Once you've decided you want to get on the internet, you've got some more questions to ask.

What, exactly do you need your website to do, and how to go actually setting up shop in cyberspace?

by Nina Cooper

When I set up my first Web site in 1995, I did it primarily as a PR move. I figured that a big sign in our Tucson booth advertising a Web site would intrigue customers and possibly persuade a few people who might have walked past to stop and take a look at our gorgeous beads. Jewelry designers, like many artists, tended to be technophobes and I knew that few of my customers had Internet access. As a result, I didn’t expect a huge number of hits on my site, and of the ones we did get, I expected most to be from curious surfers who stumbled upon our site accidentally.

For the first year or two, my expectations were borne out. Our site generated some business but nothing to write home about. Nevertheless, I was quite pleased with the stir we created simply by having a site. A surprising number of clients sought us out on early explorations of the Web, usually on a friend’s or spouse’s computer, then called in to report their delight. As designers became more comfortable with computers and the Internet, traffic on our site steadily increased. Orders began to arrive in spurts, then developed into a steady stream.

Although I love having a Web site, I've never labored under the illusion that it would replace my printed catalog, my trade show booth, or my magazine ads. From my perspective, Web sites are cost-effective and efficient marketing tools that should be used in a coordinated effort with more traditional forms of advertising. My goal is to help new customers find us and make it as easy as possible for established clients to make purchases. We have many customers who will never feel comfortable placing orders online. On the other hand, our Web site has reached an international market that often does not have access to American trade magazines, or that might previously have been put off ordering by the cost of international phone calls or faxes. The two media often work together as well. For example, people regularly find us on the Web, request our printed catalog, and ultimately order by phone.

Over the years I have fielded many calls from colleagues and customers wondering if they should set up a site. It may be tempting to view the collapse of the dot-com world as a reason to avoid the Internet, but that would be a mistake. Many e-companies were launched with a combination of unrealistic business plans and reckless investing by venture capitalists. When the speculative bubble burst, the venture capitalists fled, creating a funding vacuum that undermined all but the strongest contenders. Nevertheless, as the dust settles, one fact remains clear: the Internet is still a powerful marketing tool. Most of us have adopted e-mail as a way of life and most of your customers probably surf the Web for everything from airline tickets to groceries. It makes sense to offer access to your products through such a convenient venue.

In addition to convenience, Web sites are a very cost-effective form of advertising. Trade magazines routinely charge thousands of dollars for a page of advertising to appear in an issue. This price is independent of production charges for photography and layout work. If you run ads several times a year in multiple publications, costs escalate quickly. In contrast, it costs less than $100 a month to host a relatively complex Web site with as much promotional information as you care to provide. The site is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all over the world. Even better, you don't need to know exactly who your potential clients are. If you have a good site and a good product, interested parties can track you down through search engines and bulletin boards. This is a decided advantage over print advertising — with print, you can zero in on your audience if you know your clients well enough to predict precisely what publications they read; if you don't, you can waste a considerable amount of money astonishingly quickly.

Web sites offer similar advantages over printed catalogs. You don't need to target individuals with expensive mailings. In addition to eliminating printing and postage fees, Web catalogs are much simpler to update. Instead of reprinting your entire catalog, you simply edit and update the site. Clients have instant access to the most current information available.

I make the argument in favor of Web sites not to encourage you to replace print advertising but rather to emphasize the fact that sites are valuable and efficient marketing tools. When you set your budget for promotion, it makes good business sense to include funding for Web site development and maintenance. The proportion of your budget you allocate should be greater if you are targeting a young, Internet-savvy clientele.

CONTACTS TO FULL-SERVICE. Once you decide to develop a site, you need to determine exactly what you want from it. Note that wholesalers often encounter resistance from their retail accounts when they set up full-service e-commerce sites. If this is an issue, an informational Web site could be a good compromise. These are popular with retailers because they bolster the brand without cannibalizing their clients' sales. They also offer the advantage of being relatively low maintenance; since they don't have complicated features, they get fewer kinks and are relatively simple to update.

A Web site can be as simple as a page with a few graphics, a brief description of your company, and a list of contact information. While such sites fail to exploit the full potential of the Internet, they are much better than nothing. If you are intimidated by the Web, this might be a good way to start. Once you see the response to your site and get used to answering e-mail, you can add features incrementally.

Other sites offer in-depth background information on the company, the products, and even on related topics. They may allow you to order a catalog, or put you in touch with local vendors, but they don't make sales online. While these sites don't generate business directly, they are very valuable tools for brand building. A customer who purchases a product in a store can go online and find out more about it. This is particularly valuable if you are selling collectibles or heirloom items. When a customer starts to identify with your brand, they are more likely to add to their collection or give your products as gifts.

Finally, you have the option of setting up a full-service e-commerce site, complete with promotional information, a catalog, and any other services, like contests, that you may wish to offer. Full-service sites can generate income directly, so it's simpler to evaluate the return on your investment. They also provide another layer of service and convenience to your customers. If your current business is confined geographically, an online catalog could open up whole new markets.

