Why have a WebSite?

There are many reasons why a company needs a Web Site or Internet Presence. They include:

The Internet is Growing

The Internet is the fastest growing medium the world has ever known. Those without knowledge of the Internet and what it can do will be left disadvantaged in the business and leisure world of the 21st Century. The Western World is justifiably proud of its high level of literacy in the late 20th century. 21st century people will be categorised by their literacy of the Internet. At the current rate of growth in the United Kingdom, all homes would have access to the Internet by 2003. It is now possible to access the internet from a TV screen without the need for a Personal Computer.

More advertising per £

Advertising space in directories such as Yellow Pages® or Thomson's is limited to fairly fixed formats, unless you have the advertising budget of a large multinational company. Even a small advert in a directory can have the name of a web site. £300 may not buy much space in a directory, but the same amount could provide two A4 pages of information on a web site.

Up to date advertising

Paper directories take time to compile, proof read, print, and distribute. Why wait 6 months to advertise your latest service or product when the Internet can do it in hours. Advertise end of season sales or umbrella sales for wet weeks in summer. The Internet is far more immediate than any directory or weekly paper could be.

Tell Everything

It can be difficult to list all your services and products in a small advertisement in papers or directories. With the Internet you can put as much, or as little, information as you want. If you sell another companies' goods and they have a Web site, your Web pages can link to their site to give a comprehensive picture of the goods.

Recruiting staff

Advertise employment opportunities to a wider audience.

E-commerce

This can include just about anything from a list of products or services to a shopping cart with users able to track their order by interrogating your databases. According to research in early 1998, transactional Web sites in Europe will rocket from 2,200 in 1997 to more than 22,500 in 2002.

The competition is doing it

UK businesses are lagging behind the rest of Europe in understanding the Internet. The Internet crosses international boundaries seamlessly and European companies are using the Internet to gain easy access to the UK market. By using the internet European companies can sell products direct to UK companies and customers without the barrier of language or the cost of international calls. UK companies that do not grasp the nettle and start to trade over the Internet will lose business to those that do!

Why do it now?

Typical stages of a Web Site

1. Set up a home page on an Internet Service Provider
2. Set up a domain name with a home page on a Web Hosting Service
3. Establish individual's Email identities
4. Increase the content of the site
5. Create web pages from in-house computer systems
6. Move from a Web Hosting Service to an in-house Web Server
7. Create a small department to manage the web site

What HCI can do for you

HCI Data Limited provides consultation, web site management, and delivery of all aspects of Internet services. We can give you a presence on the Internet. Whether you require a domain name of your-company.com, your-company.London, your-company.uk (from June 2014) or your-company.co.uk we can check out its availability and register it for you. Most of our work is tailored to an individual client and prices will reflect the work done.