How can a Website improve your business?

Websites are good for business – everyone knows that! But have you ever stopped to ask yourself – what are the ways that a website can help my business? If not, you are in luck – we have listed some of them below.

1. Always available -- Your web site is open 24/7 so your customers can interact with your business when it’s convenient for them. Everyone is on a tight schedule these days. They may really appreciate the convenience of finding what they need without having to stop, call, and ask -- filling in a form, signing up for a newsletter, reading your blog, getting a quick quote, booking online, downloading your e-book, or reading your case studies, all in their OWN time!
2. Interact and communicate with your customers regularly -- People will keep you in mind if you keep in touch. It’s much easier to sell to customers who already know and trust you, so keep in touch and stay top of their mind. Regular email newsletters and updates to your website will help you better communicate with your customers. Additionally you should spend time setting up your online profiles on networks you belong to (eg Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+) – these are a low cost way to get more of YOU online!
3. Share your expertise -- It’s not enough to provide just information about your products and services. Your expert advice may give you the edge over the competition and potentially even make the sale. Think of your website as an employee, presenting your customers with help and knowledge about your company’s area of expertise.
4. Strengthen your credibility -- A well designed website will add credibility to your business and strengthen your brand. On the other side of that, a poorly designed or outdated website may portray your business as amateur or disorganised. By providing customers with information in an organised and well-presented manner, you can show customers you anticipate their needs and set an excellent impression for all transactions to follow.
5. Increase your customer reach -- There is no other way that provides the geographic reach of a website, and internet usage continues increase year after year. If you don’t have a well placed website someone else will get your business. Your website puts your business out there to be found by anyone anywhere who is already looking for what you offer.
6. Save on marketing spend -- With website content, you incur no printing, shipping, or postage expenses, and updates are quick and easy. It can be tailored to suit the size of your business and your budget.

Hope this information will help take your business to the level you want it to be. These points just needs to be implemented, and the results will come.

Best Regards,
Dumsani Mabuza
DWD Solutions
www.dwdsolutions.co.za
+27 73 996 4696

info@dwdsolutions.co.za

Can You Run Your Business Without A Website!!

Your Customer's Are Looking For You ONLINE, did you know that!!

DWD Solutions
073 996 4696
www.dwdsolutions.co.za
info@dwdsolutions.co.za

Strenghts and Weaknesses of E-Business

 

Strengths and Weaknesses of E-Business

 

The Internet has become a place where millions of people all over the world get information, find out about new companies and purchase products. Setting up an e-business segment to your company requires the same kind of planning necessary to set up any other business segment, according to the online business resource "Entrepreneur." Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of e-business helps to create an Internet business plan that suits your company.

 

Accessibility

E-business allows 24-hour access, seven days a week for you and your customers. You can tie your online order entry component to a real-time inventory tracking program, and your customers can place orders with up-to-date information any time of the day or night. You can also create an portal to your e-business that you and your employees can access to get updated sales data, create marketing reports or work remotely from anywhere in the world.

Scalability

When you put together a user-friendly e-business interface, your company is on a level playing field with any other company in the world. You can grow and change your e-business component as you see fit to accommodate the needs of your customers, or the needs of your growing business. Your Internet business can become as big as you need it to be without costing you anything extra for office space, warehouse space or even personnel.

 

Security

While your data is much more useful to you when it is accessible through your e-business portal, it is also exposed to hackers. A hacker cannot get into a locked filing cabinet to find your confidential business information, but if you have an e-business segment that offers real-time pricing, then your costs are exposed. An Internet business also exposes your servers to viruses and hackers.

Imitators

Prior to the advent of the Internet, a company needed to invest a great deal of money into creating an image. Marketing collateral was created, advertising was done and trademark laws helped to protect the image the company worked so hard to create. Marketing collateral is print advertisements, product information sheets and any kind of materials created to market a product. With an Internet business, imitators can take advantage of your company's success and copy what you are doing. Your logo and the proprietary business processes you create are still protected by trademark and copyright laws, but your web layout and promotional ideas can be copied by other companies, causing confusion in the marketplace.
DWD Solutions
info@dwdsolutions.co.za
http://www.dwdsolutions.co.za

Dumsani Website Design Solutions: How Often Should I Updated My Website?

Dumsani Website Design Solutions: How Often Should I Updated My Website?:       The short answer is “ as often as there is anything worth updating !”  The problem we run into, however, is deciding what ...

How Often Should I Updated My Website?

 

 

 

The short answer is “as often as there is anything worth updating!”  The problem we run into, however, is deciding what is worth updating.  Website maintenance is about more than just your “news and events” page.  Let’s face it – when you run a business, you have news.  You have: new products, staff changes, announcements, policy changes, new services, warnings, tips – the list goes on.  You have things to talk about!  You really should make a point to update something on your website at least once a week.  Let’s review a few reasons why, and some suggestions of WHAT to update.

Your clients really DO want to see your updates.

