Category Archives: Web Development

Landing Page Design, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

Why Manufacturing Organizations should use ERP System?

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Survey statistics suggest that more and more companies dealing with manufacturing of goods are using the ERP software to streamline their business process. In fact statistics suggest an overwhelming increase in adoption rates from 18% to 32% in the last few years. Organizing things in a manufacturing company can be a nightmare. The multi-location and multi-department structure of such organizations makes them very hard to manage. Thank god, there was the ERP software! The software includes Logistics management, inventory management, production planning, production monitoring among other features. But there are many more reasons why a growing number of organizations from the manufacturing niche are choosing to run their business, the ERP way!

 

Platform for Inter-departmental information sharing

Manufacturing firms have multiple departments such as Finance & accounting, planning & control, manufacturing operations, human resource allocation, marketing and sales, purchase & vendor management, quality control, distribution, plant maintenance, etc. For the organization to run smoothly, it is imperative that all the departments are integrated into a whole. ERP software does this job remarkably well. It helps in getting real time data from all the departments at a single place. It helps the organizations overcome the horrors of having specific systems for each of the departments. The software allows all the departments to work in tandem with each other.

 

Enhancing and Streamlining Processes

Like all organizations, the manufacturing businesses are setup with a goal for business growth. But shifting from one software to the other, when there are new additions and alterations in the company structure is not ideal. ERP software has ended this discomfort for the business owners. The software is easily scalable and causes minimum operational disruptions while being scaled up. Though there are some basic controls in the inherent software, new modules can always be added to the system depending on the needs.

 

Easy decision making with real time data

The “one organization, one software” policy which ERP brings to the table comes especially to the fore when there is an important business decision about to be taken. As all the details, reports, and other relevant data coming from different departments and locations are accumulated in a single database, it can be easily analyzed and many projections can be drawn out of it. With all the key statistics stacked at a single place, business administrators can get loads of valuable insights helping them take better business decisions.

 

Better Customer Management

As the software is used by multiple departments, so all the customer feedback, complains and suggestions can also be seen and analyzed using this software. Availability of key customer data helps businesses address the customer issues better and quicker. This would improve the organization’s image significantly in front of their end customers.

 

ERP software brings in a world of benefits for the business owners. If you want a robust management solution for your manufacturing business then try Keyline’s ERP & CRM service.

Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

MS Paint is No More!

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All of us grew up in an era where Paint was always supposed to be a part of the Windows package. But all that is about to change very soon. In an official announcement, Microsoft has stated that they have decided to put to rest the ancient MS Paint. The new packages of Windows versions will not have MS Paint as a default. This ancient and much used feature will now be removed to the Windows Store. The reason sighted behind such a decision was the loss of interest in the feature. MS Paint has become an ancient pillar, standing in the middle of a much renovated list of default software in the Windows package.

 

But for most designers around the world, this announcement made them mourn the loss. Computer users were first introduced to Paint way back in 1985. It was a part of the first Windows version. MS Paint was in existence even four years before Photoshop. So, there was a time when Paint was the most advanced photo editor available. But with the coming of Adobe’s Photoshop followed by other advanced photo editing software, the glory days of MS Paint faded away very quickly.

 

Though, MS Paint was losing favor among the professional designers it remained an important part of the Windows versions. Many saw this feature as the easiest way to edit and crop images for their everyday requirements, when refinement was not needed. In fact, resizing and cropping of images could be done with much more ease in Paint than the other high ended photo editing software out there. Whether you needed a presentation or had some simple image refurbishing requirements, Paint was the go to choice for quick turnaround.

 

The removal of MS Paint also signaled the end of an era. Every designer or photo editor of this generation is sure to have started their journey by drawing some random images using the Fill Tool or other drawing features of Paint. Paint even offered a good early start for the kids, with its range of coloring and brush options. Ask any reputed designer of the modern times, and most of them would opine their first tryst with designing began with Paint!

 

So, while Microsoft would obviously replace the outdated MS Paint with their modern Paint 3D (having a whole lot of extra features), it was a hard pill to digest for millions around the world. In the following days, Memes went up on social media, they were supported by trolls and  other praises about MS Paint. These were nice gestures to bid good bye to a feature that has become an integral part of our lives.