On the other hand, full-service sites require the highest investment in both money and time. They are more complicated to design and require more maintenance than simpler sites. Perhaps most important, you need to monitor and update your site on a daily basis. People expect speed and accuracy with their online transactions. If the site is not functioning correctly, if information is not current, or if you fail to respond promptly to an inquiry, you risk permanently alienating your clientele.

HOW TO BUILD IT? Aside from the format, the other major decision you have to make in order to move forward with your Web site is how to build it. Again, you have several options: build it yourself, hire a Web developer, or use a template provided by one of the major Internet portals. Building your own site is more or less feasible depending on how ambitious your plans are. Obviously it's much less difficult to create a simple, non-interactive page than a catalog with a shopping cart and payment features.

There are software programs on the market that make it simpler to build your own site. The most popular and inexpensive programs are Dreamweaver (by Macromedia) and Frontpage (by Microsoft). There are also a number of online resources for learning about site development and programming. These offer tutorials, tips, articles, product reviews, and free downloads of small but useful programs. (See “Web Resources” sidebar for details).

While some people are willing to study HTML and learn to write their own code, most of us lack the time or the interest to take up programming. Even the easiest Web-building software takes a significant amount of time to master. If you already have your hands full with your current work load, you might consider creating a “virtual store” using templates created by the likes of Yahoo, Amazon, Microsoft, or Netscape. These templates are designed to be user friendly. You can set up a site quickly and easily without any previous experience.

The advantages of having your site on one of these large networks is obvious: instant exposure to a broad clientele. This is especially useful if you are selling retail. In exchange for as little as $50 a month, these companies take care of the payment features and most of the maintenance. You might find smaller companies that charge less, but it isn't worth the risk of having them go out of business. You want to choose a company that will be around as long as you need them.

The drawbacks of using templates include a lack of control over the graphics and format which results in a less personalized user experience. Your clients interact with a system that is designed only partly by you, so the brand-building value may be watered down.

FINDING A DEVELOPER. If you want to create a full-service site that captures the feel of your company, you are better off hiring a Web developer. Surfing the Web is an excellent way to find a designer whose work you like. The more sites you look at, the better idea you will have of what you do and do not want. Web sites have design credits, usually with an e-mail link to the developer, so they are not hard to track down. To see examples of innovative Web sites, visit the Golden Web Awards site (www.goldenwebawards.com), sponsored by the International Association of Web Masters and Designers. Although the first prize winners were probably quite expensive to build, there are many excellent examples of moderately priced sites listed among the Honorable Mention winners. Other Web sites list developers or allow you to submit a request for a bid. (See “Web Resources” sidebar for details). Ironically, the economic slow down may work to your advantage in hiring a Web developer. People who were swamped a year ago are now hungry for work and willing to branch out from purely high-tech applications to mainstream businesses.

From a cost perspective, it may be tempting to hire your friend's brother or a cousin who builds Web sites on the side. The apparent savings could be misleading. Full-service Web sites require significant maintenance and continual updating. You need to be able to pick up the phone and have emergencies addressed promptly. The person who designs and builds the site has the most insight into how it works and where problems could develop. Basically, you are marrying your Web site developer, so as the song says, you'd better shop around. Check out examples of their work, ask for referrals, and find out how much they will charge per hour to service the site.

Once you pick a designer, it's important to work closely with them to develop the site. Explain your business model thoroughly. Your designer needs insight into your business and your customers in order to design an appealing and effective environment. In the same vein, the more research you do, surfing the Web and checking out Web site features and graphics, the better equipped you will be to request and discuss ideas with your developer.

Many developers like to use the latest, flashiest computer graphic effects in order to build up their portfolios. While impressive, these fancy tricks use up a lot of space and can take a long time to load. In general, Web surfers will give up on a site and move on if the pages take more than five seconds to load. Needless to say, a great Web site is useless if no one visits.

Whether you opt for a site that is basically a glorified business card, or choose an elaborate full-service design, don't be intimidated by the jargon. You are the client, so ask questions, even if they might seem silly or naive. All of those fancy terms can easily be reduced to Plain English.

Once the site is designed, test it by pretending you are a customer. Try placing orders, or looking up information. Spend as much time as possible proofreading your site, but schedule additional time to correct the mistakes that will inevitably arise the first few weeks the site is up and running. Be sure to confirm that your Web developer will be available to troubleshoot the week you launch the site!

After the site is up, you will need to submit it to the major search engines. There are several online services that can do this for you (see sidebar). Once your information has been added to the databases, you should go to the popular search engines and type in as many key words as you can think of that prospective customers might use to search for your products. If your site does not come up, have your developer modify the keywords and descriptions that are embedded in the site's HTML code. It can take weeks for these changes to go into effect, so don't expect instant results. Don't forget to cross-reference all of your advertising. List your Web address on business cards, catalogs, invoices, and print advertising. Likewise, post all of your other contact information prominently on your Web site.

If you still have doubts about setting up a Web site, at least get in the habit of surfing. Check out your competitors' sites and other vendors with similar business models. The more time you spend online, the more clearly you will understand the benefits of having a site of your own.

Nina Cooper is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Lapidary Journal based in Oakland, California. She also owns Nina Designs, a wholesale mail order company that sells beads, components, and jewelry handmade in Bali. Her own Web site is found at www.ninadesigns.com.