The Commercial HomePage:
The commercial HomePage is the means by which a company or organization gets a presence on the Internet. The difference between a HomePage and a small advertisement placed in a local paper is like night and day.
Your HomePage is the equivalent of a full page color magazine advertisement with a circulation greater than the Readers Digest and the TV Guide combined, plus it can contain text, pictures, sound, video, and allow for instant customer feedback.
For a small investment a well designed HomePage can provide your company or organization with a 24 hour, image enhancing full page advertisement and a means of getting your message out to an audience with the purchasing power that companies could have only dreamed about prior to the Internet explosion.
Do I need My Own Computer:
To place your HomePage on the Internet you DO NOT need a computer.
What you do need is the services of a company like IBS, which can not only help you layout the design and message of your page, but has the correct hookup via their computer systems to host your Web Site. In order for a service provider like IBS to host your page on the Information Super Highway THEY must have computer access to the Internet. This is usually accomplished by deploying (and maintaining) computer and communications equipment or by contracting these services through any number of Internet hardware companies.
In almost all cases a business that wants an Internet presence is interested in getting their HomePage designed and deployed, they could care less about all the gory details involved with running and maintaining their own Web Server (computer) and it's associated communications hardware.
Accomplishing this physical hookup to the Internet and getting a customers HomePage connected to the information super highway is usually the easy part.
Of more importance, it's how you advertise (via your HomePage, it's related links, and your site promotion) that will make the difference between success or failure with regard to Internet marketing.
A well designed HomePage should be built to accomplish a company's desired marketing goals and when used in conjunction with your companies overall marketing campaign, a HomePage can enhance your revenue stream, promote name recognition, and gather valuable customer feedback through electronic mail (email).
HomePage Design and Deployment:
Web Page Design Companies:
Most Web design companies can, or will only deliver a portion of the above services. If they can't produce all of the above (and then some) they have merely scratched the surface of marketing on the Internet. Deliver only some portion of the above and your company will have an Internet presence that may, or may not accomplish your overall Internet marketing goals.
Internet Advertising;
If you think that placing a HomePage on the Internet will be the end all to any advertising your organization requires, then stop right now. But if you understand that the Internet can be used as a powerful adjunct to compliment your existing conventional advertising, then you are well on your way to attaining a successful Internet presence.
Several factors that separate HomePage's from conventional advertising;
A large segment of the Internet user community looks at the Net as an information source. Almost all users look to the Net for some form of entertainment and/or a unique HomePage that creatively utilizes this new technology.
Commercial HomePage's should be graphically pleasing and pass along information to the user while being subtle about the heavy handed sales pitch.
If your page is not accomplishing this for you, the people advising you on this project are performing a disservice.
The Internet user you are trying to reach must come to you.
Surfing the Internet is a non-linear exercise and for a page to experience a satisfying hit rate, you must draw people to your page and then make the experience visually enjoyable enough for them to absorb your message.
One method of getting hits is to register your page with a large number of search engines, but your page must have the correct content to satisfy some of these tools. Another method is to design your page with numerous hypertext links, and to have your page linked to other pages on the Net with similar content (yes, you can provide links to your competitors).
One of the best ways to promote your Web Site is to splash your Web address inside of the conventional advertising that you are currently utilizing. Once your HomePage is established, your Web address (URL) should appear on stationary, business cards, print ads, etc. People who are Internet savvy will know exactly where to find you on the Net if they see your URL hanging in your storefront or prominently displayed inside of your place of business.
Customer FeedBack:
One of the most powerful tools on the Internet is the ability of a company and it's customers to communicate electronically in virtually real time (Email). If you intend to place information about your organization online, you should be prepared to respond quickly (strike while the iron is hot).
It is possible to design your page to automatically respond with a pre-designed mail message for all incoming Email to inform any user that their request was received, is being processed, and more details will follow shortly. This is like having a 24 hour operator field incoming messages and then send an instant acknowledgment prior to any formal processing of a request.
Over time a company can build a custom mail list from these Internet mail messages that can be used for target marketing or updating your customer base about new product roll outs or special sale price promotions. The two way nature of this communication also allows an organization to collect customer demographics and valuable marketing information.
The beauty of this electronic dialogue is that sending (and receiving) Email is extremely cost effective (cheap), compared to overland mail, faxing, flyers, or telemarketing.
Internet Online Sales:
Through Email and specialized forms processing your HomePage can be designed to accept online ordering of your products with payments processed via credit card (Amex, Visa, MC, etc.). Since most Internet shoppers are usually tuned in to product pricing for items or services they wish to buy, they will not pay a price premium for Internet purchases. If anything they would expect that savings encountered by a company to conduct business over the Internet are passed along to the consumer.
If your product or service is not priced, positioned and promoted correctly you will have a difficult time in the market place no matter what advertising medium you are using to grow your business.
Internet Business Services ~ The Web Consultants:
If you need support to qualify your Internet business requirements, IBS can help.
Review the services we highlight on our HomePage;
Then surf on over to the New York Network and take a peek at some of the Internet HomePages we are capable of delivering;
http://www.nynetwork.com/
Then give us a Toll Free
call at (1-888-WEB-KIDS)
and we are positive that you will be pleasantly surprised at how
quickly IBS can get you going on the Net at a price point
that is way below any conventional advertising you might currently be utilizing.
We hope that you have found this paper informative.
Take a look at our [Domain Name Services White Paper
] for further information...
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