Why you need the web
So you thought you'd find out what we've got to say for ourselves. Below you'll find a list of fairly obvious topics that will help you make up your mind whether we can do anything for you. Click on the headings to reveal the information, and click again to hide it.
[01] How the web can help your business prosper
Before the dot com bubble burst, and for a while afterwards, there was a general feeling that the Internet, particularly the web, was a bit of an overhyped waste of time. But in the following two years, it has become obvious that the web is not going to go away, mainly because it's really quite useful.
People are discovering that there is no easier way to get hold of information, find suppliers of goods and services, and in many cases, buy things. Plus, of course, the web is quite an entertaining place with jokes, games and friends ready to chat and email with you at any time.
With your customers spending more time and money online with each passing month, you shouldn't ignore the possibilities it offers you. In some cases this simply means a web presence, advertising your services and bringing you new business you may well otherwise have missed. In others, the web may be an ideal medium for you to sell your wares, take bookings and so on.
But whatever you do, it must be done in a way that reflects well on you and your business. A poorly designed site, with screen space ill-used and navigation that takes ten minutes to figure out, will probably do more harm than good, and may even lose you custom. But with the right site, your business will benefit immediately and will continue to benefit for as long as the site is useful and relevant.
[02] Benefits of the web - marketing
A web site is a pretty decent marketing tool. It sits there, advertising your site to interested people, like an ad in the Yellow Pages. If it's been properly submitted to search engines, then people will find it when they search for it and, if it's good enough, it will bring you a whole set of new customers.
Once your web site is in place, you can send people there for more information. This way you don't need to be so explicit in your other marketing materials. If we'd tried to fit everything that's on this web site into a leaflet, it would have been more of a novel. Instead we simply direct people from our brochure to this web site, and count our savings. You can also refer telephone and email enquiries to your site, saving you time.
[03] Benefits of the web - viral marketing
If your site is useful or fun, people will tell their friends. This used to be called "word of mouth", but in a web context, has become known as "viral marketing".
It's called this because people tend to tell other people about web sites via email, and because it's easy to add loads of names to an email mailing, the word about good sites tend to spread explosively, like a virus.
This makes your web site a very powerful tool indeed, if it's good enough. It's so easy to tell everyone about a good web site, word can get round fast, building your business at the speed of email.
[04] Benefits of the web - sales
The most obvious benefit of web sales is the lack of overhead. Once your web store is up and running, it can sell your goods or services at very little additional cost. The same thing is true of bookings, so even if you don't want to take money over the Internet, you can still do things more efficiently.
A less obvious plus point is that your potential customers can browse your stock or read about your services at their leisure. People who may be reluctant to pick up a phone find it easy to browse and buy online because it's essentially a private transaction. Even if they don't buy, they have had the time to gain a favourable impression of you.
The web can also increase the reach of your business. You can make sales, take bookings and inform people that you would never otherwise have reached with other marketing material. These may be people in other parts of the world, other parts of the country, or just in sectors in which you do not do any marketing. The web reaches them all.
[05] Why Beetlebrow is uniquely positioned to help
We've been making web sites since 1997, so we know what we're about, and we know how to separate the good stuff from the froth. Because of this, we won't try to sell you things you don't need.
If a simple web presence will serve you perfectly well, we won't try to persuade you to spend pointlessly on a complex ordering system no-one is ever going to use. On the other hand, if you are going to make sales over the Internet, we'll help you create the perfect shopping environment for your customers.
We are experts at design, but believe that design should serve the business not vice versa. A well designed site gets its message across clearly and in a way that encourages the user to remain and read on. The business will dictate the type of user and hence the type of site that works. A beautiful puzzle that will dazzle and mystify the user will be fine for the site of a modern artist, or perhaps even an avant garde architect, but for a divorce lawyer, it would be hugely counterproductive.
As your business partner Beetlebrow will help you make best use of your website. We will understand your business and advise you on any technologies and trends that may be relevant or useful. We will hold regular meetings and discussions to ensure that your requirements are being satisfied to the best of our ability. Your satisfaction is paramount.
[06] Does your web site need upgrading?
You've already got a web site. But is it good enough? The web has moved on in the last two years, both in terms of the technologies on offer and in design. The simple rule of thumb is, if you had your site designed a couple of years or more ago because everyone else was doing it, and you haven't really thought much about it since, it may need to be upgraded.
If you're not sure, contact us, and ask us to do an audit of your current site. We can tell you if there's anything you could do to improve it and how much it would cost. But we will not recommend useless additions or pointless extra work.
If your site is pretty much okay as it is, we'll tell you, in the expectation that when you really do need some work, you'll probably ask us to quote for it. Satisfied customers come back.
[07] Explore this site
Have a look around. Find out whether we can do what we say. Look at the selection of sites we've built under the "WORK" button, check out the service we offer in "TECH" and read our price list.
Make sure you browse the FAQ, and then maybe have a play with the gizmos in "JAM". Do at least some of that, and you may well feel like asking a bit more about what we do. Use the enquiries form, or send us an email, and we'll get back to you right away.
