Business-To-Business Web Sites - To Build or Not To Build

If you’ve been pondering the question, “Should I be building a Web site?” maybe you should instead be asking yourself, “Why not”? Your competitor’s out there. Your potential clients are out there.

There’s a whole virtual world of cost-efficient, targeted marketing opportunities awaiting your arrival.

Before you pass, though, let’s think through the issues that might be keeping you from starting a site:

• We don’t need to reach customers across the country — a local ad works fine for us. Maybe so, but more and more people are using the Internet to gain information about their own communities — businesses, entertainment, government. Sure, it’s cool that a visitor from London can read about your products or services. But so can a professional from the next town over, or a potential client in your own town.
• We sell business to business - we’re not trying to reach the “everyman”. Don’t let this philosophy fool you. According to a survey of 2,705 business professionals across 11 B-to-B markets commissioned by Cahner’s Manufacturing and New Product Information, the Web is an important reference tool closer to the actual sale than trade magazines. And a recent study by Arthur Andersen Co. showed that within five years, half of the customers that use wholesale distribution services will be doing their business over the Internet.
• Isn’t a Web site just a glorified brochure? No! And that kind of approach to a Web site will end up being its demise. Web sites are 24-hour interactive sales centers, which can and should do far more than just tell the story of your company. It should make doing business with you easier for your customers by having features such as the ability to track orders, a step-by-step how-to-use & cross-merchandising section (create ways to upsell your clients), automatic cost calculators, and an interactive customer service center (which will reduce your labor costs). Sections such as “New Products/Services” or “Inventory Clearance” can do wonders to generate revenue.
• We haven’t got the dough. Again, the question should be, “What are your potential losses if you’re not online?” Are you competitors there? More importantly, are your customers? If you’re already spending money on other kinds of advertising, the comparable costs for creating a Web site can be peanuts. Plus, unlike your print collateral material, a Web site is flexible, dynamic - it can be changed as often as you’d like, with relatively little added cost.
• We don’t have the in-house technical expertise to maintain a Web site. In today’s world, “outsourcing” is the popular buzz word. Don’t worry about having to add more staff just to keep up your web site. Besides the outsourcing alternative, there are also “self-administrating” options, whereby basic “fill in the blank” programs are developed that are so simple, a clerical person can update and maintain your Web site changes. The Web developer would only then be needed for major site overhauls.

A parting thought: think of the Web site as an extension of your business, not as a form of advertising. It should be out there to help you make or save money, so don’t go at it half-heartedly. Dumping a site out there just to be “out there” isn’t worth your effort. An unattractive or unwieldy site doesn’t do anyone any good, and may actually scare off your audience. On the Web your chance to make a first impression lasts for only about 15 seconds, so make sure it’s an intelligent effort you can be proud of.

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