01. To
Share Information
02. To Sell
03. To Collect Customer Feedback
04. To Manage Data
05. To Make Changing Information
Available Quickly
06. To Create An Intranet
07. To Expand Your Business
08. To Serve Your Local Market
09. To Reach A Specialized Market
10. To Improve Your Business'
Profile
01.
To Share Information
Most businesses that choose to create a
website do so in order to share information.
Often that information can be straightforward,
such as contact information, directions to
the business, and a company description.
A website is valuable for so much more, too.
Consider the costs of handing out brochures
and other company literature to your customers.
The printing and mailing costs add up quickly,
forcing you to be selective in the distribution
of your materials. The cost of making that
same information available for browsing or
downloading through your website is insignificant.
Instead of being charged per page as with
your print material, file size and bandwidth
matter on the Web. These figures are normally
so small that they are normally covered in
your monthly hosting fees. It is simply one
of the best ways to make any kind of information
available.
You can also share information through collaboration.
Offer a message board or chat room on your
website as a means for your audience to communicate
with each other. Interactive features such
as these are very popular. They allow knowledgeable
people to converse on topics that relate
to your business or industry. What could
be better than people coming to your site
to discuss hot topics?
Perhaps you have information to share but
only want to share it with certain people.
Areas of your website (or even the whole
website) can be password-protected so that
only visitors with special permission can
access the information you want to share
with them. There are numerous ways to take
advantage of these member areas. Use them
to collect, display, and offer information
for download from co-workers, salespeople,
suppliers, lenders, customers, and more.
Let them enter important data or download
an Excel spreadsheet from you. Let them access
reports on data from your database in real-time.
Sound exciting? This is an Avylon specialty.
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02.
To Sell
Whether you already sell products through
a store or just want to take a new product
idea straight online, now is still a great
time to make that Internet-riches dream come
true. With more and more shoppers buying
online every day, you can bet there are people
out there who want to buy what you are selling.
E-commerce systems allow you to put an unlimited
number of products on your website’s
shelves. People can quickly shop and purchase
from you without ever having to leave their
home.
Selling online is by far one of the most
cost-effective ways to sell anything. It
comes without the customary overhead of a
physical store, like building leases, employees
who need to get paid whether or not the register
is ringing, and the myriad of costs associated
with keeping the store running (utilities,
supplies, maintenance, etc.). While there
are certainly costs for hosting your site,
keeping it secure, sales transactions, hiring
a Web developer, and more, the costs of running
an online store are predictably lower than
having a physical store. This often results
in a higher profit margin for you. With the
right products, the right marketing, and
the right attitude, start-up Internet businesses
are still making a killing in the virtual
marketplace. You just need to find your product
and let Avylon help
you with the rest.
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03.
To Collect Customer Feedback
Which sounds better to you? Paying employees
to tend to customer support and feedback
all day long or letting your website collect
feedback 24 hours a day? Customer feedback
forms are becoming an Internet standard simply
because they give customers a great way to
communicate without requiring you to answer
a phone. Through a customer feedback system,
you can provide an FAQ (Frequently Asked
Questions) section to head-off unnecessary
phone calls and provide web forms for them
to submit questions or comments that could
not be addressed. The information that is
submitted can be saved in a database for
future reference. It can also then be emailed
immediately to anyone in your company, such
as yourself or a customer support representative,
for easy follow-up. This system allows your
company to be more productive because you
can respond quickly as well as at your convenience.
Additionally, if your business is so equipped,
you may even want to add a live chat feature
to allow visitors to interact with a support
representative instantly. We have a lot of
experience implementing a variety of such
systems for clients.
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04.
To Manage Data
The Web is a great way to manage your company’s
data. Whether you want to manage data for
an existing website or have a way to easily
manage other data from any Internet connection
in the world, the convenience of managing
information through a web browser is hard
to beat. If you are interested in having
a website with dynamic features (such as
products or events) but are concerned about
the sometimes tedious task of updating this
information frequently, let Avylon build
the tools you need to make this a breeze.
There is no need to download and upload data
when you can do it securely straight through
your web browser. Interactive, database-driven
features are our forte. Let us help
you streamline your data management tasks
into an easy-to-use application.
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05.
