 | Exactly What is the Web? |
| What is "Web Access"? |
| The Wonders of Email |
| What IS a "Web Presence"? |
| Why would you want one?? |
| Isn't it expensive?? |
| Home | Advice | Site Set Up and Design | Server Access Audits | Training | Consultancy |
| Exactly What is the Web? |
| What is "Web Access"? |
| The Wonders of Email |
| What IS a "Web Presence"? |
| Why would you want one?? |
| Isn't it expensive?? |
Now when you need information you don't need to go to a Library or a bookshop. A company you are enquiring about does not need to be open for business. Information is available at the click of a button, twenty four hours a day.
The information becomes easier to find each day. There are numerous "search engines" on the web. These sites allow a user to enter details of the subject on which they are seeking information and the search will produce lists of sites which provide this information. A company can register their own site with at least 16 of these search engines. There are several major search sites which are most commonly used.
The Internet began as a collection of military and then academic computers, connected together to allow scientists to share information without having to spend time travelling between sites. The advantages of such technology soon became evident and it was not long before the commercial benefits were identified. Soon commercial servers were being connected, each hosting numerous companies and organisations.
Twenty years ago we went to the Bank to cash cheques when we needed money - now we slide a card into a hole in the wall, which might be located anywhere and which is available twenty four hours a day. The Internet is the information equivalent of a cash dispenser in your office or in your home.
As it sounds - this simply means having Access to the World Wide Web (or Internet - either term is appropriate). It is just what you are doing now. Providing your company with Web Access allows you to use a computer (any type, PC, Mac, Unix, etc) to connect to a "Service Provider" by modem. This may sound more complicated than it is. If you are accessing through your own connection you already know about this. If you are using a friend's access or are connecting through a "Cyber Cafe" or similar location you may not know quite how you got here....
Using software supplied by your provider you instruct your computer to telephone a given number and a connection is made between their system and the provider's. You simply pay for the telephone call at normal call charges. This connection can then be used to send Email or to "surf the net" (what you are doing right now). The connection need only remain open during the period of sending or receiving. Emails and web pages are usually read while the connection is open, but larger files can be received and saved for reading after the connection has been broken.
Email (Electronic mail) allows you to contact anyone with an email address, anywhere, no matter where they are in the world, and all for the cost of a local call measured in seconds. You can decide exactly what you want to say in advance, edit it as often as you like, just like a letter, and then send it in seconds, delivering it to the customer in a matter of hours, sometimes minutes. Postal strikes will not effect your contact. You can't miss your customer. If they have gone for lunch, or they are on the phone, the email will be waiting for them when they next look. Your customers can contact you in the same way. No more missed calls, telephone messages you can't read, no more misunderstood notes.
On receipt of a customer email you can take a moment to check for details or perhaps look for the answer to their question before sending a reply. The customer is not left waiting on the phone and yet they still get a fast response. If the information is technical or complicated it arrives in writing so no telephone notes are necessary and you can ensure you do not lose messages. You can set your email to store them in a file.
Should you wish to inform your customers of a special offer or a change of detail, perhaps in your web site, you can inform them by email considerably more cheaply than using the postal service. Not only do you save on postage, but your administrative staff are not tied up printing, folding and posting.*
*Note: email mailshots within Britain are subject to Data Protection rules. "Spamming" (sending unsolicited email to non-customers) is frowned upon by all service providers and users and may result in your email service being blocked by your provider.
A "web presence" sounds like the ghost of a spider - but all this phrase really means is that you have stored various pages of information regarding your business in a way that makes it accessible to someone exploring the Internet. The usual term for this form of promotion is a "Web Site". The S & K pages you are presently browsing is a typical example.
Like more familiar land based sites it has an address, which you can include on your business cards, headed paper and in advertising campaigns. The address is called a "URL". You will often see them included in adverts. They usually begin http:// followed by an address that is unique to that company. Each company that decides to have a web site chooses whether to add their name to a service provider's site address, or to have a "domain name" of their own. This must then be registered and no other company may use it, like a limited company title. Several companies have tried to register their name only to find someone has beaten them to it. McDonalds Fast Food chain had to pay out a lot of money to gain the use of the www.mcdonalds.com site address from a fast thinking user who had already registered it .
A Web Site is usually a collection of pages connected by "links" that tells your customer (or your competitor) what you want them to know. It can include text, pictures (still and animated), forms to complete, or options such as a search, or registration.
One of the buzz words of the 90's is "Networking" and this is its ultimate form. The World Wide Web is just that - World Wide. Any site, no matter which country it is stored in, can be read anywhere a person has web access. Given a satellite connection and a laptop you could search for venom antidotes from the middle of the jungle, or a frost bite cure from the North Pole.
The web offers you DIRECT connection to your customer. You communicate directly to the customer without requiring any third parties. You provide a clear image of your company, as you want to present it, with no risk of the information being distorted by well meaning middlemen.
The customer can source the information at a time that suits them, regardless of time zone.
Current Details and No Wastage
Information on the Web can be updated whenever required so the site is always up to date and the information available to the customer is always current.
The customer can be informed immediately of special offers, etc, especially those who could be informed by an email calling their attention to the site.
There is no possibility of a potential customer having an out of date brochure or promotional flyer.
Unlike printed materials there is no need to worry about how many people will need to be provided with the information. There is no likelihood of too few brochures being printed, leaving customers uninformed, or too many, wasting money on production.
Good Customer Relations
As the Web grows having an email address and/or web site has become a sign of a forward thinking company. Few major advertising campaigns do not now offer the address of a web site on which you can find further information.
The speed of communication and direct contact is appreciated by customers and can provide an edge on the competition, who may not yet have moved into this field.
It is not necessary to have an international clientele for a web site to be of use to a company. Many businesses whose services generate a lot of information enquiries find it saves considerable staff time to have a web site. Any business that has considered an information line with taped messages will probably find a web site of benefit, as would those taking regular adverts in local papers. A typical example would be the local cinemas. Both of Belfast's larger cinemas host sites. Other local web information sources include: local papers, schools, theatres, coal and oil suppliers, ferry companies, etc.
Direct Communication
Typically the web costs less than any other form of promotion. The initial set up usually costs less than a typical advertising campaign or brochure print off. Maintenance costs are low, with the charges for updating of information being minimal for small amendments such as price changes.
Web access and email address costs are largely supported by savings in telephone and postal usage.
We are happy to provide general advice to those considering a site. S&K do not charge clients a commission on service provider charges, however if we are not handling your web page design there will be a consultancy charge for specific advice.
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