The Benefits of a Company Website

It is not a myth when someone says in today’s world that when one has a company website it is as crucial as having a telephone number, a shop , or even an office. A good percentage of customers nowadays are expecting companies and brands, in general, to have all the contents of their productions online. Therefore, you will concur with me in one way or the other when I state that in this modern era, almost everyone who has a dream of starting a business, leave alone those who have a business are prioritizing getting online as part of their business plan. It is estimated that by the year 2010 September, there were more than 227 million websites that were running online. However, websites come with several advantages and disadvantages for your company or business.

Doing business in the digital world is tough but you have to come up with strategies that will help the business to prosper and compete. XYZ can use the website to accomplish many marketing techniques to aid the company to expand. Internet enables the business to reach a broader audience as compared to the traditional marketing strategies [2]. However, it is important to note that it may take a while to be able to generate enough traffic to the website to make worthwhile impact to the marketing techniques of the company.  The objectives and goals of building the website include the following:

Professionalism:  The current market environments have necessitated the need of a website. If you don’t have one then the chances of the business being considered in the market are lowered.  According to researches that have been carried out approximately 80% of people write off or have negative opinions on companies without websites [3].

Accessibility: it will be a lot easier for people to find XYZ, learn about the company and the services and products offered. When people search XYZ Tech Firm on the search engines such as google, they will be able to find the company [4].

Reduce Marketing Cost: building and hosting a website is very cheap. Also the cost depends on the quality of the web designer. Having a customized, attractive, and easy to use website will attract potential customers and other businesses to the company. Compared to the traditional marketing methods such as road shows, billboards, use of newspapers, and magazines, using the website to market the company is way cheaper [4]. There is low cost per impression marketing vehicle.

Target Audience and Competitors

Opportunities: having a website in place makes it easy of people around the world to locate your business. XYZ wants to go global in future and thus having products and services that can be easily sold online which will increase the customer base dramatically.

XYZ Tech Firm is targeting the older working middle class because they possess credit cards and can be able to order and pay for the products online. Our target audience is not gender biased as such it targets both male and female consumers who are 35 years and older. The company is targeting this group because they are working and get home late thus is a challenge for them to visit the stores and get the products. The audience was chosen because they are the most active within the society and majority of them are breadwinners in their families thus they mostly work late. Also not often do they visit the stores to get the IT services and products but they would rather order online for home deliveries. The website will be designed in a manner that is user friendly and easy to use and interact with it [6]. Consequently, this particular customer segment prefers their products being delivered to them.

The company will be facing stiff competition from several companies but Intelligent Pathways and Pixc are the major competitors of XYZ. Pixc and Intelligent Pathways have established their online presence and have websites already in place. They have unique brands that have built their customer base over the years [7]. As such, it will be a challenge for XYZ to immediately win customer loyalty and increase its customer base because the products and services it offers is diversified. However, diversification of the products and services is one thing that will ensure the company remains in the market because customer will have a one-stop shop for all the IT services and products [8]. To try and dominate the market, XYZ will use its online presence to market itself. Use social medial by posting links so as to generate traffic on its website.

Considering one of the advantages that may be as a result of going online is the ability to reach out to a wider audience. This is true since the internet is nowadays used millions of people ranging from old to young. Since all the people on the internet are always looking for something, you may be surprised to find out that some of them might be looking for you. The potential to reach out to unreachable customers is real when you built a website. You have high chances to sell your local products to a broader market like customers in a different town, nation, or even you may find yourself doing business internationally. Research indicates that online shopping is on the increase, meaning that when you take your business online you subsequently benefit from the growth and your business definitely expands.

Disadvantages of a Company Website

There is a benefit of having your products and services in terms of information being accessed by anyone, regardless of where they are and the time they wish to do so. Since the internet is open 24 hours a day and 7 days of a week, this makes your business to run even if in reality it may be locked. All those interested in your products and services will have to get your contacts, may it be an email or a phone number from your contact form. A website also makes it easy for customers to get to know information about your corporate or business. The services being offered, the products, price, and location of your business can be accessed just by a few clicks by the customer.

There are some few disadvantages that you have to put in mind while taking your business online. For instance, the reliability of your information will be determined by how often your website is updated. There might also be a great disadvantage when your website is always crushing. This lowers the search engine optimization hence your business image will be in doubt. A website may also in a way result in bad publicity whereby an unhappy customer who intends to unleash his anger can get into the internet and reference your blog. This can result negatively in your search engine optimization and your business at large.

Therefore, it is obvious that the goodness of a website as far as any business is concerned overshadows the drawbacks. The ability to promote a business, marketing it, securing it and bringing up the sales are vital for any business to grow. This is to say, it is worth risking going online for the good of any business.

Conclusion

By blogging and updating your websites, there are high chances that you will get more and more traffic hence marketing your trade. This is also a way of advertising and publicizing your company and products. Online advertising is less expensive that the other forms since all you need is an appropriate domain name and a good hosting. Furthermore, you will benefit from what I can term as viral marketing when you have your business online. Through the links that you may share on social media, a word will probably spread even to people you don’t know making an upcoming business rise to a level of international recognition. No one can resist from talking about a good business, it will be linked and shared all over and this will result to the growth of your business.

One of the greatest importance of taking your business online is that by so doing, your business brand will be protected. By not staking your business online, you may be risking it since you will with no time get on the internet and find that someone else has done it for you. Getting a website is the only way to protect and secure your brand online.

References

[1] M. Redline, “FREE E-Commerce Needs Analysis from Redline Minds – E-Commerce Strategy, Development and Marketing”, Redline Minds – E-Commerce Strategy, Development and Marketing, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.redlineminds.com/free-ecommerce-needs-analysis/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

 [2] M. Winn, “Competitor Analysis for Ecommerce Demystified”, Volusion Ecommerce Blog | SMB Marketing, Design & Strategy, 2010. [Online]. Available: https://www.volusion.com/blog/competitor-analysis-for-ecommerce/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

[3] A. Roggio, “How to Analyze Your Ecommerce Competitors | Practical Ecommerce”, Practical Ecommerce, 2012. [Online]. Available: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/How-to-Analyze-Your-Ecommerce-Competitors. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

[4] S. Springbot, “5 Tips for Writing a Competitive Analysis for Your eCommerce Business – Springbot”, Springbot, 2017. [Online]. Available: https://www.springbot.com/blog/ecommerce/competitive-analysis-for-ecommerce-business/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

[5] N. Leinbach-Reyhle, “Reasons Websites Are Vital for Small Businesses”, Forbes.com, 2014. [Online]. Available: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoleleinbachreyhle/2014/09/29/websites-for-small-businesses/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

[6] S. Resource, “IMPORTANCE OF BUSINESS WEBSITE – Solutions Resource”, Solutions Resource, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://solutionsresource.com/importance-of-business-website/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

 [7] P. Visible, “A Complete Guide To Target Audience Analysis For Content Marketers – Point Visible | Content Marketing Agency”, Point Visible | Content Marketing Agency, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.pointvisible.com/blog/complete-guide-target-audience-analysis-content-marketers/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].

[8] K. Ferenzi, “Identifying Customers With A Target Market Analysis (Updated for 2018)”, The BigCommerce Blog, 2018. [Online]. Available: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/target-market-analysis/. [Accessed: 08- May- 2018].