To Make Changing Information Available Quickly
Your website is a great place to post changing
information. The moment you post new information,
it is instantly live on the Web. Have you
ever sent out printed marketing materials
only to have a date or location change on
you? You can’t take it back it to make
corrections. With your website, however,
it is easy to let customers, friends, salespeople,
or the general public know when and where
that event is taking place. Do you routinely
want to showcase new products or examples
of your work? Why not put it on your website?
Where else can you make changes so quickly
and easily that are immediately accessible
to anyone online?
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06.
To Create An Intranet
The possibilities of an intranet seem nearly
limitless. An intranet is essentially a way
to share documents and interact with others
over the Web but in a private manner. Most
intranets are password-protected so that
only authorized individuals may access its
contents. Common applications found on an
intranet include employee timesheets and
productivity reports, sales data entry forms
and reports, invoice/billing tools, inventory
management tools, message boards, intercompany
bulletins, and virtually anything else you
can imagine needing to share with your employees,
vendors, lenders, salespeople, and more.
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07.
To Expand Your Business
Expanding your business through a website
is geared toward companies that have something
of value to offer, whether it be to promote
or sell products or information. The Internet
holds distinct advantages over running a
physical store. The obvious advantage is
that the geographic boundaries of a traditional
business are not present. Online you will
find that once you begin to market your business,
people will show up from all over the country
and often from all around the world. Somebody
always wants what you have. Promoting through
the Internet to find them and having a website
to draw them in will help you expand.
Perhaps your organization is not-for-profit
and only wishes to raise awareness and attract
more donors. A website presents a whole new
approach to marketing by supplementing or
replacing the need to distribute costly print
materials and cold-call for support. When
you gear your efforts toward advertising
on the Web and promoting your website instead,
you can attract a willing audience to your
website and captivate them with your message
once they arrive.
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08.
To Serve Your Local Market
The concept of using the Internet to serve
a local market is easily overlooked. When
most people think about websites, they think
of the global audience it could attract.
Sometimes this isn't desirable. A business
that is completely comfortable existing and
thriving in its local market may not be interested
in serving a larger market. For these people,
a website is just as useful as it is for
those who use it to expand globally. To serve
your local market, a website is still a great
means of serving, educating, and entertaining
your audience. You can only stuff so much
information on your business card and print
materials. When you publish your website
address on your cards and literature, though,
you give them an easy way to quickly hop
online and learn everything about you. More
and more people continue to go online to
search for local businesses, so it only makes
sense to be where your customers are.
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09.
To Serve A Specialized Market
If you have a specialty product or service,
you probably know very well just how much
work goes into finding that special customer.
When you work within the boundaries of a
geographic market, your marketing is geared
toward reaching the elusive one-in-a-million.
The Internet changes all this. For example,
let's say you are selling parts for classic
Mustangs. Not everyone in your area owns
a Mustang, let alone a classic that needs
parts. If you are trying to attract customers
in your area, you may be wasting a lot of
money promoting your business to an audience
that is largely uninterested. Now let's say
you have a website. Your marketing efforts
shift from print and other traditional media
and move to online advertising and promotions.
On the Internet there are special interest
groups for virtually any subject. Since there
are most definitely Mustang enthusiasts online,
it's exciting to know that you can find websites
where these enthusiasts meet to read, learn,
chat, and seek information. By advertising
exactly where your audience is, every penny
you spend immediately becomes more valuable.
So when they see your advertisement or read
about you on a message board, they go straight
to your website. Never before has attracting
a specialized audience been so direct and
efficient.
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10.
To Improve Your Business’
Profile
There is a fair amount of
prestige to having a website. It gives people
the impression that you are savvy enough
and smart enough to take your business to
another level. Since a website is such a
major convenience, it also tells people that
you are interested in sharing more information
with them. Even so, websites are still not
much of a concern for many businesses, whether
it be deciding to have one or deciding to
improve their existing website. Business
without websites should consider the opportunities
and improved profile that a website offers.
One note to make, however,
is that having a website alone is not enough
to improve your profile. It needs to meet
several criteria including aesthetic appeal,
usability, relevancy, and more. Many websites
that are slapped together have a cheap look
to them. This can have an adverse effect
on visitors' perceptions of your business.
If they feel that your website looks cheap
or amateurish, they may be inclined to think
that your business is also cheap or that
it is somehow less capable of meeting their
needs. So while a website is a nice addition,
it only makes sense to do so if the end product
does your business more good than harm.
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Contact us now to
discuss any of these items.
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