Benefits of Websites to Business Growth
The biggest technology application today is probably the Internet. It is a ubiquitous application that people from all walks of life deploy for various purposes.
From highly technical fields such as telecommunications to entertainment sectors, the Internet is a tool that people these days deploy in businesses, entertainment and education.
Being a rich source of information, Internet has become an inseparable part of the lives of students and fun-seekers. The Internet has become an integral part of the global telecommunication systems as it is now used for what is called voice over Internet protocol that allows telephone calls to be terminated at reduced costs.
Besides, the setting up of individual and corporate electronic mails is another application that the Internet has brought about today.
This allows people to send and receive mails from any part of the world within seconds.
Apart from these, financial transactions of various kinds are now enabled through the Internet. An example is the online forex exchange trade that involves trading in major currencies in the world such as the Dollar and Euro.
Similarly, several government business transactions such as making bids for contracts and payment for certain services including applications for international passport are all now done through the Internet.
But a major application of the Internet globally is for individuals and corporate organisations to have information about themselves or their businesses and services accessible to people everywhere in the world, through what is known as a website.
By definition, a website is a collection of Web pages, images, videos or other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a Local Area Network.
Having an Internet site has become a standard practice for any business globally and locally.
The use of the Internet has been growing steadily since the mid-1990’s when the Internet came into the country.
Firms and individuals have been deploying this means of communication both at home and in their workplace to keep pace. But while the practice has been embraced by some, many others are yet to use it properly
Basically, a website contains information about what an individual or an organisation does.
It is an information source that is available to the entire world 24 hours a day and seven days a week.
It is a source of information that can be reached by virtually anyone as long as he has connection to the Internet. So, websites are a very powerful source of marketing for businesses and individuals.
People who are selling particular products can give the world information about what they do through the Internet without having to pay a fortune.
According to experts, given that today’s business transactions have moved to the Internet with people searching for data, suppliers, vendors, goods and services on the Internet, the era of just hoping that one’s business would get all the mileage through mere words of mouth or some printed leaflets is now over. The Internet is the key they noted.
In fact, many people living outside their countries of origins, including Nigeria, learn about their countries more through the Internet than through what is said by word of mouth or through some other means. This is why Internet presence has become very crucial to the growth and continued survival of businesses.
Even newspapers are increasingly fortifying their online presence because a lot of people now read their news online.
According to the Managing Director of Allamkin Nigeria Limietd, Mr. Akin Alarima, the Internet is world of opportunity for businesses, as it does not discriminate between big and small companies. He says a small business with a good strategy could turn around its fortunes by a good Internet strategy. He adds that every firm on the Internet can add value to their businesses by the choice of name on the net and by the design of their website.
Experts says some useful tips on ensuring that ones websites are easily seen includes registering such sites with major search engines and portals in the world. This search engines include Google, Yahoo, ASkjeeves and MSN. Often, when anyone is looking for information about a subject, these search engines are the ones that readily come to mind.
According to a telecom lawyer, Mr. Mena Ajakpovi, many local businesses would turn around once they have very good Internet sites.
To build a good website, however, requires getting people who know how to do this.
Many Nigerian websites are often not good enough because those that designed them do not know the nitty gritty of the business.
By Jonah Iboma