 

RIP MS Paint, we will always miss you!

 

Internet Marketing, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development

How do Digital Signatures keep you protected?

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Even some years back most of the business owners across India constantly kept two pens in their lavish chambers. One was a black ink pen (meant for proof reading and other writing tasks) and another blue pen. The blue pen came into use as soon as a document was brought for authorization and signature. The business owner would firstly judge the sensitivity of the document, then use the blue pen to sign on it. The concept being, blue ink would make the signature Xerox proof. Then came the era of scanners, and blue signatures could be replicated as easily as Xerox copies! Now, the business owners got really worried. Their signatures could be replicated anytime and anywhere. So, they adopted the new technology of e-Signatures, often not knowing the details. Today, we are here to discuss some of the hidden facets of e-Signatures and digital signatures.

Difference between e-Signatures and Digital Signatures

Most of you would believe that both these terms can be interchangeably used to denote the same thing. But they are not so, e-Signatures are quite rudimentary in their functions, while the digital signatures have multiple layers of protection. This means, one can easily dupe you even when e-signatures are being used, but the digital signatures protect you from fraudsters.   E-Signatures are images created out of your original signatures, on a paper, which is kept stored at a remote server. But, they can be verified (when a question is raised) only by the service provider. There is no authentication certificate available with the signatory. While the digital signature come with a certificate ascertaining the validity of the signature in question. This leads to quick resolutions in times of conflict.   Another helpful feature of the digital signature is the emails and notifications users are sent when their signature is used. This again keeps you protected.

Shun two, use one

Till date, there are many business owners who have yet not come out of the black and blue pen concept. Most of them are still using two e-Signature services to keep themselves protected. One would be for everyday requirements (equivalent to the black pen philosophy) and the other would be to sign on legal and other sensitive documents. While, this may work, it may also cost you a lot more. This is why you should try and choose a single authentic digital signature service provider. With the right services, you do not have to worry about the security and there is also no need to pay extra.   As a busy going business owner, your signature is precious. It allows the smooth flow of work and makes sure that processes do not halt at your company. This is what the right choice of digital signature service provider can bring into your everyday work.

Landing Page Design, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

5 WordPress Plugins to Improve multi-author websites

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Today, business operations are getting more complex and proliferated than they ever were. Businesses are no longer restricted to a single venue and people playing a single role. To accommodate this culture, businesses need a robust back-end to power their websites. WordPress is the apt solution for multi-authored websites. It gives you the capability to assign roles as well as capabilities to different user profiles. The users can enjoy all the features no matter where they are located. Depending on the specific needs of the organizations, WordPress helps in managing the editorial flow, adding author profiles and improving the content organization. And to make a short work of all these tasks, there are some great WordPress plugins.

 

  • User Submitted Posts: If you want anyone coming to the website to be able to post content, then this is the plugin to opt for. User Submitted Posts allows the visitors to post any content with the help of a form displayed at the front end. You have to add a Shortcode to any page, post or widget and the form will appear appropriately. You can set controls whereby the content can be automatically posted or it can be saved in the draft for you to look through and edit.

 

  • Edit Author Slug: The plugin removes some of the annoying aspects with multi-author websites. WordPress by default will create a Permalink for any author (such as http://www.yoursite.com/author/username/), but with the help of Edit Author Slug you can customize this Permalink (such as http://www.yoursite.com/staff/sam-lewis/). You can even change the Permalinks based on the user’s role.

 

  • Editorial Calendar: This is one of the most popular plugins and there are good reasons for that too. It can help the editorial team in scheduling the upcoming posts by displaying them in the form of a handy calendar. The calendar comes with drag-and-drop feature, where you can switch posts, edit them and do other tasks from a single screen.

 

  • Post Status Notifications: One of the leading issues with multi-author sites is that the main administrators have to log in to the Dashboard to see if any other author has added a new draft. The Post Status Notifications addresses this situation. It sends out email notifications to the administrators whenever there is a new draft added. Authors, on the other hand, can also be informed when their post is published.

 

  • Content Progress: The plugin provides an easy way to track the progress of a post. Any content goes through many stages – from writing, editing to publication. The Content Progress plugin allows flagging posts as per their progress level such as “Needs Scheduling” or “Add Media”. It can also detect empty posts. There is even a provision to post comments and feedback to a certain post.

