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Latest articles

Businesses:
Save time and money by using your website to its full potential

At the moment something that is vital for small businesses but just as crucial for corporate organisations is achieving more and spending less. Across the board everyone is looking to reduce their business running costs amidst the economic downturn; and there are many ways in which this can be done successfully.

One thing that can save you money in many ways is your website.

Surprising you may think, but a website can reduce business overheads and streamline office systems. How? By using ecommerce and database driven websites, manual processes can be automated and made far more efficient, resulting in cost, time and manpower savings. By using multimedia applications and online marketing solutions savings can be made in training, support, sales and promotional areas.

An expertly built website backed by professional support is an investment for the future that will grow with your business.

Everyone talks about return on investment (ROI) and of course a website can be quite a considerable investment for any business. But ROI shouldn't only be measured in terms of sales; it should be equally based on the savings that can be made on everyday tasks that would be costly in terms of manpower.

So what manpower saving tasks can be taken over by an expertly built website? Here we explore a variety of examples:

Website updates

A content management system allows you to update your website content as and when you please so you can don't have to pay a designer - or wait - to add your news and special offers and keep your information up to date.

Business admin tasks

Your website can be backed by a database system that provides automated admin systems such as order processing, invoicing and despatch, saving you the time you would normally spend on doing these things manually. Sales forecasting, order tracking, stock control and project or document management systems can also be simplified.

Customer relationship management

Keeping in touch with customers according to their preferences and order habits is a breeze using the data that is automatically collected through a website's ecommerce sales history.

Marketing

Building contacts and keeping your name in front of prospective customers is simple using things like newsletter subscription features on the most popular pages of your website. Build your contact lists by offering free information guides in return for an e-mail address and see your business prospects grow.

Instead of sending postal mailshots to attract business, use an e-mail newsletter programme. The cost savings are immense, and the results are far easier to monitor.

Advertising

Media advertising is costly and few businesses have the budget to maintain a decent presence on an on-going basis. Promoting your business online is far more cost effective and there are many options to choose from, some of them free and others that can be capped to an amount that is affordable for your business. Examples are article marketing, online press release distribution, social networking, link exchange programmes and sponsored listings.

Sales

Instead of employing an on-the-road sales force, why not use your website as a sales tool? Incorporate multimedia presentations which act as an online sales force and your sales could excel without anyone having to leave the office.

Customer support

Customer support is highly important and businesses offering a good support system always stand apart from their competitors. Traditionally support has been supplied by telephone which is obviously costly in terms of employing staff to handle the calls. Switching to an online service via your website, whether it's a multimedia presentation, instructional video or step-by-step guide or even e-mail support, can offer substantial cost savings.

Daily correspondence

It costs around £1 to send just one letter through the post - but how much does it cost to send an e-mail? Much less! Use your e-mail as much as possible for correspondence, and factor it into your marketing campaign to enhance your profile at the same time. You can do this by adding a link at the end of your e-mail to an offer you are promoting on your website, or a piece of recent news you would like to publicise or even to your blog.

A website gives your business the best chance possible to rise above the competition, run smoothly and develop in a highly successful way.

Core Media Design builds bespoke websites and designs tailored multimedia applications that offer a wide range of benefits. The overall aim with all projects is to save customers time and money in the long term; something that is vital for businesses of all types and sizes. Full training and support is included with every project to make sure customers get the maximum return on their website investment.

For more information about their range of website, multimedia, digital design, ecommerce and database development services, contact Core Media Design.