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Businesses, why get a web site?

• Capture your domain name now
• Inexpensive Advertising
• Web Sites are world wide
• Almost unlimited size
• Web sites are working 24 hours a day / 7 days a week
• Customer Support
• Visual, motion, and sound Impact
• Map to you / Contact information
• Web only features
• On-Line Ordering
• Supplement your print advertising

Capture your domain name now.

Domain names are the dot com and similar names you hear about. Once a company has a domain name (companyname.com), they can have a web site name (usually www.companyname.com), or an electronic-mail address like john.doe@companyname.com or sales@companyname.com. You can have more than one name, you pay the annual fee for each name.

If you have not captured a domain name, you should get one now EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET A WEB SITE NOW. Domain names are being registered (taken up) at an incredible rate. If you do not already have a domain name, you should at least register your name now to hold it for when you do want a web site or as an asset that you can sell with the business. Registering a domain name will cost $35 to 50/year depending on the name.  You do not need to commit to a web site in order to register your domain name. Just visit one of the domain name registrars sites. The original registration site is NetworkSolutions.com. There are discount registrars, but if you are not familiar with Internet registration, we recommend pay the retail price and stay with Network Solutions. If you are not familiar with Internet names, we can register your name for you.

For more information about domain names click here. 

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Inexpensive Advertising:

The price for simple web page advertising is very low. Simple web sites are frequently only setup cost plus $20/month. The monthly cost covers numerous pages of graphics, text, even sound and video clips. If you are willing to put other companies advertising on your site, you can find places that are cheaper than $20/month.

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Web Sites are world wide:

People all over the world get to see your web site. Anyone in the world that has a computer with a web browser and an Internet connection can see your web site.

If you already deal with clients in other countries, you know the problems that the difference in time zones causes you and your customers. Consider the advantages of a web site that is on 24 hours a day to display your products/services, support your customers, present your news, take orders on-line, and many other services and functions.
If you are not already dealing with international clients...maybe you could.

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Almost unlimited size:

Once the web site is set up, the page size and number of pages does not add much to the cost of the web site. In many cases you would have to add dozens of pages before the basic fee goes up.

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Web sites are working 24 hours a day / 7 days a week:

It is there for the people that are looking for something in the early morning before work, regular daytime, or the evening browser. This is true for all time zones, holidays, and weekends; whenever your customer wants it, it is there.

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Customer Support:

In most businesses, there are about 10 questions that represent about 90% of the support calls at any given time. The list of top ten questions changes periodically, but usually does not change rapidly.

You can publish the top 10 support questions with their solutions for your customers. This support help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some of your customers will prefer to use this method rather than call your support line. Many will prefer to check the web site for updates before they call your support line. If your support line is only open 8 to 5, you can add web support 24/7. This is better for your customers and for you.

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Impact:

VISUAL - Some things just work better as a picture. You can show your products, features, new items, new people, etc. The same visuals you can put into a print ad can go in a web site for a lot less cost, remember, additional space in a web site is usually free. MOTION - Animated graphics can get a lot of attention. You can also incorporate animation clips or short movies into your web site. SOUND -  You can place sound bytes or even voice presentations in your web site.

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Map to you / Contact information:

You can provide a map to your location. You can include a picture of your storefront or sign so people will recognize it when they drive by. You can provide information on phone numbers, fax, email, and web sites.

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Web only features:

Some things are unique to the Web. Links to and from other web sites that complement your site. Search your site for specific information. Gather e-mail addresses for a notification list. Gather addresses for mailings. Fill out an on-line form or e-mail to ask you questions.

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On-Line Ordering:

On-line ordering expands your sales options to a larger area, to off hours, to customers that can not get to your location, even to other countries. On-line ordering can be safe and secure with secure SSL, can be set up to accept credit cards, and notify you of the order in a variety of ways. 

PayPal is one of the most popular methods of accepting credit cards on the Internet. It is easy to sign up for a PayPal merchant account, just click on the link below.

We also have a convenient mail-in method for customers that do not have a credit card or who are not comfortable with giving credit card information over the Internet.

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Supplement your print advertising:

A web site is not the answer to all your problems. Consider using print adds to direct people to your web site, and use the web site to paint the detailed picture, or do the on-line ordering. You can get a lot of features into a web site. We have a customer that is a web savvy printer that can coordinate a web and print campaign for you.

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