eBusiness Weekly
Dr Keen Mhlanga
Many nations globally have felt and suffered the pandemic anguish in their social, political and economic aspects of life ever since it began in 2020.
The virus did not only destroy lives but business set ups of individuals and organisations from strict lockdown measures. Although a greater population has argued against the effects of covid on business some opportunists in the business environment have outsourced new methods of conducting business leading to development of niche markets.
As disastrous as it was the pandemic created room for reconstruction for numerous business operations and together with globalisation, it marked a sharp rise in use and adoption of technology by businesses.
Ever since the shock caused by Covid-19 business have made it mandatory to operate from all aspects in the country and for some worldwide by reaching out to clients online via company websites.
A business website is defined by being that which serves as a space to provide general information about your company or a direct platform for e-commerce.
Huge enterprises are well known for incorporating company websites as a way to foster quick communication with potential and existing clients, for instance big companies in Zimbabwe like Simbisa Brands, Impala Car Rentals, OK and TM supermarkets.
In general business versus technology context, a website is that which is used to officially represent a brand on the Internet, and which is often used as the landing page for advertising content.
Beyond a mere testimonial presence, a company website represents a business opportunity if the option is to provide to make purchases, and ideally should also be optimised as a means of making contact with customers or any other visitors, whereby users are provided with information about products or services, and can find valuable content such as novelties or special offers that promote loyalty.
This type of tool requires special care because it is essential that all contents comply with the company’s principles and facilitate its global focus by being fully integrated within the company structure and its general strategy.
It’s no longer feasible to run a business, even a brick-and-mortar one, without a web presence.
Consumers turn to the internet for everything from product research to location and operating hours.
Even just a simple, well-designed website can give you an edge in your field, and if you have products to sell, your site can open up new markets and expand your business cheaply and easily. Website design software has evolved to be easy for anyone to use.
You don’t need to know coding to develop an attractive and functional site. No matter what program you use, you just need to follow some basic rules and tips to give your website a professional look, make it easy to find, and show your company in the best light.
There are general steps to be followed when creating a company website. Determining the primary purpose of your website is the first and most important stage. A business website generally serves as a space to provide general information about your company or a direct platform for e-commerce.
Whether you create a simple website that tells a little about your company or a more complex e-commerce site, the most important thing you must do is say what your company does on the homepage in plain terms.
Whatever the fundamental goal of your website is or whatever the focus may be, users should be easily able to achieve it, and the goal itself should be reinforced as users navigate throughout your site. Your domain name is one of the most important features of your website.
It’s the URL you’ll share with your current and potential clients and promote on social media. Therefore, you want it to be descriptive and easy to remember and type in.
Try to keep it short, and steer clear of abbreviations, acronyms, and numbers, if possible, to avoid customer confusion. You also need to decide your top-level domain, or TLD.
This is the suffix at the end of your domain name, such as .com, .net or .biz. However, non-traditional TLD names have grown in recent years.
These TLDs can be based on location, such as. nyc, or type of business, like. marketing, agency or. law. While these can be descriptive .com is still the main go-to. Every website needs a host server where all its data is stored for the public to access at all times.
Hosting your own website is probably too large an expense for your small business, so you’ll need to select an external host. Depending on your budget, you can choose from two different routes.
A shared web host, the less-expensive option, means you’ll share a server with other sites. Dedicated hosting costs significantly more, but it means that you get your own private server and won’t have to compete with other sites that could drag down your speed.
Some web builder platforms, such as Squarespace and Wix, include web hosting in their monthly packages.
As your business grows, you may find that you need to upgrade to a different web host, or even work with multiple providers to handle your website traffic and operations.
A good website is more than a static homepage. You’ll want to create multiple pages dedicated to different aspects of your business, such as a detailed catalogue of your products or services, or a blog section for company updates.
As for your overall website, make sure each page supports the site’s primary goal, has a clear purpose and includes a call to action such as “learn more,” “sign up,” “contact us” or “buy this”.
A contact page, as your customers’ direct link to you, is one of the most important sections of a website, so include as much information as you can (your business’s phone number, email address and physical location, if you have one).
It’s also a good idea to include information about the founding team or staff on an “about” page so customers can put real names and faces to your brand. Some companies also add the payment system if applicable but the last stage of creating a company website is to maintain it.
Staying relevant is important, so update your website frequently with blog posts on current industry events, new products and offers, and company news to keep visitors coming back to the site. You should also check at least monthly to ensure your software and all add-ons are up to date.
When you’re developing or revamping your company’s website, one of the key things that you want to take a look at is the type of website that will best support your business.
Trying to accomplish too many goals with your website can cause confusion for your users, so your best bet is to choose one purpose for your website to focus on.
Therefore, the existence of different types of company websites but basically five are common. There is the E-commerce website whose purpose is to sell products or services.
You can have e-commerce websites like Amazon that sell a large variety of websites, or you can have websites like Woo Audio’s WA-234 MONO which is a website that only sells one product.