So, have fun using these plugins to make an easy work of managing multi-authored websites.

Landing Page Design, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

Web Design Hacks: Tips to Boost your Website’s UX

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No matter which business niche you belong to, the competition for business is bound to be intense in the online world. There are many things that sway purchase decisions towards your company. But to achieve that you have understood the psychology of the users and the elements in your website that instigate them to do business with you. If your website’s elements appease the psychology of the users, it will have a positive impact on the conversion rates. So, here are some tips that help you design and develop a website as per the needs of the users.

 

  • Add Special Elements in Key Areas: You have to decide, which are areas of the website you want to draw the visitors attention towards at first glance. Such areas should be highlighted with separate design elements or characters. You do not want the visitor’s attention to wander here and there, often overlooking the essential highlights of the website.

 

  • Use the Color Contrast: Believe it or not, wise exploitation of the color palette helps you retain the attention of the visitors. With contrasting colors and certain jump off elements, the call to action and unique value proposition content can be highlighted significantly.

 

  • Imaginative use of White Spaces: Many web designers, view web space as precious and do not want to waste any. But while you are striving to do so, you are also overburdening the visitors with information. White spaces are important elements of modern day web designing; they not only make sure that web page loads faster but also assure that the visitors have breathing spaces between all the important elements and content present at the website.

 

  • Plan for achieving consistency: Well, you have a lot to showcase to the visitors. You have the marketing messages, customer service, advertising and a host lot of other activities to take care. But, best websites find a way to blend all this information together. What that assures is: the customer gets consistent and hassles-free user experience.

 

  • Create the recall with Pictures: Modern day website landing pages are all about creating the desired impression with the use of high-quality images. Pictures often stick in the minds of the visitors, while the content might be forgotten. If you can convey certain highlights of your business with unique and attractive images, it will significantly boost your conversion rates.

 

  • Utilize the seeing it first Psychology: Often web surfers like to go through the top options in elaborate listing menus. This is where you need to plan. Place your most attractive services and products top of the tree, so that they become most viewed enhancing your sales scopes. Also, the content inside each of the pages should have an attractive heading which captures the attention of visitors and urges them to go through.

 

  • Showcase your Social side: The visitors who come to your website are social creatures; they want to read about experiences of other people before making a final decision. This is why you should showcase your testimonials and customer reviews on the landing page. Apart from that, you should also allow the visitors to view your social media profiles and learn about your customers’ engagements.

 

  • Highlight a Freebie: This old principle is as much attractive today as it was in the past. People like freebies, so whether it is a discount deal, limited time offer, free stuff or a sneak peek into the next product, use a prominent part of the landing page to showcase these. It will do greater good in the long term!

 

If you can use these psychological ploys, business will surely flow in!

Landing Page Design, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

How to Optimize Content Title Tags for better performance?

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Search Engine Optimization may have thousands of tricks to earn you visitors, but there can be nothing better than organic traffic. If visitors come to your content through their related searches, and find it helpful then they will keep returning back, time and again. This will keep your website fed with a steady influx of visitors. This not only helps you promote products and services better, but also leads to a steady rise in the page rankings. Though, many SEO experts are of the opinion that Title Tags have lost their former importance, but in terms of bringing traffic they are very important. So, today we tell you how to utilize the title tags to get more traffic and better rankings.

  • Use Numbers: Today’s Internet surfers want to make maximum utilization of their time. They will skip through results, unless they find something interesting. Studies suggest that numbers, when wisely used in the title, can help you get high clicks. Titles such as: 10 best reasons to visit India or How to save 35% on electrical expenses with LED installation – are some of the examples of numbers based titles.
  • Date Specific: Many surfers want information with pinpoint accuracy. To get this, they would use years, months and dates in the searches. Titles such as: Top Performers in EPL for April 2017 or Best Movie Oscar Nominees 2017 – are again some date specific title tags.
  • Length of Titles: This is a big problem area! Thousands of great content on the web can never reach their prospective audiences because the title tag is too long. The potential for the other half is wasted because they are too short. So, while you have to include the keywords and give something interesting for the surfers to find, you have to also care about the characters. Ideally, the title tags should be limited within 50-60 characters.
  • Starting with a Question: Asking a question is a great way to frame a title tag. By asking a question you are raising curiosity in the mind of the reader and more often than not, the curiosity will lead the surfer to click on the link. Asking a question gives out a clear signal that the content would be targeted towards answering a specific area rather than meandering here and there.
  • Use Synonyms and Variants: This is a very helpful practice when you are writing to promote. Trying out as many variants of a facility based word (offer) would be great to attract the crowds. Suppose your offering is cheap taxi service. Rather than just stopping at “cheap” you could include “Book affordable, low cost and cheap taxis in New York”. Now, that makes sure you do not miss out on any of the related searches.

