Web Design and Marketing Services (Part One)

• When to call in the professionals?
• Does your business need our services? That’s a question I’m likely to answer “Yes” to, since I work for a professional web solutions company. So, by all means assume I’m biased for now but please judge the content of this post on merit!
• In my defence, I’m relatively new to the internet and e-commerce sector, my background being more in face to face (or call-centre to telephone) customer service. I’ve worked as a recruitment consultant, a sales support manager and (I hesitate to admit) an insurance claims assessor. When I examine a website, or evaluate a service, I look for practicality and value for money. I’ve a pretty good understanding of what a business customer is looking for from a service or solution provider.
• So, with my credentials in the open, I return to the question above. When do you need the help of professionals with your corporate website?
• Firstly, it has to be said that it depends greatly on the level of expertise available within your own company. Many businesses handle their own website design, hosting and maintenance in-house. If you have the resources and expertise to achieve the desired result that’s fine. Obviously, having a full time staff member dedicated to your web presence creates a significant “running cost” but if the nature of the website requires full time development and supervision, in-house might well be the way to go.
• Perhaps less wise is tacking responsibility for a website onto other job responsibilities. I’m aware of websites which are updated sporadically, and frequently contain inaccurate or out of date information because of the fluctuation in workload of the person responsible for website maintenance. Websites which are out of date, or contain “under development” pages for considerable lengths of time are every bit as damaging to a corporate identity as a shop window left boarded up for months after the shop has opened for business. Rather than showcasing your company, such a site can really put people off – and that affects the “bottom line” in real terms.
• If your website suffers from sporadic up-grade syndrome then seeking the services of a web solutions company might be the way forward – if you care about your web presence. The web solutions company is being paid by you to ensure your site gets the attention it deserves and improvements will follow rapidly.
• On a smaller scale, it is of course possible for computer literate, but relatively inexperienced, business staff to create their own website. For any business the prospect of paying for something you think you can probably manage yourself does not, on the face of it, make a great deal of sense. However, if that were truly the case web solution companies would only get business from clients too lazy to make the effort and a professional site would look no different at all from thousands of “DIY” websites. We’d be unable to convince anyone of the benefits of our services – and that’s definitely not the case.
• Website design is a profession. People working in the field have to be creative; constantly seeking new looks, styles and fresh ways of doing things. They’re craftsman of a sort, having refined many aspects of what they do over time. They have the benefit of experience and that is always worth investing in because it takes years to replicate in-house (and if you’re counting on your website to generate revenue you probably don’t have the time for trial and error). Website designers know what works. They can match the requirements of your site to solutions which generate the desired results. Critically, a good company can also ensure that your website appears prominently in search engine enquiries. That’s trickier to do alone.
• Putting a website “out there” in no way guarantees people can find it!
• So what it comes down to, finally, is a single question: “How important is my web presence to my business?” If you intend to sell your goods and services by e-commerce, or expect a significant proportion of initial enquiries to come via your website then I think the answer is obvious. That being the case, surely it makes sense to bring as much expertise as possible to bear on what is a crucial foundation of your hoped-for success?
• To learn more about the services available to businesses from us, view our website at http://www.cnx-solutions.com/ or contact us by telephone on 01326 375556.