|
 y creating a Web site
for your company, a marketing message tailored by your company can be displayed as an electronic billboard to the world.  An effective way to entice Web users to visit your company's Web site is to provide interesting and useful information related directly or indirectly to the products
or services of the company. For example, a flower shop can give gift ideas and decorating tips using flowers. An accounting firm can post information about any
new changes in accounting rules or tax codes. An airline company can display up-to-date flight and booking information. A food company can display recipes
involving the food items sold by the company or offer information on the nutritional values of those food items.
A number of things have to be considered in setting up the style and managing the Web site.
1 Domain Name Registration
Web sites are identified by their individual domain names on the Internet. Online services for domain name registration are available from the Web site of InterNIC at www.networksolutions.com The InterNIC is a collaborative
activity between AT&T, Network Solutions, Inc. and the National Science Foundation. The registration services are sponsored by Network Solutions,
Inc. This site also provides information about directory of directories, white-page services, and publicly available databases. The directory and database services are managed by AT&T. 2 Content and Design
The actual content and design will depend on what you want the site to show
and communicate, the company image you want to present, and the business functions you want the site to perform. A Web site can contain many individual
pages, with the front page being called the home page. A number of basic things are often given on Web pages: Company name, table of contents with
proper links, company background, information about products or services, what is new, simple instructions on how interested customers can respond with contact information (postal address, phone number, fax number, and
email address), and title and web address for each page.Many other things can be included in a customized Web site. The site can
provide links to other interesting sites with relevant descriptions. To add some entertaining features to your site, you may want to make your site interactive
and take advantage of multimedia capabilities, such as interactive games, slide shows, music, and video clips. Interactive forms can be designed as part
of an online ordering system. In addition to forms, the site may be customized with colors, text styles, window bars, and graphics. Graphics can be appealing
but should not be overused. In addition, although cute animation may be fun, it does not by itself make the site visitor click on the product/service order
button. A common complaint from Web users is that it can take very long to download pages. Slow loading can wear out the patience of many Web
visitors. If your company serves many customers using languages other than English, you may want to make your Web site multilingual. Finally, you should make sure all information given at the Web site is
accurate. A Web site containing programming errors gives a poor market image to customers about your company. Indeed, by spending time as a Web surfer yourself, you can
also study and learn from other Web sites so that you may improve your own site. 3 Housing the Web site
Renting or Buying? You need to decide whether your company should have an in-house Web server or rent computer space from an Internet service
provider. Building a Web site in-house can be expensive, involving high start-up costs. However, you will have full control over the use of the server,
and this can be attractive if you will need frequent changes to your Web pages. On the other hand, renting is much cheaper, though you will have to
pay a fee to the service provider. In this case, you will need to rely on the operation and security of the provider's server. If sensitive data are involved,
you may prefer to house the server at your company and have the data under your secure supervision. 4 Repeat Visit Generation
An important element of Web advertising is that you must make the customer come to your Web site by some conscious effort, either by typing the URL or
choosing the link to your company. To create a site that attracts repeat traffic will be even more demanding. Various methods have been used, and they include:
- Site content updated with fresh information regularly.
- Offer entertaining features such as jokes, quotes, cartoons, interesting stories, artwork, and animation, and change them periodically.
- Use interactive games, contests, give-aways, and discounts to entice repeat visitors.
- Provide unique customer services that attract users, such as the event and gift reminder offered by Godiva Chocolate site,
www.godiva.com
Create an online community or interest group by adding chat rooms, bulletin boards, and discussion forums on interesting topics related to your company products or services.
It should be noted that heavier Web traffic does not necessarily generate more business. It is still important that your company sells good products or
services. For more information on marketing with style on the Net, please send us an email with the subject Client Style and Marketing
. |
