Businesses benefit from presence on Internet

by Jill Henry

SBJ Reporter

jhenry@sbj.net

Business owners who don't sell a product or service may surmise that they don't need a Web site. But that's not necessarily true.

A Pew Internet & American Life Project survey reported that 63 percent of Americans have come to expect businesses to provide product information at a Web site, and 46 percent are more likely to visit a physical store after researching its product online, regardless of whether the product was available for purchase at the site.

"If they hand out brochures, they need a Web site," said Rick Thomson of Ozark Network Communications, who has been designing sites since 1995.

Patty Becraft, director of administration and operations with Springfield Convention & Visitors Bureau, is a big believer in Web sites. While the CVB doesn't have point-of-purchase sales on its site, Becraft said just getting information out about Springfield is invaluable.

"(Having an Internet presence) is becoming more and more important daily," Becraft said. " We definitely have to have a good presence, mainly because a lot of people use the Web, if for anything, to research their travel plans. They may not have an idea of where they're going and where they want to be, and if we're out there and we can be found easily via search engines, then maybe we'll spark some interest as far as travel to Springfield."

The Pew study found that 83 percent of American Internet users investigate products online prior to making a purchase, and 52 percent go online for job research. For that reason, it is vital for any type of business to have a Web site today, regardless of whether customers purchase online, according to Brendon Cummings, co-owner of Boundless Interactive Media.

"The very first thing that (potential customers) do, especially the younger generation, is they go to the Web to find information about the company before they pick up the phone even," Cummings said. "Some people use the Internet before they use the Yellow Pages or a magazine or newspapers."

Many companies also are beginning to use their sites to provide information for their employees. Human resource manuals, forms or annual reports can be digitized, saved in printable format, and posted to a secure site for easy access, often reducing costs associated with printing, collating and mailing.

"It's basically taking away any type of paper applications they've had in the past and figuring out how to make that workflow digital, said Michael Wehrenberg of Wehrenberg Design Company. "(Businesses) can actually start managing their business through the Web."

Another way to market an offline business online is to produce a weekly, monthly or quarterly e-newsletter to subscribers, Wehrenberg said. "That's a very touchy subject. You want to make sure if you do send out an e-newsletter, you're sending it to people that want to get it. Make sure there is a way to unsubscribe from the list."

Cost savings on postage and ease in updating information is key to the CVB.

"One good thing about the Internet is that you can update it regularly. Before the Internet was invented, you printed your brochure annually and by the end of the month, if not sooner, it was outdated. This way, we can at least maintain accuracy. Cost for mailing brochures and postage in general, it's a big savings right there."

First impressions

One of the easiest ways to present a business in a professional manner online is to purchase and use a unique domain name as the Web site address. Web site addresses that are part of a free hosting service or one provided with Internet service can be cumbersome because the business name is prefixed by the name of the Internet service provider.

Setting up e-mail addresses for your staff with a unique domain name included is another simple way to make a good impression.

"That's definitely a pitfall that I've run into with clients before. They're used to using their AOL account and they don't want to switch over. But if you have a Web site, you might as well use the domain name to power your e-mail," Wehrenberg said.

Using an e-mail address that doesn't match your Web site address "tells the user the business may be run out of the home, which may not be a bad thing, but these days it's so inexpensive to buy a domain name," Cummings said. "You can get a domain name for less than $20 a year. Why wouldn't you just buy a domain name and have a couple of e-mail addresses on it that would make you look more legitimate?"

Another advantage of using e-mail that matches the Web site name, Cummings said, is that it helps brand the business. "If I have e-mail from something like @aol.com,' I'd be saying, Who are you? Do you really work for this company?'"

Content and design

A Web site's layout and text gives visitors an instant impression of the business. Wehrenberg suggests a "clean, crisp corporate-looking" site that makes a business look professional and legitimate.

"We always tell clients you should consider a Web site just like you're going to build another office or a satellite facility," Cummings said. "The number one thing is the Web site is not there to show the designer's skills off. It's up to show information and be used as a tool."

Another issue is updating Web sites.

"Some people just put (the site) up there, and you come across it and it's out of date," said Cummings. "That's really worse than not having a Web site at all. It looks like you're not in business anymore. (Updates) make the site look like it's actually living. If you had a business and you never changed the kiosk out front people may assume you're closed."

One of Cummings' clients, Convoy of Hope, updates its site using a "dynamic content" feature that Boundless set up. "What I always tell people is, If you can buy a CD from Amazon.com, you can do this,' because it's basically like filling a form out," Cummings said.

Jeff Nene, director of media for Convoy of Hope, said the feature is a huge advantage for the organization. "A lot of what we do is time sensitive, especially in the disaster response area," he said. "All I need is an Internet connection, and I can go on and change anything I want to change. In fact, I was in Romania in early May and was able to make changes to our Web site while I was in Romania."

Physical address, phone and fax numbers should be prominently displayed, and the site should be easy to use.

"Navigation should be consistent throughout the Web site so that you're not having to hunt and fetch to find where the contact information is," Cummings said.

Convoy of Hope's Nene wants to get site visitors where they need to go within two or three clicks. "You don't really have their attention much longer than that. If they have to go searching and trying to dig it up and find it, you lose people."

Traffic

Web designers said one often-misunderstood aspect of Web sites is search engine optimization, or how design and content allow a site to be more easily recognized and indexed by search engines, and to appear as part of a list when Internet users enter key words at search engines such as Google or Yahoo.

"There is a misconception a lot of times as far as a lot of people think you build it and they will come, like Field of Dreams.' That's really not the way it works," Cummings said.

Thomson said: "The true purpose of your Web site is to make it so it's easy to have the search engines go through it because that's where you're going to get most of your traffic in the long run is the search engines." He also recommended avoiding Flash sites, which take more time to load on older and less powerful computers, and aren't search-engine friendly.

Shari Thurow, author of "Search Engine Visibility," said that search engine spiders software that finds and retrieves Web pages for search engines "don't care about your logo or how cool your Flash site looks." Instead, Thurow said, the three essential components of receiving long-term results, which may result in increased visitors, are text, links and popularity.