The important of a web presence

If you're not on the web now, will you survive in the future?

Many New Zealand businesses have depended on generating new sales by relying on established reputation, geographical positioning, customer loyalty and referrals.  While these are still important elements to ensure future success, the Internet generation will not be captured in the same way. 

The Yellow Pages is fast becoming a relic of the past. The Internet is today’s favourite tool to track down products and services. Online directories and search engines like Google help narrow down the available choices, and people will purchase the best product, price or service.

A website’s key success factor is measured by its persuasiveness.  A first impression is formed within seconds and is the most important factor in engaging an online visitor.  You are only a click away from losing a potential customer if your website doesn’t appeal.

Your business needs to be easy to find online, to be visually appealing at a first glance, and easy to navigate so that it persuades a visitor to contact or purchase from you.

The New Zealand optical industry is fast becoming a changing landscape, especially with the opening of more chains and discount stores.  The bar has been raised to a new level and the industry is becoming more competitive.  While some of the larger companies appeal to price driven audiences, independent optometry practices should be distinguishing themselves by promoting quality eye-care services. 

The optometrist is considered a trusted healthcare professional.  A website allows a practice to promote themselves as specialists who provide the very best eye-care.  A website should also explain why quality eye-care is essential and single out the practice’s point of difference.

Smart communication is the key
A website is an excellent communication tool.  The more that is invested in developing an attractive and informative website, the better that first impression will be.

In this consumer age, an informative and interactive website is a persuasive marketing tool for converting visitors into customers.  It is crucial that your website content educates about the importance in engaging trained professionals to ensure quality eye-care.  The more informative the content published on your website, the more goodwill you will generate with an online visitor. 

An established marketing fact is that regular contact with your customers enhances customer retention.  Features which are beneficial to your business, such as appointment reminders, new product information, contact lens and solution renewal reminders and e-mail newsletters can be developed into a website to maintain automated customer contact.  All of these features will greatly increase your perceived worth and therefore directly influence their loyalty to your business.

Quantifying Your Success
Having a web site is not only a sound investment to help future-proof your business, it should also be part of your long term business strategy.

A website can record how many people visit your “e-practice” and measure how long they stayed, pages they visited, what they found of interest, what sales were generated and more. From these statistics you can measure the effectiveness of your website in a dollar value. It will also give you an indication of where your current website is succeeding or failing and other consumer trends.

The internet is the new yellow pages – if you are not online, you will miss out on a lot of new leads and run the risk of losing business to your competition.   This in turn limits your growth and presence in the market place.   At a minimum, your website should display your name, location and contact details.  A web presence is essential for capturing new business for the future. 

This article was prepared by WEBZ and if you have any questions about website development or management, please feel free to call us on 0800 932 969 or visit our website www.webz.co.nz.  Next months article will focus on the key to developing an effective website.