Setting your sites higher – taking advantage of the Internet

The Internet must surely qualify as one of the greatest inventions of the modern era, as there are very few aspects of domestic or business life that have not been profoundly affected by it.So ubiquitous has it become that it is all too easy to forget what a comparatively recent invention it is in little over a decade, it has become an indispensable tool and source of information for the developed world. The Internet has wrought a major change in the way we access information and in the resources available to us.

What the Internet does do is give people time and time, as they say, is money. Some of us will remember being impressed by the speed and immediacy of communication afforded by telex, which was hailed as a great invention in its day. When was the last time you sent anyone a telex?Telex was superseded by the fax machine, which in turn is giving way more and more to e-mail.

Not only does it give you very rapid communication, but you can send words and pictures – even moving pictures, which is something no fax can do. Immediate communications and a seemingly-limitless amount of information – no wonder so many people and businesses have taken to the Internet so warmly and so quickly.Business or information?There are two distinct types of website; those which are used to transact business and those which supply information only.

Let’s look at the latter type first.The website has become, to many companies, the latest status symbol, replacing the full-colour, glossy brochure. Company history, product portfolio and a piece from the chairman saying how important customers are and how the staff is one happy family – all can be accommodated on a corporate website which can (and all too often does) go on for page after page.

Like the glossy brochure, the website can be in glorious colour, but there are many advantages; the website does not need to be printed or mailed out and, should one million people suddenly decide that they want a copy, you do not have to order a reprint. There is also the advantage that a website can be an evolving entity and can be amended the same day.With many sites existing for the purpose of imparting information clearly and succinctly, it is surprising how many seem to try to make it difficult for the reader.

Your corporate colours may look great on your company logo, but it can be a mistake to insist that everything on your site is corporately branded – people will soon get fed up if faced with pages of, say, bright yellow words on a red background. By all means show the logo somewhere, but never forget that words are designed to be read.Business sitesAnd so we move to those websites that are designed for the purpose of enabling customers to do business.

It goes without saying that these should be easy to understand and navigate and that they should be totally secure. It helps too if the company is able to stick to any promises made regarding delivery periods and so on.Does it matter if the site is a business-to-consumer or a business-to-business site? There could be an argument made that a B2C site might be made to look more attractive in order to tempt the consumer, but the overriding criteria in both cases should surely be speed and ease of use.

In the tyre world, it is notably the wholesalers who have pioneered B2B websites and it is probably true to say that orders through this medium represent a small percentage of their total sales. It is the same with B2C sites – more people visit Tesco stores than Tesco.com to buy their groceries.

This fact is eagerly seized upon by those who are suspicious of the Internet, pointing out that a) people would rather deal with other people and b) the small percentage shows that the idea isn’t catching on.This rather misses the point, as we are talking about a totally new way of doing business, in a medium that is barely over a decade old. However technologically sophisticated we may imagine ourselves to be, there tends to be an innate suspicion of anything new or technologically advanced.

This is especially true among the older generation – when did you last hear a teenager moaning about computers (except when they do not work, or the game is suddenly terminated)? The point of B2B sites is that some people are using them and, granted this might be a small percentage at the moment, few doubt that the numbers will grow as the Internet becomes more of a part of people’s lives. Think what a marvel television must have been when it first made an appearance and the effect it must have had on people, yet today it is taken for granted – children grow up with it and never once ask what it is, or how it works, it just is. And so it will be with the Internet one day.