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Having a business website is a challenge. Many of the customers I deal with throughout Aberdeenshire are sole traders or small businesses. They don’t have a lot of spare time or endless supplies of cash. So the first question is:
Why do we need a business website?
Use of the Internet is constantly increasing, so the simple fact is, it pays to have a business website. The second annual Small Business Internet Survey was conducted by Gallup for online business directory site Superpages.com. Over 800 businesses with less than 50 employees were polled.
 The survey found that 21 per cent of small businesses had established a website this year as a shop window, while only 13 per cent had set up a sales mechanism. This compared with eight and 13 per cent, respectively, in the previous year.
"Research indicates that many consumers use the internet to window shop - to research and browse before they buy from local merchants," said Patrick Marshall, group vice president of Superpages' parent company Verizon Information Services.
Online retail spending in the UK in 2006 grew by 33.4 per cent to a record £10.9bn, excluding spending on services such as flights, tickets and insurance and business expenditure. This is almost 13 times faster than the retail sector overall. The figures mean that over £1 of every extra £3 spent on retail in 2006, in the UK, was claimed by an online retailer.
By 2011 the typical spend of an online shopper will grow to £1,056 a year, up from £606 last year. The 'clothing and footwear', 'DIY and gardening' and 'food and grocery' sectors are achieving the fastest growth.
Ian Williams, vnunet.com 29 May 2007
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Britons have spent more than £100bn online since 1995, according to online retail research group IMRG.
Online sales for April (2007) rose 55 per cent, the largest rise since December 2003 when Christmas shopping sent sales soaring.
Travel is still the most popular category for online spending, accounting for £7bn of all spending last year, but sales of electrical goods, clothing and groceries are rising rapidly.
Dave Friedlos, Computing 18 May 2007
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What this means is more sales, better turnover, more profit and more money. If your business is operating without a web site and your competitors have one, you will be losing out, and more so as time goes by.
Enterprise Design can help you with a really professional, quality website design which will help establish you locally throughout Aberdeenshire Scotland and much further afield, and put you in line to benefit from the advantages of having a presence on the Internet.
What are the real benefits of a website?
 Businesses who have a webpage and their own domain can make a real impression with customers.
A domain is like an address on the Internet. Some people have e-mails like “franksgarage@freenetads.com” or “marysmithltd@cheepoweb.com”
What message do domain addresses like that send out to you?
Do you expect top quality? Can you trust these companies? Now what about “sales@elitemotors.co.uk” or “mary@deluxecurtains.co.uk”? These businesses might well be Franks Garage in Ellon and Mary Smith Limited in Fraserburgh by another name, but don’t they sound so much more reliable and appear to be likely to provide a better product?
A website from Enterprise Design is able to project a favourable image of your company. Even if your premises is not as big or as expensive as your competitor, people can’t tell that from your website. So a top quality, dependable image is just one benefit. Others include:
- Cost effective advertising for goods and services, just compare the cost of newspaper, magazine or TV advertising.
- Show your products or services in the best light, and to a wide audience.
- Let customers browse on-line then buy from your premises or direct.
- Photographs can say far more than a telephone call or text advert.
- Let customers know where you are, with a map or directions.
- Tell your business story, and your future plans.
- Let customers contact you immediately and you can find out more about their needs and interests from a web page form.
- Open new markets unfamiliar with your service or product.
- Provide customer support by answering their questions.
Enterprise Design provides a full and comprehensive range of services to small businesses throughout Aberdeenshire Scotland to ensure that all the areas of your website design and development work together, to provide a professional, businesslike, and quality appearance at all times.
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