Webquest Ltd ::: web design, web hosting and multimedia

Online sales are rapidly increasing with millions of internet users going online everyday, searching for product information and the opportunity to buy. With secure sites, customers can be assured that their Credit Card details are kept private. Consequently, confidence and trust is growing, resulting in the rapid increase of online purchasing.

If your business would suited to e-commerce (selling your products and services electronically), contact to us to discuss how we can make it a reality and how we can put you in touch with potential online customers. Remember, our focus is to help you achieve your business objectives and this may not even involve very much in the way of capital investment.

This is often overlooked but it is vitally important. Any website should be integrated with your traditional marketing plan. You should know who your customers are, why they would want to visit your site, what they would be looking for and why they would choose your product and service over your competitors. This is no different to a bricks and mortar marketing plan; there has to be a reason for the customer to pick you.

Your brand is important and it is critical that your website is built to protect your brand with a style that is consistent with your current advertising and promotional strategy.

Furthermore, Domain Names are an important part of any online marketing strategy and wherever possible should reflect your brand or what you do as closely as possible. We can help you decide on a domain name that best compliments your business.

Getting It Right - Some Points To Consider
Here is a list of things you might want to ask yourself in respect of your new or current website. If it is not sending out the right message, it is not going to convert into “sales”.
Online marketing brings visitors to your company or organisation, not only because they already know about you but also because you are making others aware or your products, services and/or organisation.

Is it up to date and does it provide current content? Reflect on the products, services, personnel, contact details etc

Does it focus on the solution or benefit you provide? Make it clear how you can help them.
What is the one thing you want to communicate? Feature it!
What is your target market? How do I reach them?
Does my market understand what you offer or communicate? Keep it simple.
Does it make it clear what sets you apart from others? Price, service, brands.
Does it focus on one compelling point? Don’t crowd it with too much text or too many products.
Does it communicate your business personality? Create emotions of friendliness and trust.
Does it generate interest apart from buying? Entice visitors to enquire – they may not be ready to buy.
Does it give prospects more than one way to respond? Provide a choice and make it easy.
Can you measure the response? A “stats” facility behind the website can be very informative.

Consumers are searching for your products and services online but without some form of “presence”, you will not be found. This can achieved by actually having a website (you’d be amazed at how many companies don’t) but that presence needs to be enhanced!

This can be achieved by simply ensuring you have accurate keywords or to a greater level by buying a front page search ranking through the likes of Adwords – there are alternatives but these are dependent on your motivation and budget. Please speak to us about the options and the potential to meet your target markets.

Note: As an example, you may liken the website to a retail shop. You can position yourself in the side streets and take a chance on the walk by consumers. Or you can pay a premium and position yourself in the “mainstreet” – chances are you will be visited by a far greater number of passing shoppers and consequently achieve greater sales, having paid a premium for that significant exposure. A website is no different.

Shopping Online
The Internet has profoundly transformed the way people learn about and shop for products. Previously this was through the traditional means of print advertising, radio advertising, and trade shows but today consumers start their shopping experience by looking on the internet, via the search engines, social media sites and even the blogosphere. In order to compete, businesses need to be online.

The Dynamics of Marketing
As indicated above, people have been inundated with flyers, brochures and e-mail campaigns and are not happy about it. Not surprisingly, they have looked at ways of blocking the flow eg spam filters, “no circulars” etc. Consequently, outbound advertising is becoming less effective. There is a real need to consider how you can utilise the inbound options such as search engine optimisation and other marketing techniques.

As consumers regularly go to the search engines to research and purchase products or services, one has to consider how to best achieve a high search engine ranking. This comes in two forms:

Organic or natural results (gathered by search engine web crawlers and ranked according to relevance to search terms such as keyword match);
Paid results (listings that require a fee for the search engines to list their link for particular keywords).

Other Media
If you are using other promotional services (eg; newspapers, magazines, radio) please ensure that your website name is prominently referred to as the place to go for "for more information" or "specials".