IS THE INTERNET RIGHT FOR YOUR BUSINESS
There's a big push to get businesses online and using the Internet
to help their business. But is it right for your business?
The answer is probably, but not always. In the push to get people
online, government and non-government organisations alike sometimes
try to sell you Internet technology without even considering whether
it's a sound investment for your business.
There's no doubt that the majority of businesses can make savings
or increase revenue through some kind of Internet technology. In
our experience many of our customers have reported back to us with
claims such as:
"[Since starting the service, the increase in enquiries]
has flowed onto steady occupancy all year with a record 96% occupancy
in December. Considering we increased from 4 to 6 cottages in Feb
we are thrilled to have maintained our occupancy rates at an average
of 80% for the year."
and
"[It has been] absolutely the best investment we have made
since establishing the website."
And again
"It has been the the main reason my company has seen such
dramatic sales results".
So it's clear that if you get it right then the results can be
fantastic. But how do you determine whether it will work for you?
We often advise people that there are three basic questions you
need to ask before undertaking any kind of ecommerce or Internet
related investments:
- Will it help us sell more? or
- Will it reduce our costs in some way? or
- Will it give me more time to do other things or go to the beach?
If the answer to any of the above is Yes, then is the benefit worth
the expense you will pay?
And if the answer is No to all three questions, then there really
does need to be another good reason to do it, otherwise why would
you? Just because everyone else might be (and don't be sure that
they are), you need to make sure it is right for you before doing
it.
An example of someone who didn't need to invest in expensive technology
was a small accommodation provider in the Pacific southwest who was considering
setting up an automatic online booking system. Why? Because someone
had said it was a good idea, and it could reduce their administrative
time by taking bookings automatically. But it was going to cost
thousands to implement.
After investigating further, it seemed that the accommodation provider
already enjoyed a high level of occupancy, and they used a manual
booking system in a diary because they only had a few chalets. It
soon became clear that an online booking system wouldn't really
reduce administration too much (it didn't take long to write a booking
down in a book) - it certainly wouldn't reduce administration enough
to justify the cost of the system. Current customers also didn't
express a wish to pay online via credit card, so there were no benefits
there either. The advantages simply didn't seem to be nearly justified
by the expense.
Now the accommodation provider certainly could have benefited from
other ecommerce systems such as an improved website, or internet
advertising, but there was simply no reason for them to go down
the road of online bookings and credit card payments.
Ecommerce is likely to be beneficial for you in some way. But make
sure you make a proper assessment before implementing something
that looks good but perhaps isn't going to deliver. Remember, some
computer nerds are very clever with computers, but may not understand
your business as well as you do.
This Quarter's Question
This quarter's question comes from Rob:
"With so many web directories and portals asking me
to list my site with them, how do I know which ones to go with?"
Simple, Rob. Like any other business decision, you've got to know
what you're going to get out of it. In this case, website referrals.
Every directory or website that wants your business needs to be
able to tell you in advance how many visitors their site gets, how
many visitors your listing should expect, what kind of visitors
they get, and so on.
And on a regular basis the site should be providing you with concrete
figures as to how many times your listing was viewed, and how many
website referrals you got out of it. This is essential information
you need to know before you can decide whether to continue with
your listing when it's due for renewal.
Oh, and one last thing about statistics. When a site quotes their
website traffic, make sure they are talking about visitors and not
"hits". Hits often refers to a hit on the server, which
also includes images. So someone viewing a webpage with 8 images
on it counts as 9 hits (1 for the page, and 1 for each image). The
standard is to report on visitors, meaning actual people, regardless
of how many pages or images they view.
Got a question? Send it to us at news@bonitek.com
and we'll do our best to answer it, as well as publish one every
quarter for everyone to see.
MAKE MONEY FROM YOUR SPARE WEBSPACE
Got some room on your website? Not sure what to do with it?
The answer couldn't be simpler. Put an affiliate logo there, and/or a description
you want with a link to a complimentary site, a link exchange or charge the related business for use of your advertising space.
How hard is that?
So how does it work? Both sites should have statistic pages setup for tracking web activity or clicks between the two sites. You will be able to view these monthly and evaluate the benefits of being linked together.
How simple is that! Got questions, give us a call or email and put your site to work for you in more than one way.
Just for fun!
COMPUTER GLOSSARY
- Backup - What you do when you run over something.
- Bug - The reason you give for calling in sick.
- Byte - What your pitbull did to the postman.
- Terminal - Time to call the undertaker.
- Crash - When you go to someone's party uninvited.
- Digital - The art of counting on your fingers.
- Diskette - Female Disco dancer.
- Fax - What you lie about to the tax office.
- Hacker - Uncle Jim after 32 years of smoking.
- Hardcopy - Picture looked at when selecting tattoos.
- Internet - Where cafe workers put their hair.
- Keyboard - Where you hang the keys to the car.
- Megahertz - How your head feels after 17 beers.
- Modem - What you do when the grass gets too high.
- Mouse Pad - Where Mickey and Minnie live.
- Network - Scooping up a big fish before it breaks the line.
- ROM - Where the pope lives.
- Screen - Keeps mosquitoes out of the house.
- Serial Port - A red wine you drink with breakfast.
- Superconductor - CN Railway's Employee of the year.