As the psychology of the surfers has changed, from research based reading habits to utility based ones, the content posted on the web should be changed likewise. Title tags being an important crowd puller need to be given much thought so that they earn high organic traffic.

Landing Page Design, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development, Wordpress

Give a Boost to your Site Speed with SSD Caching

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In this digital era, every business either has an online entity or is planning to have one. Whether your website is commercial or non-commercial you need a space on the web to showcase your offerings to the world. But merely having a website up there on the World Wide Web is not enough to succeed! It is just the start of your journey. The basics you need to take care of before launching a website are good content, aesthetic design, and smooth functionalities. But even these do not often please the online audiences.

Today’s surfers have a lot of choices. They are impatient and will not wait to see what you want to showcase. In such scenarios, the website loading speed is very important. If you want more conversions, preach out or just showcase certain things, your goals will be achieved only when the website loads in flash quick time. Yes, the web hosting services you choose are very important to achieve this end goal. But there is also a mechanism available now which can help you attain fast website loading speeds, and it is named SSD Caching.

What is SSD Caching?

In the old days of Internet, websites relied on Hard Disk Drives (HDD) to store and retrieve all the digital data associated with your website. Without going too deep into the nitty-gritty of the process, it can be said that the process was very long and lead to slow website loading speeds. That is very logical when a website has to fetch data from remote hard disks after each request. Then, arrived an alternate solution in the form of Solid State Drive (SSD), which had a flash memory and did not comprise of any movable parts. As a result, the data processing speeds were quick, but often storage capacity for the website would get limited. So, it did not prove a complete solution for the web masters.

As the Internet world matured, the concept of SSD Caching was introduced. This process is able to merge the best of both the processes together. While the complete data remains stored in HDD, some part of it is kept for ready use in the SSD. This cached data can open the requested information quickly, while the webmasters do not have to worry about their storage capacity running out.

How does website performance improve with SSD Caching?

Many of the high traffic and successful websites are today relying on the SSD Caching technology to offer the web surfers a great user experience. With quick loading times and limiting bandwidth usage, SSD Caching as captivated interested among all sections of the online business industry. Some of the ways in which the technology has helped webmasters are:

  • Minimizing the booting time for the operating systems.
  • Highly responsive and speedy application loading times.
  • Optimizing the computer functioning with the caching process.
  • Improving the user experience with fast loading pages and providing information instantly.
  • Improving a website ranking, as Search Engines also diagnose website loading speed before providing rankings. And fast loading websites tend to rank higher.
  • Happy user experience, higher traffics and information on time improves the conversion rates and enhances sales.

So, if you are wondering how to improve the speed of your website and limit its bandwidth usage, SSD Caching is the best solution.

 

Marketing, mobile app, Mobile app, Responsive Web Design, Web Design, Web Development

Measure your Mobile App’s Success with Key KPIs

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Gone are the days when mobile app development was all about having a great idea, fully functional features and stunning visuals. Today, the marketplace has shifted to the mobile apps and no matter which category you want to post your app in, there is a lot of competition waiting for you. So, even when you, as a developer and conceptualizer are completely satisfied with the outcome of the app, you are not assured to get a great response from the target users. This is why it is very important to not just release an app on the app store and forget about it. The application owners should try and understand the user interactions by analyzing the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).

Why is KPI analysis so important?

If you want to succeed with the plans to promote and market your mobile app, then you should keep on measuring the success of the app in terms of the KPIs. Regular monitoring of the indicators helps you understand how the app is faring in the market and provides you scopes to better certain areas. It is also a quick way to set the valuation and worth of the app, which comes to use when you have to converse with the stakeholders or funding agencies. The success and performance metrics coming out of KPI evaluation should help you in future development and marketing plans.

