You know that your business needs a website. The question is what type of website is best for your business? Is your current website right for you?
While the obvious goal of your website is to boost sales, how should your site go about that? Business websites can be divided into two types: brochures and e-commerce. Before you launch or revise your business website, you need to understand the point of each type of website and decide which one is going to do the most for your business.
A brochure website is your basic online real estate. It is a tool to raise awareness of your brand and let people know what you do, how you do it and why they need you to do it. If you have a restaurant or other venue, a brochure website can include tempting photos of your space and the food you serve as well as your menu, location and other details.
A brochure website tells people all about your company and encourages them to visit your brick-and-mortar location to make a sale. (Or if you provide a service, it encourages people to contact you to arrange to meet.)
Brochure websites range from bare bones one-page sites to more detailed sites with multiple pages, navigation tools and a blog. Businesses often start with a simple brochure website and outgrow it as they build a more sophisticated and effective digital marketing strategy.
An e-commerce website includes much of the same information as a brochure website, but its goal is to sell online. Amazon and Etsy are e-commerce sites. Many brick-and-mortar stores now have e-commerce sites so you can buy online from them. Eason and Tesco are two big-name examples of retailers with brick-and-mortar shops as well as e-commerce websites. If you can order and pay for goods or services on a site, it’s an e-commerce site.
E-commerce sites require a lot more functionality than brochure websites. They need a catalogue of the products, a way to indicate which are being purchased in what quantity, a way to communicate shipping instructions, and a payment method.
If you sell something that can be selected and purchased online and shipped to your customers, an e-commerce site is a game changer. It allows you to reach customers who cannot get to your shop. Geography is no longer a barrier. With an e-commerce site, you can go from being a local business to a global brand.
Before you can get a website that boosts sales, you need to define exactly what you want your website to do. If your product cannot be purchased and paid for online, then you need a brochure website.
If, however, your product can be sold online, you want an e-commerce website. It can be a very powerful tool to boost profit because it can exponentially increase your customer base. Right now, Matrix is offering great discounts on both brochure and e-commerce websites. Is your company ready to up its game for 2017? Contact us about which type of website you need and what we can do for you.
Still can’t decide which website works best for you? Get in touch with our expert team and book a free consultation today.
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