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Net Watch Article - Having A Successful Website Step 1 p2
Planning  (Part 2)

In our last newsletter we talked about the planning process. I'd like to take that just a bit further this month. I recently had the opportunity to look at a site for a potential client and in the process, came up with the following questions:

1. As and end user, what on your site conveys that your products / services are any different from any other company? What sets you apart from your competition, especially if your competition is just down the road from me and you are in another state?

2. As an end user, when your site first hits the screen, what is the first thing that will catch my eye?

3. As and end user, can you easily find the core information or product or service that you are trying to promote?

4. As and end user, if you have a question, can you easily find how to contact information? Do you provide a phone number or just an email address?

As I went through their site, they were not able to effectively answer any of those questions. Like most on-line merchants, they were just another site pushing a service that someone can get just as effectively at a local brick and mortar establishment.

I purchase a large amount of products and services on-line. Most of the time I purchase from only major vendors that have local branches. In order for me to purchase from an On-Line only store, I have to be convinced that I'm not going to be ripped off.

Just today I had the experience of rolling the dice on some airline tickets. Let me bring you through my thinking when buying On-Line. I've been very happy using www.Orbitz.com in the past so I looked at them first. The best they could do was $442 for a short notice round trip from Charleston to Burlington. I called my travel agent (Mark Abrams of Northfield Travel 1-802-485-5444) and he was able to give me basically the same price so normally I'd use him, however while on Orbitz's site, I  noticed a little button right there staring at me. I decided to give www.Hotwire.com a chance. They were able to quote me a price of $280. What a savings! The catch is that they do not provide the name of the carrier or the itinerary until AFTER you purchase your tickets. You are able to limit the number of connections, prop or jet, and whether the Red-Eye was ok, but that is it.

I'm not really one to be penny wise and pound foolish, so I started looking for all the "fine print." In the big picture, saving $160 is not that important when I'm sending a loved one on a trip. They did a really good job of putting all the "catches" right out there for me to see and decide if it was worth the "risk." I decided to give them a try and these were my reasons:

1. They were linked from a site that I had confidence in.
   They did not appear to be "sneaky" with the fine print, but put it all right out in the open.

2. They had answers to "common questions" on every step, which were answers to the exact questions I was asking.

3. The price was cheap enough only $280! I was willing to risk loosing the $280 and filing a complaint with my credit card company if things went sour.

4. They had a satisfactory record with www.BBBOnline.com.

The bottom line is they answered all my important questions and in the end I put aside my skepticism in favor of the opportunity of a good deal. They were able to minimize the "risk" by answering my questions before I asked them. They have put great effort into thinking like a consumer and in the end it got them the sale.

When looking at the planning of your Web Project, take a look at some of their methods they used to convert this viewer into a customer. If you want help with planning your next Web Project or want help to kick start your existing Project, just give us a call, 1-843-835-5624.