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This is a big question with a multitude of answers.
Development and distribution costs are extremely low. When you compare the cost
of establishing a website to what it costs to promote your business in print or
on the air, you'll see that a website is the cheapest form of marketing ever created.
Radio, Newspaper and magazine ads are highly priced,
and they only last for the life span of that particular publication. A website has
virtually limitless space.
You could put up a website with dozens of photographs and several thousand words
for under $500-$600 for the first year, and keep it up and running for a few hundred
dollars per year after that.What would it cost to run a newspaper ad of this size
for a year? Imagine how much it would cost to produce a catalog for 200
different products, and keep it in consumers' hands for an entire year. You can
accomplish this with a website very easily, with low development cost and almost
no distribution cost. Websites are in full color - a palette of 16.7 million colors
for your photographs alone.
A website is accessible globally; that means your website can be viewed by anyone,
anywhere, as long as they have Internet access. There are no physical limitations
to broadcast areas as in radio, no circulation region restrictions as in newspapers
or magazines.
You can keep your website more current more affordably than any other
media; you can update a website immediately, and as often as you like. Imagine you
sell products whose prices fluctuate. With a website, you can change these prices
every time they go up or down, so your marketing materials are always accurate.
In addition, with a website the little guys can compete with the big guys since
a website is economical and not limited by size. This means a small business can
present as large or creative an image on the Internet as a bigger company - with
the right design team. A website also allows easy, safe communication between the
consumer and you so that anyone who visits your site can contact you at any time
by sending an email.
Unlike communications that originate from other forms of advertising,
consumers who send emails don't have to deal with many problems of everyday business:
pushy salesmen, remembering to call during business hours, having to battle crowds
to get to your stores, spending time waiting on voice mail or getting the wrong
information. It's convenient, easy, and safe for the consumer. Email is also convenient
for you.
You can respond to all your customer inquiries at the same time, and do
it when you have a free moment - not in the middle of rush hour when someone calls
up to ask for product information or directions to your location. You can save money
on tech support and answering questions.
If your employees spend a lot of time answering
the same questions and sending out the same material, you can reduce that labor
cost significantly by providing the information on the website. For instance, a
client can avoid having to mail or fax information for over 1,000 phone call solicitations
in a one-year period simply by providing the information on their site. That improves
on labor costs and provides a real cost savings in reduced long distance phone bills
(for faxes) and postage.
Your website can also take orders while you sleep as people
can place orders on a website at any time, day or night. But most importantly, no
salesmen manning the store, no utilities, no insurance, no payroll...computers don't
need a benefit package or overtime. For every second of every day, your website
is working for you!
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