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Marketing & Management
You Control the Message

...by Darren Shrager

While there are hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons why you would want to have a web site for your business, it is perhaps a more significant reason to be on the Web just because it is becoming the norm for business operation. At one time, when the telephone was first invented, there would have been a vast majority of businesses that did not have a phone installed yet. However, in a short amount of time, it would have been completely unthinkable not to have this precious means of communication at your disposal. For many, it is a significant advantage to be on the Web before your competition, since playing catch-up in the online world can be an uphill battle.

The Web, today, is very much the same. In an environment where many do not even pick up the yellow pages anymore, to retrieve a phone number, get hours of operation or directions, it is a more appropriate question to ask: Can you afford not to have a website for your store? While this is a powerful trend already, the progressive nature of this ubiquitous medium is pervasive and could veritably leave your store as obsolete, as new competition moves into your space. This, of course, is most prevalent in the 20's – 40's demographic—your prime audience (the second largest tier is 60 and older – which are your new grandparents!) Inevitably, for many of such users, even once they get a referral to your business by word-of-mouth they may want to check out your website to be certain your store is the right one for them. Don't let them down.

While other means of advertising previously provided people the information they were looking for, a phone number or an address for example, what happens when someone comes to your website is a different animal entirely. Now, you control the message – you can develop an environment that acts as a billboard, full color brochure, information kiosk and communication medium all in one. Try doing that in your yellow pages ad!

While for many, that is reason enough to make the leap into the digital realm for their business, there are benefits that will befall your store beyond anything you could have previously thought. Imagine having a digital baby registry for your online store, which never closes, making sales while you sleep. Imagine sending out a newsletter that costs nothing more than the time to write, and send out to countless customers and perspective customers, with new specials, products or services, at no cost at all. That beats the pants off of direct mail!

Websites offer credibility to your store, as well, by offering tips and articles, frequently asked questions, or even advice columns. By offering your store as an authority for information related to the business, you become a destination for many on the Web and can then take advantage of viral marketing (the effect of creating a social network which results in countless referrals.) The more loyal the following, the more you enhance your brand and increase the traffic to your online presence, and ultimately to your brick and mortar store.

Your website is a free location to post new information about products you're carrying or specials you may be running. If you keep your website fresh, just as you would freshen up your store window display, you will have a location that people can easily find out what is new at your store and then entice users to come back.

Once your website is established, and you've developed a loyal online audience, you may want to take your site to the next level and enter the realm of e-commerce. Although creating an online store may not be as simple as many think, it is, nonetheless, possibly the most affordable method of increasing your revenue stream yet invented. If you were to compare the cost of setting up your current store front, hiring of employees to run the register and keep up with the store and merchandise, let alone paying rent and utilities, to the cost of setting up your own online store, it ends up being the tiniest fraction of your original startup costs. For many, it is so affordable, that the additional income that having an open store seven days a week, 24 hours a day might just be the best investment you'll ever make in your business.

Online stores are mostly self-functioning and maintaining, just requiring some administration of products and orders. Otherwise, it tracks your inventory, tracks orders and statistics of customers, organizes products into simple and searchable categories, handles the entire payment process and even helps users track their own orders. With full integration with many accounting software applications, tools like Baby Registries, wish-lists, recommended product up-sells, and built-in ‘send to a friend' options, your e-store will rapidly become an invaluable addition to your store as well as your brand.

The Web is vast medium that is expanding at a frantic pace. Things tend to move faster in this realm than many other types of business venues. Don't let that discourage you – use it as motivation to get started immediately and stay on the cutting edge of technology. You will be thrilled at the new way you've found to reach, and maintain, a new generation of users.

Editorial provided by Darren Shrager. Darren is the president of Digispire LLC, a complete marketing solutions company. Digispire offers tantalizing graphic designs, Web and multimedia design, stunning print advertising as well as an expert consultancy. To learn more, visit us online at: www.digispire.com.