Profitable Websites for Exclusive Industries
By Patrick A. McIntire
Posted Monday, July 26, 2004
In the region where my company is located, South Bend, Indiana, the demand for web design and associated services could be described as: leery. It’s not that the locale is horribly lacking evolvement technologically; rather that so many proprietors in this area are very uncertain as to what the internet can do and how they can go about forming profitable web sites for their exclusive industries.
Small businesses and corporations need to understand that the internet is indeed a beast, but a beast that can definitely be tamed. In this market small business is primarily focused in independent food service establishments, manufacturing of RVs (recreational vehicles) and related accessories, electronics engineering, and various steel fabrication. While the majority of these industries don’t necessarily have grand end-user sales growth, they do have a great potential for being leading providers in the field of B2B. Surprisingly enough, much of that success could come from establishing dynamic functional websites – but many just don’t seem to want to jump on the bandwagon.
The trick is: to have a website with a national scope and feel to set them apart in the world economy from other local business.
Websites that primarily focus on B2B (business to business) sales and leads generation are new to many smaller markets. The internet is considered a point-and-click outlet for general merchandise. For almost as long as anyone can remember, many of the sales for such industries have been generated by cold-calling, sub-contracting, and other relationships such as contacts made at convention meetings, trade shows, and other conventions. It’s surprising that so few of the businesses in this area haven’t tried to expand their national sales by being a leading provider with expansive information available online.
The steps to creating nationally viable and profitable websites for exclusive industries are pretty simple in base form:
1. Introduce visitors to the website by offering easy access to information that includes the company’s history, track record, solutions provided, and plans for the future.
2. Specifically list the company’s target markets with examples of satisfied accounts, and extensive information on products and services.
3. Incorporate all of this information into a site that offers a look and feel like it’s been designed by a professional team with appropriate vision to reach mass visitors in both domestic and foreign markets.
Many exclusive industries have a background in niche marketing that just doesn’t give room to keep an open mind when it comes to new ways of doing business and getting their company’s name and information out there. Once that hurdle is jumped, it’s pretty just a matter of time before they start generating profitable new contacts who want to know more about the dominating international entity that they have become.
About The Author
Patrick A. McIntire is owner of TechniArtist Media, based in South Bend, Indiana. His company’s focus is in creating national scope websites for low cost and local budgets.
patrick@techniartist.com
