Web Design
The Original "20 Reasons to Put Your Business on the WWW"
(continued... part 4)
16. To Test Market New Services and Products
Tied into the reason above, we all know the cost of rolling out a new product.
Advertising, advertising, advertising, PR and advertising. Expensive, expensive, expensive.
Once you have been on the Web and know what to expect from those who are seeing your page, they are the least expensive market for you to reach.
They will also let you know what they think of your product faster, easier and much less expensively than any other market you may reach.
For the cost of a page or two of Web programming, you can have a crystal ball into where to position your product or service in the marketplace.
Amazing!
17. To Reach The Media
Every kind of business needs the exposure that the media can bring, as we touched on in reason #5 "To Heighten Public Interest", but what if your business is reaching the media, as a newswire, a publicist or a public policy group.
The media is the most wired profession today, since their main product is information and they can get it more quickly, cheaply and easily on-line.
On-line press kits are becoming more and more common, since they work with the digital environment of more and more pressrooms.
Digital images can be put in place without the stripping and shooting of the old pressrooms and digital text can be edited and outputed on tight deadlines.
All these can be made available on a Web page.
18. To Reach The Education and Youth Market
If your market is education, consider that most universities already offer Internet access to their students and most K-12's will be on the Internet within the next few years.
Books, athletic shoes, study courses, youth fashion and anything else that would want to reach these overlapping markets needs to be on the Web.
Even with the coming of the commercial on-line services and their somewhat older populations there will be nothing but growth in the percentage of the under 25 market that will be on-line.
19. To Reach The Specialized Market
Sell fish tanks, art reproductions, flying lessons? You may think that the Internet is not a good place to be.
Well, think again. The Internet isn't just computer science students anymore.
With the 790 million and growing users of the WWW, even the most narrowly defined interest group will be represented in large numbers.
Since the Web has several very good search programs, your interest group will be able to find you, or your competitors.
20. To Serve Your Local Market
We've talked about the power to serve the world with a Web page. How about your neighborhood? If you are located in
the San Francisco Bay Area, the Raleigh NC area, Boston or New York, there is probably enough local customers with Web access to make it worth your while to consider Web marketing.
A local Palo Alto, CA restaurant even takes lunch orders through the Internet!
But no matter where you are, if the big client has Web access, you should be there too.
By permission from Stormy Knight
