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When I first sat down to meet with two pool cover
salesmen, I had them describe the whole process for me, from how customers first
found out about them to how the customer ended up with the final cover. From
this example alone, I discovered two major categories to have the website help
the business. Informational
This one is almost a no-brainer. Even the
simplest website is, at core, a source of information. The simplest websites are
often referred to as "brochure sites." This is, of course, because the simplest
site can (sometimes literally) be nothing more than an online brochure.
Even this level of simplicity for a website is
still better than the traditional offline brochure. This is primarily because of
the flexibility. Unlike a brochure that is printed up and then is unchangeable,
a website can be tweaked and modified to correct things that are no longer
accurate. Things can be added to it. It also is not limited to a specific amount
of page space, as a traditional brochure is.
Aside from traditional "brochure sites," often
clients of ours will have other information that changes fairly frequently that
their customers would like to know. It may be that right now their customers
have no way at all to get this information, short of calling them on the phone.
The information may be different for each client, it may be the same for each
client. Regardless of the specifics, information that is constantly changing is
one of the single biggest reasons to have a website.
We handle the website Mission Nicaragua, which
is for a missionary couple living in (you guessed it) Nicaragua. With hundreds
of miles between them and their sponsoring congregation, they needed to be able
to update their sponsors and other interested parties with the latest
information and developments on the mission field. We set up a blog for them,
which is a current very popular method of getting information out there. Since
their intended audience might not be familiar with the term "blog," we called it
a "newsletter." But the end result is the same thing. It can be updated by our
clients and instantly be online.
If there are any pieces of information that are
updated constantly that your customers need to know, you can probably benefit
from this information being put on your website.
Interactive
Customers often need feedback. And with the
web, they have come to expect it, often instantly. From live shipping
calculations to job estimates to chat rooms, web communication is out there and
greatly benefits the customer.
The simplest example of an interactive site is
one that has a feedback form. We offer this to all of our clients. It's better
than a simple email link because the email address can't be stolen by spammers.
Also, the information can be formatted and customized into some standard form
that's easier for the final recipient to review. We let any clients that want it
have one of these forms on their contact page.
A good example of this is on a site we do the
webmastering for, UR Special. In addition to a normal feedback form, they have a
form specifically for volunteers, where the volunteers can go through and check
the items they're interested in volunteering for. This information is then
formatted to be easier to read before it's sent to the UR Special staff.
Another interactive item is a virtual tour.
With today's web technology, one of the things that you can do is actually
immerse your customers in an environment. We have a number of sites that use
virtual tours. One of note is a local arcade called Cactus Jack's. You can get a
feel for how big Cactus Jack's is through their virtual tour. You can turn
around and even zoom in on specific arcade games.
Finally, an obvious level of interactivity is
involved in a shopping cart. The total is added up as soon as you're ready to
check out. Shipping is generally calculated immediately. Most people are now
familiar with this type of technology.
If there's any information that your customers
call for that you sit down with a price sheet or some sort of data and
calculate, you can make it automated online. Even if the prices or data change
fairly constantly, you can still update that data on your website, so that
customers see the most up to date calculations. This is great for estimates, but
you often want to put a disclaimer that the prices are only unofficial
estimates.
Naturally, the exact ways in which a website
can be used for your company will differ from company to company. It often helps
to get someone who is more familiar with the web but an outsider as far as your
company is concerned. Describe your typical business practices to them. They
should be able to pick out areas in which your website can help your business
become more accessible and more efficient.
u2surf.net
Website Design
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