Do you understand your shopping cart software? Do you understand your merchant account and payment gateway? Do you have an order fulfillment system in place? How will you handle customer service? These are all questions to think about and plan, plan, plan.

Improved Service

This is a biggie for many businesses. The speed and convenience of the web can allow you to respond to your customer’s needs much faster. It can be as simple as providing product manuals, or it can be a full-blown customer service ticketing system. Speed and efficiency should lead the way down this path.

Lowered Costs

This is a tricky one because it can be applied in so many ways. Figuring out what costs to cut is the hardest part. Take a good look at your current systems in place. Is there a way you can integrate one or more of these into your website. Cast your net far and wide while you’re thinking about this one, often you’ll find very creative ways to lower costs that you hadn’t thought of before.