Businesses Onlinenow have access to71% of the UK population!
Content taken from older UK website builder blog posts
Businesses Onlinenow have access to71% of the UK population!
Please note this article was first published in 19 Oct 2009. Its content may now be out of date. We recommend taking a look at more recent website building blog posts or check out our comprehensive support pages. If you are looking for information on our 14 day free website builder trial we have a large number of webpages that guide you throug the process.
Businesses Online now have access to 71% of the UK population!
The percentage of Internet users in the UK continues to rise! The figures in 2007 were recorded at 66%, but in 2008 those figures rose to an astonishing 71% of the entire UK population being online or having access to the Internet. Not surprising when you look at the amazingly good deals available for computers and laptops these days, not to mention mobile phone technology providing Internet access. Its not hard to image those figures reach the 90’s before very long. These figures should surely be matched if not beaten when looking at the percentages of businesses, which are online. Surely every business should build a website and be online by now?
Internet Progress
While the world’s economy fights its way out of the current slump, and purse strings are being kept tight, how and why are many businesses turning to the Internet to stay one step ahead of their competition and minimize the effects of the current market?
Websites are more cost-effective than any other marketing!
You could actually enjoy 12 months of marketing online for the price of a medium sized advert for just one month in a magazine. If we’re to compare it more fairly, you’d probably need to buy space in half the magazine to match the information capacity of even a basic website! Even so, for some strange reason, the reflex reaction when budgets are being cut is to reduce the amount spent on marketing and advertising and quite often, incredibly, that includes the business website. Naturally businesses want to get as much response and return as possible for their money.
Websites are one of the most cost-effective and powerful methods of promoting your business, its products and services. When you look at the more traditional advertising mediums such as magazine and newspaper advertising, the Internet presents an absolute bargain! You can enjoy instant and measurable results without having to lay out great chunks of cash.
Search Engine traffic is free!
SEO (search engine optimisation) can help ensure that you appear in the organic search engine listings. Organic listings are the ones on the left side of the page – NOT under the “Sponsored Links” sections, as these positions can cost an arm and a leg! Effective and ongoing SEO can ensure that you achieve the best possible positions in those listings, which in many cases can result in your business appearing on the same page as the expensive sponsored links. DotGO websites include such “effective and ongoing SEO” as standard with all business website packages. Now, while we do so love to hear from customers who now appear alongside these expensive positions, having beaten their competitors at a fraction of the cost….. we have had some disturbing reports of rather mean and excessively smug behaviour. We would therefore ask respectively that DotGO customers please Gloat with Decorum!!
Measurable results
The results of press advertising in newspapers and magazines or direct mail outs can be difficult to measure. A website allows you to measure your results with as much accuracy as you need. If you’re planning a marketing push for certain products or services and need to aim at specific audiences and demographics, such detailed response feedback can be invaluable. DotGO offers a facility called WebStats, a website statistics package that stores all the history of your website stats into a database and allows you to create a powerful set of charts and graphs of every conceivable statistic. Understanding where your customers are coming from, which pages they are visiting and when they are on your website is important information. Webstats offer a great way of seeing how your marketing campaigns are working. Comparisons over time allow you to prioritise your off-line spend and get to know your web-based customers habits.
To look at this facility further, log into your control panel, click Step 1 and click the Upgrade “Add New Features” button on the left. Then click the “Website statistics and hits package”. You can view a live example and view some of the graphs and statistics available.
Replies and Response
By including an online bespoke enquiry form on your website, you can gain vital information such as contact details, areas of interest, timescales and demographics etc., about customers both existing, new and potential. An enquiry form encourages customers to get in touch and /or request further information without any obligation. By keeping a record of all your online enquiries, you are building an unbeatable customer database for your business, which you can then target for all future marketing plans. You can buy customer lists such as this but they can cost £thousands and would never be as specifically relevant to the list you can create from your own enquiry form. Click here to enquire about your enquiry form.
Please remember, this article was first published 19/10/2009. The content may be out of date and you cannot post comments any more. Please check out our new blog.
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