In the late 1990s, communication revolution quickly swept the world. That invention was the internet. Companies use websites to introduce and promote themselves to the world, to present and sell inventory, and to communicate with customers, suppliers, and vendors. Visitors can access company websites from almost anywhere in the world at any time of the day or night. Through internet parties communicate with one another on the web. They establish internet accounts with the companies that specialize in connecting people to the web, providing computer space for websites, and reserving domain names. Domain names, or web addresses, are analouge to vanity telephone numbers and are used to identify a particular computer on the web.
Rather than communicating directly with people, internet surfers use browser software on their computers to view web files on computer elsewhere on the web. Companies can present text, video, audio, and interactive content to web visitors through their websites. I’m sure many small business owners ask themselves the same question. What can a website do that the telephone can’t? Being old fashioned, it may seem hard to realize that besides the television, the internet is now the second largest form of advertising.
There are a number of advantages to putting your business online, even if you have no desire to grow as a company. As more and more people look to the internet for their information. Why call a number and a name to fire off ten questions about the business, when you can read one or two pages online and in less time come to a conclusion about the company. As a small business owner, do you have the time to sit there answering phones, answering repetitive questions about yourself?
Get more business: Use your website as a 24 hour marketing tool. It’s fast, easy, and doesn’t require an employee to sit and answer phones.
Who we are: Use your website to tell people who you are, and what you do. People form their own conclusions about you, so why not give them some solid information to base this conclusion on.
Show off: Whether you sell a product or a service, no one is going to pay you money without first seeing what you are capable of. The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” never fit better.
Professionals: Having an attractive website helps to convey to customers that you are a professional business, and gives them more confidence in your capabilities.
Contact us: Answering phones, although direct, takes time. Having a contact us form on your website allows interested people to inquire about your services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can get as descriptive as you want with a contact us form, ensuring that required fields are filled in before they can submit any requests
Its hard to imagine that there are many organizations today that don't regularly use internet and depend on telephones to help conduct business.