The Cost Profit of a Great Website
Like any form of advertising, the cost of your website is best viewed as an investment, and its success should be measured by ROI, or the profit it generates for you.
If you have a great website that results in more sales, and a higher dollar volume on each sale, the site pays for itself. On the other hand, a cheap website may drive your customers away. And not having a website means that customers searching for your products or services on the internet will not even consider your business.
Its interesting to compare the cost of a website to the cost of more traditional advertising media. A great website will be more much cost-effective than any of these other methods, and more importantly, the Internet is used more heavily by people under thirty-five years old. This group is starting out in life, and may not have existing relationships with anyone who supplies the products or services that you supply. When you win these customers, they may be your customers for the rest of their lives. .
Compared to the Yellow Pages
An advertisement in the Yellow Pages is expensive, but it lasts for a year, or until your prospect recycles the phone book. And many recycle the phone book as soon as they get it, they use the internet to find phone numbers.
In a Neilson poll that was reported in October of 2007, 86% of the people surveyed used the Internet to find a local business, while 56% of the people used phone directories less than they did two years previously.
Yellow Pages ads all are similar--you can buy a larger ad, and use color, but overall, there's not a lot of difference between the ads. A great website will get your message out to your prospective customers and help you show how you excel at your business.
What is the cost of a Yellow-Pages ad that only a few people look at? A great website will not only be seen by more people, it will also differentiate you from your competitors.
Compared to Newspapers
A website is lasting, it doesn't get thrown out with the trash after its read. A website is there when your customer needs what your business supplies.
Almost four times as many Americans use the Internet to get news and information than read newspapers. According to a Zogby poll in February, 2009, more people get their news and information from online sites than from traditional media. 40% said online news sites are where they get most of their news and information, while 25% used television, 14% used radio and only 12% used newspapers.as a source of daily news and information.
Another example of the rising use of the internet is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's campaign. According to the New York Times, he had spent $110,000 on internet advertising and $50,000 on newspaper advertising as of March 13, 2009.
Clearly, a great website is more available to your prospective customer when they need you.
Compared to Flyers and Direct Mail
The largest advantage a website has over flyers and direct mail is that the website is always there--it doesn't get thrown away.
But we don't see Flyers and Direct Mail as competing with your website--we believe that these methods should work hand in hand. The flyers can alert your prospects to some new product or service you provide, and cause them to want to investigate that product. Your website will give them a more in-depth view of your offerings, and will also convince your prospects to become customers.
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