Essential KPIs

  • User Downloads: The number of times your app has been downloaded is the most basic KPI you should keep an eye on. If you are seeing high download count, that means users are liking the idea or service you have projected before them. Rest of the KPIs is dependent on this too.
  • No. of Installations: Most people feel that number of downloads and installations are the same, but they are not. Many times, people would just download the app and shun it after that. So, in such cases, the user has liked your idea but due to certain issues could not end up using the app. Most of the times, this is also an indicator that the file size of the app is too high.
  • No. of Uninstallations: Ok, so users downloaded the app used its features and then decided to uninstall it. There cannot be a single or handful of reasons for such uninstallations, and users will not care to leave a feedback. But you can make sense from such a data if the number of uninstalls has significantly increased after you launched a new version or started advertising through the app. When new things introduced in the app are not liked by the end users, the rate of uninstalling will automatically be high.
  • App Crashes: If a user installs your app and it crashes time and again, it will leave a bad impression in the minds of the users. As apps are built with a complex mesh of codes they have the likelihood to crash. But this tendency of the app should be monitored and rectified as soon as possible; otherwise you will lose a lot of users.
  • Tracking Upgrades: Whether you are offering free or paid updates, the success of the new version should always be tracked. New versions are always launched with an intention for the betterment of services, so it is essential to understand how that is faring among the users. If you are going for the paid update, you should measure the free v/s paid metrics. You should also see the ratings for the newer version v/s older one. If the existing users are not updating to the newer version than that would mean updates should not be launched into the market, unless they are unavoidable.

Monitoring or KPIs often give app developers and businesses the insights they much require bettering their offerings. So, measure them and move up the ladder of success!

 

 

 

Facebook Marketing, Google+, Internet Marketing, Landing Page Design, Marketing, mobile app, Responsive Web Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Twitter, Web Design, Web Development

Thinking about Digital Marketing from Business Objectives

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The digital marketing bandwagon comes with endless opportunities for businesses. But the sad part is that more than 80% of the campaigns fail miserably straining relations between the service providers and the clients. While digital marketing campaigns can give a significant impetus to your business, it can be successful only when there is a thoughtful approach put into it. Now, there are two parties associated with a digital marketing campaign – the service providers (who put in their expertise) and the clients (who possess business domain knowledge). When the skills of both these parties meet, the result would be a result oriented digital marketing campaign.

For an example, IIHM Kolkata is known for “hotel management college in Kolkata“, they do PPC and facebook campaign also.

Measuring the Business goals is the most important

The smooth flow and functionality of a digital marketing campaign depend a lot on the in-house talents possessed by the service provider, but the client plays an important before the inception of the campaign. As a business owner, you have to get the business goals you want to attain with the campaign all straight before it gets going. Most of the time the immediate answer would be high conversion rates and great ROI! But that is an overhead view of the business goals. You have to think deeper than that. You have to assess the potential of services and products and UVP (Unique Value Proposition) of your business. Once you do that with minuteness new scopes would open up. Best digital marketing campaigns do not use an overall approach, they target with pinpoint accuracy. And that is what you have to aim for, with the help of service providers. Pull up some statistical data about the growth rate of your sector, emerging trends in the industry and your specific positioning in the sector.

How to mold the campaign with findings?

Once you have done the due research, you would be in a better position to define the business goals and what you want to attain with the digital marketing campaign. Below are some tips you can implement in your digital marketing campaigns:

