Keep Your Web Site Strong

Regardless of the current economic conditions and your general business activity, your Web site can and should remain a positive source for leads and brand recognition. If managed properly, it is the easiest and most cost-effective way for customers to research your company, to learn about what you have to offer and to contact you. Once a site is up and running, relatively little maintenance is required to allow it to provide substantial customer support, 24 hours a day. It allows self service, which is easily the most cost-effective way of doing business.

According to the Society of Information Technology Management, the average cost of a Web interaction is about 7 percent of the average cost of a phone interaction and about 3 percent of that of a face-to-face interaction. Despite the value the Web brings to the table, many senior managers still do not recognize its strategic importance or believe it can save the company money or contribute to earnings.

At the recent PMPA National Technical Conference, one technical session, headed by the organization’s Information Technologies Committee, zeroed in on ways to boost a company’s web presence, collaborate with customers in electronic communication and make a Web site more appealing. A number of strategies were discussed, including inexpensive ways to quickly and easily develop and host a site, incorporation and the benefits of e-commerce in a site, effective content management, site traffic analysis, and blogging.

Any combination of such strategies can be implemented to bring a company closer to its customers. The first step is to understand the Web’s potential to improve sales and make your company more productive and efficient.