Top 7 Reasons To Have a Business Website

The 20th centuries internet boom showed us that even the smallest of business needed a website to compete in the market. As we entered the 21st century, this became even more apparent as everyday people gained internet access and started searching for products on services online. Over 90% of all American families have a home computer, and some form of internet access, whether it be dial up or high
speed broadband. Out of those 90%, over 65% will search online first when making a new purchase or hiring someone’s service. If those numbers alone do not convince you to build a website for your business, then these reasons should:

1) Sell your products online- The ability to sell your products online, typically using an online shopping cart or eBay, could greatly increase your sales. Just thing, your products will be seen in more then one place, give you greater exposure. Plus, the overhead of displaying your products in an online shopping cart is FAR less then in a conventional store.

2) Give information that you would not normally be able too- You do not want to clutter your physical store with posters that talk about the history of your business, your mission, policies, etc. If your physical store looks cluttered, then it will hurt your business. A website can be organized in a neat manner with any and all the information you want displayed. Plus, providing information about your business will make the customer feel more informed, which in turn will make them more likely to do business with you.

3) Websites are global- A website is globally accessible, provided your domain name is known or searchable. Can you name one of form of advertising that is available to anyone in the world, 24 hours a day? You may gain clientele that you would not normally be able to market too in the “real world.”

4) Website are cheap- Sure, initially it will cost you some money to create and setup your website, but once your website is up, it will remain up as long as you keep paying for hosting and your domain name, which averages about 6 dollars a month. You cannot place an ad in the local newspaper for 6 dollars a week, much less 6 dollars a month.

5) Clients will be able to view your store and contact you 24 hours a day. You business probably has set hours in which you are open. Once you close your doors for the day, no other customer can come in and make a purchase. With a website your products are available for purchase 24 hours a day.

6) Minimize customer problems and questions- Again, this goes back to the information situation. If a client has a problem or question about your products or services, instead of tying up your phone line and time, they can go online and read the information that you have provided, or at least direct them to a website that can help them (ex: If you sold them a Sony walkman, you can direct them to the Sony website for any troubleshooting.)

7) Chances are, you completion has a website- The amount of businesses with a website are on the rise. With numbers reaching 80%, you cannot afford to NOT have a website, because chances are your competition already has a website.

Top 7 Reasons To Have a Business Website

The 20th centuries internet boom showed us that even the smallest of business needed a website to compete in the market. As we entered the 21st century, this became even more apparent as everyday people gained internet access and started searching for products on services online. Over 90% of all American families have a home computer, and some form of internet access, whether it be dial up or high speed broadband. Out of those 90%, over 65% will search online first when making a new purchase or hiring someone’s service. If those numbers alone do not convince you to build a website for your business, then these reasons should:

1) Sell your products online- The ability to sell your products online, typically using an online shopping cart or eBay, could greatly increase your sales. Just thing, your products will be seen in more then one place, give you greater exposure. Plus, the overhead of displaying your products in an online shopping cart is FAR less then in a conventional store.

2) Give information that you would not normally be able too- You do not want to clutter your physical store with posters that talk about the history of your business, your mission, policies, etc. If your physical store looks cluttered, then it will hurt your business. A website can be organized in a neat manner with any and all the information you want displayed. Plus, providing information about your business will make the customer feel more informed, which in turn will make them more likely to do business with you.

3) Websites are global- A website is globally accessible, provided your domain name is known or searchable. Can you name one of form of advertising that is available to anyone in the world, 24 hours a day? You may gain clientele that you would not normally be able to market too in the “real world.”

4) Website are cheap- Sure, initially it will cost you some money to create and setup your website, but once your website is up, it will remain up as long as you keep paying for hosting and your domain name, which averages about 6 dollars a month. You cannot place an ad in the local newspaper for 6 dollars a week, much less 6 dollars a month.

5) Clients will be able to view your store and contact you 24 hours a day. You business probably has set hours in which you are open. Once you close your doors for the day, no other customer can come in and make a purchase. With a website your products are available for purchase 24 hours a day.

6) Minimize customer problems and questions- Again, this goes back to the information situation. If a client has a problem or question about your products or services, instead of tying up your phone line and time, they can go online and read the information that you have provided, or at least direct them to a website that can help them (ex: If you sold them a Sony walkman, you can direct them to the Sony website for any troubleshooting.)

7) Chances are, you completion has a website- The amount of businesses with a website are on the rise. With numbers reaching 80%, you cannot afford to NOT have a website, because chances are your competition already has a website.

Making Money On Your Website

You probably started your business website to increase your profits. That is why you added a shopping cart, and information about your company, right? While this is a great way to increase your profits, did you know that they are many other opportunities online to make money? You will be able to make additional money on your website, provided that you know about the programs that are available to you.

Affiliate Programs

Perhaps on of the most popular affiliate program online today is Google Adsense. Google Adsense is a program provided by the popular Google search engine. It is a pay per click program, which means that each time a visitor clicks on the links that you have placed on your website, you will earn a specific amount of money. The typical amount of money earn per click is 10 cents. Google provides you with all the codes you will need to add the ads to your website. The links are customizable so that the colors and fonts will match your existing website. Once you place the code on your website, the links will then generate to match your content, which means that the visitors visiting your website will be more likely to click on the links, since they were relevant to what they were searching for in the first place.

Another popular affiliate program online is Amazon. Amazon allows you to sell specific products on your website for profit. The amount you make is typically a percentage of the amount the person pays for the item. Amazon allows you to display as many items as you would like, and does not require any amount of content to do so.

If you are having trouble finding affiliate programs, then you may consider joining an affiliate network. An affiliate network is a website that offers a wide variety of products and services to sell on your website. This allows you to easily search for affiliate program in which you want to market. It also will monitor all of your commissions from the various programs, add it to one account, and then send you one check once the amount in your account exceeded your specified amount. If you have ever tried to manage several affiliate programs at once, you will greatly appreciate this feature.

It is important to look for affiliate programs that offer high commissions. If a affiliate program is only going to give you a penny per sale, then why bother?

You may also want to consider joining affiliate programs that offer tier programs. A “tier” program allows you to not only sell their product or service for profit, but it also allows you to recruit others to do the same. Once you recruit others, you then gain profits for each of their sales as well. A 3 tier program allows you to collect profits for the people your recruit AND the people they recruit. Essentially, you make money off of their efforts.

Setting Your Website Up With These Programs

Placement is one of the most important things when it comes to affiliate advertising. You do not want to clutter your pages with ads, since it will take away from your original content. Instead, you will want to use the ads sparely, and in appropriate places. If a visitor searches for electronics and you post Amazon codes for children’s book on the same page, then chances are the visitor will not click on your link.

Like I mentioned before, the Google Adsense ads will self tailor themselves to the content in which the links are found on. If you place a Google ad code on a page talking about Phone cards, then all of the ads will be related to phones. I would only use one Google Ad code per page, to make sure you do not clutter up the page. Plus, a visitor is more likely to click on an ad if they do not feel that they are being bombarded by them.