  • Make it Seasonal: If your core offering is selling air conditioning units or repairing them, then there is no point of starting a campaign in the middle of the winter season. If you make such a fallacy, all the efforts will go down the drain. No one really looks for servicing or purchase choices for air conditioning units when it is chilly outside. So, all your ads and content marketing will go unnoticed, and by the time summer season arrives you would already have left hope of getting high ROI from the campaign. If your research data shows that your particular type of product or service gets high sales during a particular time of the year, use that data and kick start your campaign during the high potential season.
  • Make it Regional: If your services are available in a particular geographical area, why are you spending extra on setting a nationwide campaign? Suppose, you offer cab services within a certain state, there is no point in targeting the entire nation and trying to reach out to each and every person typing for cab services. You should stay restricted within the key cities within the state. While many business owners feel that digital marketing campaigns should reach their business out to every Internet surfer, you are deviating from the main goal which is to get conversions. Conversions would only come when you are able to reach out to people who need your type of services. So, think again before you start the campaign.
  • Give it an Occasional touch: So, you want to run a digital marketing campaign for your restaurant chain. Christmas and New Year would be the ripe time for your business. But there are other competitors who are attracting crowds while your restaurant is not getting enough sales. Well, the digital marketing campaign can help you set the record straight. Throw in some exciting offers, great deals, and discounts. Let the experienced digital marketing professionals reach such offers to the prospective customer base. When a person planning to visit any restaurant on such occasions gets added incentives (in the form of discounts) they will choose you over the counterparts. That is a great way to leverage sales.

So, now you know how you can utilize the digital marketing campaigns to drive high sales. Use it and reap the benefits.

Google+, Marketing, Responsive Web Design, SEO, Social Media Marketing, Web Design, Web Development

9 Reasons Why Small Businesses Need Websites Of Their Own

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Recently I went to a popular but small book publisher in Kolkata’s famous College Street area to try and sell the owner a website. The owner was a friend of mine. I chatted briefly with him, discussed about the troubles he faces to get new customers, the marketing strategies taken for distributing books and so on. He was generous enough and allowed me to run through the basic benefits of having a website giving me his full attention. Figuring I am close to finalizing this deal, I finally said, “Do you think a website for your business is something you’d be interested in hearing more about?”

He replied, “I have a very small publishing house and I work with a few staffs. It is already a headache for me to keep track of everything and everybody working here. Moreover, I sell books through my distributors. They take care of my customers’ demands and I supply the books accordingly. Why should I need a website? A website means extra costs to me which I cannot bear right now. I am not tech savvy either. I won’t be able to maintain it. And we’ve never felt the need of advertising about our publishing house. Every year I put up a stall in the Kolkata Book Fair. It is enough advertising for my brand. I do fair business there and rest of the year it goes pretty well. Will a website bring more people in here? Well then, no thanks, I don’t need one.” He firmly believes his business does not need a website.

Over a decade’s service to small and medium business owners in India and outside, helping them build and run their websites, I am amazed to see how many of them still do not want to have any website or online exposure of their own. After a few more similar experiences I clearly understood the questions and concerns small business owners pose about getting a website. I have tried to address to these queries as much as possible during my interactions with potential customers and here are some small business website myths revealed:

Q1. Do I really need a web site for my company?

Whether your company needs a website or not depends on your decision only. Website is not an advertisement. It is a multi-functional communication tool. For a well-organized business with local clientele, where a backlog of customers is waiting to be serviced you may not need a website. But if you want to communicate effectively with a broader range of clients, attract new customers, explore new markets and take significant market share from your competitors — then you definitely need a website.

Q2. I cater to a very small segment of the society. My customers know me and I know them. That’s enough for me. Why should I need so much exposure?

Well, as I mentioned before, if your business is localized, well organized and there are lots of customers waiting to be served, then you might not need a website for further branding at all. However, a simple business page (say Google+ page) in a social media platform might help you to retain existing customer base and gain future customers.

Q3. Is it very costly to build a website?

Not at all. Earlier website designing and development costs were high, because everything had to be custom made. However, due to introduction of WordPress and other such CMS and CRM based free website designing platforms, designing, development and maintenance costs have gone down significantly over the past few years.

Q4. I already have a free web page on some other free portal. Why do I need another exposure at a cost?

A webpage in someone else’s domain is not a website. It does not provide you with full functionalities and are often not good for customer interaction or customer management.  However, this kind of listing services enhances and empowers your new website.

Q5. I don’t sell any products online. Do I still need a website?

If you sell something special that people are looking for then a large portion of people (perhaps a market unknown to you thus far) will search the Internet, because it’s fast, easy, global and private. A web site will put you in the running with others on the Internet.

Q6. I am not tech savvy either. I won’t be able to maintain a website.

Don’t worry.Your web developer can help you with the designing, development, maintenance, changes and updates, which are generally simple and costs are within your budget.

