Building a better Web site - business uses for Internet sites - Brief Article

Black Enterprise, Jan, 1999 by Rebecca Frances Rohan

A great site starts with a great plan

Web surfers are ready to spend money. With a small investment of time and money your site can divert dollars from your competitors who aren't online when the customer's fingers do the clicking. In this series we'll walk you through the entire process of creating a Web site--from concept to completion.

WHAT KIND OF SITE?

The most important question to answer is: Why do you need a Web site? Many businesses approach the Web without a clear idea of how it can enhance their overall business objectives. Do you want to interact with your customers or suppliers or both? Will you have visitors register on your site so you can build a database of potential customers? The answers will help you decide what kind of site best suits your needs. Begin thinking of the Web as an integral part of your business and treat it accordingly--not as an afterthought.

There are two basic kinds of sites, informational and interactive. An informational site can be as simple as a company logo, contact information and a listing of services. More elaborate ones may include a product listing with photos or a three-dimensional virtual tour of your offices. Although the cost and complexity of these sites vary greatly, they share a common denominator: users can get information by tapping into your site, but they can't take any immediate Web-based action.

Interactive sites can range from a simple Web page with a questionnaire to full-fledged e-commerce that allows users to buy goods online.

Many companies are seduced by the Internet and assume they must have the biggest and most elaborate site, but if that doesn't make sense for your business objectives, don't do it.

"We wanted prospective customers to learn about our company and capabilities," says Kevin Jackson, chief technology officer for Sentel (www. sentel.com), an Alexandria, Virginia-based BE 100s company that creates integrated wearable computers for NASA and people who need hands-free access to a computer when on the road. "By showcasing the software and hardware we integrate, we can prove how this information technology supported our other core areas," adds Jackson. Although Sentel is a high-tech company, its Web presence is simply a marketing tool--thus an informational site.

INFORMATIONAL SITES

These sites are Fairly simple to create and can even be developed in-house with off-the-shelf software. Most small companies have the site hosted by a professional Web services company to avoid the cost of maintaining an in-house Web server.

You can add graphics, sound and even video and panning/zooming panoramas to the site to boost the sense of interactivity for your visitors. Although anyone can pop these things into a page with little effort, creating the content requires a competent designer who understands your strategy and how it translates to the Web. If out-sourced, "brochure" sites can cost from a few hundred dollars to $75,000 in design and consulting fees, depending on what you want.

A business card or billboard site is the simplest form of a Web presence. It can be a single-page that announces your company name, purpose and contact info with a scanned logo. A few well-organized pages about your company and products or services can go a long way to attract clients.

INTERACTIVE SITES

These sites enable visitors to take action rather than just read--e.g., search your site, order online and more. Prices begin around $5,000 and can run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Because they require more technical expertise, these sites should be handled by a professional.

A simple e-commerce site includes online transactions, usually with a shopping cart and a third-party credit card processing company. Businesses that place up to 10 items online can get a free shopping-cart site from iCat Corp. (www.icat.com), an Internet services company in Seattle, or pay $50 a month for selling more than 10 different items. E-commerce comes in various forms. Scott Sedlik, director of brand marketing for iCat, breaks out these three levels, which can cost from $10,000 to $250,000:

* Database-driven e-commerce provides consumers with a dynamic shopping experience. Visitors to the site are able to search, order and pay for an item quickly.

* Integrated back-office includes ordering, inventory, accounting and shipping systems. All are tied together and require no manual input among the systems. Pertinent information is easily accessible to vendors and customers.

* One-to-one marketing provides specific offers based on an individual's behavior at the site. For instance, if a visitor looks at an item for a certain length of time and doesn't purchase it, a special offer can be made before they leave the site.

"Don't take the Web lightly," warns Sentel's Jackson. "Information on our site that we thought was pretty benign found its way onto a Yahoo message board. It resulted in a tremendous increase of hits on our Web site." To field such response, assign someone to respond promptly to e-mail, answer phones and process orders efficiently.