Making website updates has nothing to do with vanity or tooting your own horn – not that there is anything wrong with that.  Many people hesitate to put news out about themselves or their company because they place themselves last.  The customer comes first, after all.  Whether they are afraid updates appear to be shameless self-promotion, or they simply don’t want to take time away from their customers, their own website takes the back seat.  Website Maintenance is a crucial foundation in any marketing strategy.  Google ignores your website if it isn’t updated.  Viewers get a bad impression if there is old data on your website.  This isn’t about tooting your own horn, this is about making sure your website is visible when your potential customers are searching.

Update your website to make it more interesting to read.

Your website viewers probably have more interesting things they COULD be reading.  They came to your website because they were looking for information.  Make sure you have what they are looking for on your website.  When you add new products or services, make sure you put it on your website.  A good website maintenance strategy will ensure you never lose a potential customer because you didn’t have the right information online.

Update your website to make a good first impression.

They may seem like silly things, but the Copyright 2002 in your footer makes a bad first impression.  Having the latest post on your blog page several years old makes a bad first impression.  You see the pattern here.  Your customers want to do business with whoever they perceive to be the best.  Having a bunch of outdated posts, wrong dates, staff members who don’t work there anymore – they all make a very bad first impression.  Having outdated items on your website is like standing up to speak with a giant food stain on your shirt – your audience is too busy looking at the stain to listen to your message!

DWD Solutions
info@dwdsolutions.co.za
073-996-4696
http://www.dwdsolutions.co.za

The Importance of Having a Contact Us Page on your Website?

The Contact Us page is one of the second most important page to have on your website and plays an integral part of a websiteallowing visitors, the press, bloggers, or even advertisers to get in contact with you.  As a business owner, having a contact us page connects visitors into potential customers for your business website.  There are two reasons to include a contact us page on your website. The following are:

1. People can contact you by various means such as sending you an email, sending you physical mail, or even call your company by telephone.
2. Since the majority of us have mobile phones with internet capability, we can be able to grab the phone number listed on the website and store that number in our contacts making it easier to reach the company when needed.

What to include on a contact us page?
Sometimes the Contact Us page is at the bottom of the website making it difficult to find and can be disappointing.  Some websites have their contact page separate while other websites place their contact information within the top header of each page or even on the right hand side of each web page they have for their site. A great example of this is Durant Manor Condominiums. If you notice on their website, they have their contact information displayed not only on each page but they have a separate Contact Us page as well making sure their customers can reach them.
On the contact us page, some businesses include just the basics such as the name of the company, the physical address, the email address, and the telephone number while others might include a form for visitors to fill out requested information.
In conclusion, it is really important to have a Contact Us page for your visitors and to have it visible so visitors will not have a difficult time finding the Contact Us page. Your Contact Us page can include just the basics or a contact form and should not include any type of advertising.
What have you included on your Contact Us page?

Best Regards,
DWD Solutions
073-996-4696
info@dwdsolutions.co.za

Why Your Small Business Needs it's Own E-mail Address?

In our recent post, we shared tips for finding custom domain names for your business when the domain name you want is not available. Once you select a domain name, you should also consider a custom email address. A custom email address helps you create a professional image and boosts your business’ credibility.

Another important reason for setting up customized email addresses for your business is the flexibility it gives you. For instance, when selecting your custom email address, you can select email aliases for various departments such as support@yourbusinessname.com or info@yourbusinessname.com. This provides more clarity to your customers when they communicate with you as opposed to routing all communications to one free email address. Email aliases will also direct to one inbox so that you can read and reply to all emails through the appropriate alias as well as categories inquiries.

When you have your own custom email addresses you also have full control over them. For instance, you can easily create new ones or remove inactive ones. When a new employee joins your company, you can easily set up one for him or her and create more custom addresses as you hire more staff.

Lastly, getting a custom email address for your business is important because it makes you and your business more memorable in your customers’ inbox. It helps to build a brand. Imagine your customers getting an email from jacob40911@yahoo.com instead of jacob@yourbusinessname.com. Which email do you think they are most likely to open and respond to?

With jacob@yourbusinessname.com, they instantly remember you and your business and can decide quickly whether they want to engage with you or not. Today’s customers are always on the go and are usually pressed for time. Therefore, making the best impression whenever you send email communications to their inbox can really give your business a competitive advantage.

Stop using free email addresses
There are several reasons why you should stop using free email addresses for your business. Using free email addresses, such as gmail or hotmail, could position your business as spam and give potential customers the view that your business is not properly established or credible.

Think of your favorite brands. Are there any that use free email addresses to communicate? The reason why most of them don’t is because having a professional email address helps businesses have a professional outlook.

With free email addresses, because there are often time millions or even hundreds of millions of businesses using the services, it is often difficult to get an email address relevant to your website. With your own custom emails, you can create a business email address for yourself. This is an effective way of branding yourself and your business and would make your email address more memorable to your clients.

Many organizations also block free email accounts so as to prevent viruses and spam. And, one of the most important aspects of having an email address is so that people will receive and read the emails you send. Having a custom email account reduces your risk and lowers your cost as a credible business, since the goal is to have customers and prospects read your emails, communicate with you and purchase.

Also, a custom email address has a very low overhead. The cost to your company is less than the price of a movie ticket.

Hope you make it!!

DWD Solutions
info@dwdsolutions.co.za
073-996-4696