Q7. Many of our customers aren’t computer users. They like face to face interaction with a personal touch.

Time is changing as is the ways of finding new products and services by people all over the world. Your existing customers may not be tech savvy right now, but they will become eventually. What about the future potential customers who are already using smart phones and tablets to find their required products and services? The percentage of rural population using mobile phones to access internet is also increasing in our country. So why wait long. A website will keep you in sync with this growing trend.

Q8. I am already spending thousands in advertising. Why should I go for an additional cost for setting up a website?

A website is not an advertising investment. It compliments and empowers your online advertising efforts.

Alternatively, I’ve decided to put together a list of 9 major reasons why a small business needs a website:

1. Keep up with the competition

Modern tech savvy consumers use internet to search for products and services they need before they make a final purchase. Most of them would assume you have a website and they will search for one in your name only to find you do not have one. The result is obvious. All those consumers will turn on to your competitors’ websites. You lose potential customers. Hence, even if you have a small business, a professional looking site will actually help gain credibility and a slight advantage over your competitors who do not have one yet. In particular, home based businesses benefit from having an online presence as they do not have a proper store front to promote their products and services. So to keep up with your competitors you must have a website. 

2. Build your brand

Online reviews (like Google reviews), your interactions with other customers, your social media presence, the frequency and quality of your posts in blogs help to build a potential customer’s trust in your company or product.

3. 24x7x365 accessibility to information

The never-sleeping-always-wake internet gives your business portal 24-hour virtual showroom which would not have been possible in case of a brick-and-mortar establishment. When you set up a website for your business, you are not only reaching out to your existing customers but also gaining potential customers allowing them to have unlimited access to your product/service information, reviews, new line of products and services that you are going to offer, etc at any time of the day and from anywhere.

4. Showcase your works

A website acts like an online brochure or catalogue of your business. Showcase your work, products by including a portfolio or image gallery, testimonials and all those that tell about your business worldwide. 

5. Target a wider market  

You can make avail your services and products globally as your website will provide an alternative location to sell them. 

6. Cost effective sales and marketing tool

Your website can serve as a “marketing and sales” machine for your company. It allows for a wider, more cost-effective distribution of your business and brand as opposed to traditional marketing techniques, which usually included printing and mailing costs. Well written and compelling sales copies on your site attract ideal clients and compel them to use your products or services. Traditional advertisements are a revolving cost to a company. You can buy an ad space in a newsprint or roadside billboard for a specific period of time, spend huge amount of money to design and print them, put them up and then after a few days the ad is gone. You may or may not get the expected amount of return on your investment. A website, on the other hand, comes with several features of online promotion that you can control and use continually and accordingly. Compared to print ads and billboard advertisement, costs of designing a website and running it is quite low. Also its potentiality to reach out to a wide range of niche customers is better than the traditional ways. Hence websites are a very cost effective method for promoting your brand and business.

7. Time saving technology

Providing information to your customers is time consuming as it involves phone calls, face to face interaction, designing and printing a brochure and distributing it, etc. It is lot easier and quicker to update information about your products and services on your website than in print material. Thus making it an effective way of letting your customers know about the arrival of new products, upcoming events, special promotions, or any new services you now offer.

8. Improved customer services

Nowadays websites are built with CRM (customer relationship management) capabilities to help manage your existing as also new customers. Appointment booking system, customer contact list, email marketing, custom enquiry forms and SMS alerts are certain CRM tools that significantly improve your ability to stay connected and engaged with your customers.

9. Lead generation

Lead generation is crucial in case of online sales and marketing. Adding freebies like free downloads of forms, brochures, e-books, etc. and other valuable resources in exchange for opt-ins to your website can help you gain new leads from prospective customers searching for your products and services.

The internet is in fact has become the basis of business activities over the past few years. There have been significant increases in traffic and business generation after the introduction of ecommerce. People are always opting for the easiest, cheapest and quickest means to reach out to others. Imagine you are going for a long hike and at night you are looking for a roadside motel. What will you do? You will simply take out your smart phone and Google to see whether there is a motel located near you. If the nearest motel owner has enlisted his business in the Google map then viola, he gets a needy customer in the middle of night. So, even a small business requires online presence to hook customers and retain them.

Hence the conclusion: Small businesses do need websites of their own