Internet as a Business Tool

A poorly designed web page can cause more harm than good.

By Patrick Courreges
Business Report staff

The Internet is not a fad, Web sites are not just for fun and the world of the Web-enabled is not strictly for the corporate megaliths and fly-by-night funnyidea.coms.

Web developers and designers are trying to drive home the message that while the Internet is not an unfathomable mystical entity, a company's Web presence is an important part of the business communications toolbox.

Web sites are just another way to make business transactions, said Claude Bethea, CEO of Baton Rouge-based Explore Interactive.

"If People thought more about the Internet like a phone or a fax, they would understand it a lot better," he said.

Yes, the Internet is rife with bad jokes and dirty pictures, but what about some of the things people are running through office copiers?

Yes, Web technology is generally beyond the expertise of a small business, but how many offices have people in-house who can fix the fax machine?

Like other basic office equipment, an Internet presence must be properly maintained to be effective, developers say, and part of that maintenance is understanding what the strengths of that Web presence can be.

The Internet has begun to catch up to print and broadcast media as a necessary part of marketing a product or service, said Robbin Zeff, president of The Zeff Group, a national Internet research, marketing, training and consulting firm.

"People are multimedia information gatherers now," she said. "If you are a services business or a retail business and people are looking for you online, you need to be found on the Internet."

Web site developers have an obvious interest in getting companies to work the waters of the Internet, but almost all recommended carefully testing the water before diving in head-first.

"Just getting Mabel's computer-whiz nephew to slap something together might save some money on putting the Web site up, but could actually be more of a detriment to a company than no site at all.

A Web site with an outdated look or functions that do not work can cost a company customers and good will, said Rick Hazey, owner of Baton Rouge's Bitworx.

"It's always better not to do something than to do it poorly, almost always in Web design," he said.

Web sites that bomb generally do so because they were not researched and planned, where not budgeted for, were not promoted, or some combination thereof, said David Gary, a partner with RedStick Internet Services.

For many company owners and managers facing the "to launch or not to launch" Web site dilemma, education is the necessary component for deciding how and when to hit the Net.

Internet connectivity comes in four general flavors, said Peter Sygula, CEO of Baton Rouge's NetShapers.

The most basic Internet function is e-mail, which a Web site can enhance, though it is not necessary.

The most basic Web site is what developers call an online brochure, usually a static page with the company's name, specialty and contact information.

Next in complexity comes the electronic storefront model, which allows customers to browse databases and inventories and do some basic transactions.

The fourth category is the most complex, ranging from customized credit card services to full-fledged business-to-business collaboration applications, Sygula said.

A company's management should do some homework before committing to a Web site or a particular level of functionality on that site, he said.

"Obviously, if you're selling to 65-year-olds, a Web site might not be your best bet," Sygula said. "If your market is 18 to 35, you've got to have a Web site."

Realistic goal-setting is an important part of the initial planing and needs assessment process, he said.

A company looking to post a basic Web site just to show they do know the Internet exists does not need many applications.

"There's something to say about that recognition factor," Sygula said. "The showoff aspect is one part of it."

No company should expect go get more back from a site than it puts into the project, he warned.

Any manager or owner who believes the "build it and they will come" philosophy alone will shunt business to the front door by the trainload is in for a nasty shock, Gary said.

If anyone tries to sell you on making fistfuls of cash without hard work and promoting the site, you're going to be taken for a ride," he said.

A good Web site costs money, just as a good advertising campaign or marketing push does, and should be taken as seriously, Gary said.

"Your business cannot afford not to have a presence on the Web, although it is extremely important to give the program the planning it deserves," he said. "It's going to take planning, it's going to take budgeting, it's going to take work."

The crunch comes for a business that might be caught in a choice between spending money on a Web site design to match the completion or getting the light bill paid and making payroll.

In such cases, Gary recommends neither overstepping the budget to keep up with the Jones Corp., nor conceding the field entirely, but taking the steps that are affordable and biding a little time.

"It may be better for a small company to wait until they can afford to do things right, let the opposition blaze the new trail, then come back and perfect," Gary said.

Best in market can beat out first to market over the long haul, as long as the haul is not too long between first and second, he said.

"It's not always a bad thing to hold out. Wait for the competition to stake out its niche and then your opportunity comes in where they missed the mark," Gary said.

Letting customers know a better site than the competition's is out there is as important as having the better site, once a company can direct the resources to get a site going, Sygula said.

"There's multiple facets to Web development," he said. "You have to do something to get traffic to the Web site."

For the most part, that means some old-fashioned attention-getters, like print and broadcast ads and that old standby, the mailout, Sygula said.

People who believe finding inventive ways to get head-of-line status in search engines probably do not have a good handle on the Web industry, Hazey said.

"People seem to think search engines are crucial," he said. "Really, it's more important that your Web address is on your business card and your letterhead. You've got to market that way."

On-the-Web marketing should be more focused than just figuring out ways to pop up on search engines, a process that has become so difficult now that it is hardly worth the bother, Sygula said.

Finding a way to get links posted on Web sites with complementary content is a better, more targeted way of Internet marketing, he said.

Complementary Web sites might be as general as chamber of commerce and city sites or as specific as car sites for auto parts dealers.

The upshot of what Web developers and designers advise is that a Web site will not be a business unto itself, but can change the way a business interacts with customers and suppliers.

A company can cut advertising costs by simplifying its message to "Go to www.ourgadget.com" and putting the more detailed message out on the site.

Or it could slice into the office overhead by shunting afer-hours callers to the site instead of forcing the company to use an answering service.

The ways a Web site can serve a company differ as much as one buiness differs from another, based solely on the innovative ability of the people implementing it, Bethea said.

"You can't think of the Web as just being e-commerce, and you can't just think of it as just being brochure-ware," he said.