The main goal for this website is to get a visitor to purchase from you. Everything on this page, whether it’s a product page, or look book, or a collection page, should lead the visitor to purchasing a product from you.
Typically, on branding websites, you will find information about the company, the product and/or the service.
It is goal is to make the user familiar with the brand and to promote name recognition. One really great example of this is Pepsi’s Crystal Pepsi website.
The goal of a lead generation website is to, capture leads. This is great when you want to bring a visitor into a sales funnel or want to develop a deeper relationship with your visitors.
Websites that focus solely on publishing are similar to news websites or blogs — these ones often depend on advertisements and sponsored content to generate revenue.
The last group of websites are the support websites which are often used for larger tech companies to support hardware, software or services that they provide.
These websites can often provide frequently asked questions, ways to contact the support department, new software or driver patches, and community forums.
Although it seems hard work and expensive having a company website could prove beneficial to your organisation. With the vast use of technology businesses also need to move with time in-order to meet customer expectations in this 21st century.
Today, having a company website is as crucial as having a shop, office or telephone number. Research has found that 6/10 customers expect brands to have content online about their business.
Having a website means customers are always able to find you — anytime, anywhere. Even outside of business hours, your website continues to find and secure new customers.
It offers the user convenience as they can access the information they need in the comfort of their own home, with no added pressure to buy.
Plus, as most companies nowadays have their own website, there’s every chance you could be losing customers to your competitors by staying offline. At its simplest, a website provides a quick and easy way of communicating information between buyers and sellers.
You can list your opening hours, contact information, show images of your location or products, and use contact forms to facilitate enquiries from potential customers or feedback from existing ones. You can even upload promotional videos to really engage your customers and sell your business in an effective and cost- efficient way.
This is also a good way to promote your social media channels and build up a community with your customers. In today’s modern world, there is an expectation for any reputable company to have some kind of online presence.
Potential customers would likely be distrusting of any business that didn’t have a telephone number or a physical address, and the same can be said for not having a website and email address.
These are useful tools to share crucial information about your business with customers and answer all the What’s and Why’s that they may have.
What’s more, having a good quality, easy-to-use website makes customers feel comfortable using your services, as they will assume, they can expect the same positive experience in all areas of your business.
As well as simply displaying information, you can also use your website to sell goods & services directly to consumers, in some cases removing the need to use “brick-and-mortar” stores which involve large operating costs (staff wages, rental, utilities to name just a few).
Eliminating these overheads will also allow you to lower your prices, giving your business that real competitive edge. It can also be used internally within your business; do you have any news you want to share with colleagues or have any important information that can be accessed by management?
Having an internal website can save you a lot of time as everything you need is one place and can be accessed at any time.
Another advantage of having company websites is that they foster fast growth. As your site is accessible to anyone all over the world, the ability to break through geographical barriers has never been easier.
Anyone, from any country, will be able to find your company and as such, is now a potential customer.
Analytic tools allow you to identify who your typical customer is, how they found you, what they like, and adapt your business to maximise purchases through your site.
The diverse range of data available can also help you better understand how your social media channels affect your brand, and can even highlight opportunities to change the offline aspects of your business such as branch opening times, promotions and product ranges.
Tools like Google AdWords or advertising on Facebook give you the power to reach customers with much more accuracy and reliability than with traditional offline advertising methods. SEO and online advertising are a great way to help build up awareness, if it’s done correctly traffic to your website can see an increase.
Be the first company that a potential new customer sees when searching for a specific product or service online, and use your website’s contact page or e-commerce features to make purchasing a product or finding a retail outlet easier than ever before.
If you don’t have a website it is highly likely that your competitor will do, this means that you are missing out on gaining new customers and can be in the forefront of their minds.
It is crucial that no opportunities are missed and are gained by the competition. Websites provide an easier way to handle customer service. Offering answers to regularly asked questions in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section, you can reduce customer service costs and save yourself time and money, as well as providing much more information.
This also means that customers can receive a reply instantly and saves time, which helps to encourage positive customer relations in the long run.
This could be a benefit for you, all positive feedback can be uploaded into a testimonial.
However, on the other hand company websites can pose as a disadvantage to organizations.
Having a website risks attracting bad publicity. If a customer is unhappy with your service or products, then they may feel the need to vent their frustrations online and reference your website in their review/comments.
This could be potentially damaging, hurting both your reputation and your search engine ranking. The information on your website might be unreliable if not updated on a regular basis.
You need to ensure that changes are made when necessary and have a disclaimer with regards to the reliability of the information contained within.
Websites, in general, are great ways to in providing a place that potential investors can be referred to. It shows what your company is about, what it has achieved and what it can achieve in the future.
The advantages of a business website far outweigh the disadvantages hence the potential for business exposure, advertising and increased sales should be too good for any business to pass up.
Dr Keen Mhlanga is the executive chairman of Finking Financial Advisory. He can be contacted on keenmhlanga@gmal. Com or +263719516766
