Benefits & Costs :

A website should never been seen as a 'cost' or an expense. There is no reason at all why your web presence shouldn't work for you and generate income. The benefits of a properly constructed, effective website are massive. With regards to pricing, there are very few marketing solutions that can reach as many people and provide you with as much valuable feedback as a website.

To reiterate some of the more widely known benefits:

Websites are accessible to the entire world 24 hours per day, every day of the year:

Whilst this is of most importance to companies who sell their products globally - who can benefit from having a virtual store front, with no need for premises or extra staffing - it also allows visitors to any website feel more in control of their experience, and enables them to gain information about your services and facilities in their own time, without undue pressure or having to commit to a potentially inconvenient appointment.

Once they are more informed about your organisation a customer will be more relaxed and open to communicating directly either via the telephone or in person. After all, any sales person knows that a 'warm' contact is much easier to assist in making their purchasing decisions.

Websites can provide much more information than printed adverts:

Printed adverts or brochures often include links to a company's website for 'further information'. Unfortunately, sometimes the website just regurgitates the same information already present on the advert, thus wasting the visitor's time and serving little purpose to the organisation.

An effective website presents information on multiple levels, and 'rewards' the visitor for visiting them with quality information, or other incentives such as special offers, prize draws, discussion forums, or knowledge that they would not otherwise have gained. Having been 'rewarded', these visitors are then more likely to return, and more importantly, spread the word about your website, and hence your organisation. This kind of free publicity is worth far more than a simple newspaper advert. Many websites such as www.friendsreunited.co.uk have capitalized on this 'word of mouth' approach, and there are many such ways to attract people to your site.

Websites are far more cost effective:

Most of the websites that we create are fully updateable by the client . This means that once the site has been developed, it can continue to provide up to the minute information for as long as it is required, with no ongoing financial expense .

Websites provide effective feedback from users:

You can monitor visitor trends instantly - find out how many individual visits your website has received per hour, day or week, and find out which pages are receiving the most impressions. Armed with this knowledge you can then tailor the content of the website in response to visitor activity. What's more, the data generated is 100% accurate, putting the 'street corner survey' approach to shame!

Websites can generate revenue:

From selling products and services online through to online partnerships, advertising and link exchanges, there are many opportunities to generate revenue from your website. Aside from attracting more visitors to your facility through awareness campaigns and provision of information, setting up revenue streams via a website can be a very simple task.

Websites are INTERACTIVE:

Far from the traditional static advert or brochure, a website has the potential to really engage the visitor and provide them with control over their experience of your website. From simple gimmicks such as choosing their own colour scheme, to 360 degree virtual tours with full audio, a website has the potential to demonstrate your services more effectively than any other approach.

Providing content for people to print out and take away with them helps to spread your branding 'offline' - a facility for people to print class timetables or weekly events, relevant information and articles for example. Discussion boards, forums and chat rooms allow members and visitors to develop a sense of community through the website and share ideas with each other and the PRSA team.

Websites offer FLEXIBILITY and VALUE:

A website therefore offers much more flexibility and value for money when compared to other forms of media advertising. For the most effective market penetration we suggest that printed media campaigns are used to highlight the extra features and information available on the website, and then back that up by offering incentives and rewards once people have visited, so they feel that their experience of your website and organisation was a worthwhile use of their time.