What will a website do for my business?

There is no straight answer to this question. It surely depends on how you design your website and what you use it for. It can be anything from a simple window into your business, where you explain who you are and provide some contact information, to a complex system that becomes the backbone of your company and you cannot live without. But let's go step by step and consider the possibilities. Many people just don't imagine what they can get with a website. If you're one of them, read on and you will find some answers. If you do know what a website can do for you...read on too! You may find new ideas. The simpler version of a company website would be a bunch of institutional pages: a home page where you welcome your visitors and tell something about what you do. Then a page with the company history, and a page with contact information. If you sell products, you should include pages displaying them, with pictures if possible. This simple website will not require much maintenance, and will lead new customers to you, people who wouldn't find you otherwise. Moving one step forward, you can take your institutional site and add a newsletter service. So your customers, or other visitors to the site, sign up to receive a periodic email with information and news about your company. This allows you to know who is interested in your business, and offer them solutions and products. Plus, it helps generate loyalty. You will be making an effort to stay constantly in touch with potential customers. Another step you can take is offer support to your customers in your website. It can be anything from email support, a tickets system or live chat. Whatever suits you and your business. You could also implement a forum where customers can post questions and answers, thus creating a community of users. If you sell products that have print manuals, you can generate PDF versions of these manuals and have them available on your website for download. Then, a bigger step. You can move part of your business to the web. For example, you can enable a form where customers can submit quote requests. Or include a shopping cart to directly sell your products. These are only some of the possibilities, which in fact are endless. You must think about your company in particular, and what you think would help you. If you travel often, a password protected tool where you can enter and view information from any computer may be handy. If you have salesmen all around the city, or the country, a password protected tool where they enter the orders will help you collect the information. Once you decide you will have a website for your company, you need: -someone to create the website: a web designer, and also a web programmer if you plan to have something other than a small institutional site. Unlesss you can create it yourself using a site builder tool. Sometimes, the same person is designer and programmer. -a domain: this is the internet address of your company. You need to register it. For example, www.your-company.com . Once you register a domain, it is yours until it expires, and you can renew the registration before expiry date. Domains can be registered for a year, or two, or ten, for example. You pay an annual fee which decreases if you register for several years at the same time. -a hosting company: this is the place where you will host your website, where it will be kept so people can reach it. You need to choose the hosting plan that is adequate for your needs. There are lots of hosting companies, with all ranges of packages and prices. If you have a small website, you do not need a fancy hosting plan, just something simple will do. It is important that the hosting company is serious and reliable. If you're creating a business website, don't host it in a free server. It won't do good to your image. You will find hosting plans are not expensive. This has been a simple description of what a website can do for your business. If you still don't have one, you should seriously consider it. If you already do have a website, think about what you have and maybe you will want to make some changes or improve it. It will always be a good tool to help you grow.