SYRACUSE - Web sites are for clients, not the companies that put them up, says one Web expert. Linda M. Rigano, director of strategic alliance and new-business development for Thomas Industrial Network, shared her company's experiences in helping create Web sites designed with the client in mind. Over the past decade, the Internet has changed the way industrial buyers make purchases, says Rigano, and suppliers need to adjust in order to remain competitive.
"The Internet isn't just a brochure, it's part of your company," she adds.
More than 100 business owners and technical personnel packed a meeting room at the Wyndham Hotel June 15 to hear how to improve their Web marketing. Thomas Industrial Network and the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) presented the free seminar.
Founded in 1890 by the Thomas family, Thomas Publishing Co. publishes the Thomas Register and other industry guides. The Manhattan-based company also creates Web sites for industrial customers and provides marketing services.
One of the largest Internetdriven changes is the shortening of the time from prospect to purchase of supplies. What once took months to locate and buy, says Rigano, now takes only a week.
"The Internet has changed your window of opportunity," she told the group.
And if the one-week window wasn't enough to get the attention of the crowd, Rigano presented some of Thomas's research on the surfing habits of industrial buyers. Approximately 90 percent of buyers check out potential suppliers' Web sites, and eliminate many, before ever picking up a telephone.
"You can be eliminated from the process without ever knowing about it," she says.
For the customers that do reach a site, Thomas's research showed that visitors gave about eight seconds' worth of their time to evaluating a supplier's site. After eight seconds, the majority of visitors, 62 percent, leaves a site.
The figure was surprising to seminar attendee Rebecca R. Bayne, a graphic designer who owns Becky's Brushes Graphic Design Studio. She plans to take advantage of the information in future Web-site designs.
"I hadn't heard that one before," says Bayne.
To avoid these business-killing pitfalls, Rigano advised that all companies have a Web site aimed at fulfilling the customers' needs rather than those of the company. Businesses establishing a site need to find out who their target audience is, what they expect, and what the site will be able to do.
"Give them the information that they want," she advised.
Other Thomas research showed 96 percent of industrial buyers are more likely to contact suppliers who provide detailed product information. Over the past decade, the number of buyers who telephone for information has dropped from 70 percent to 4 percent.
Rigano showed examples of Web sites that typified mistakes she's seen over the years. One posted a mission statement on its main page; another omitted contact information from the main page.
"Buyers don't care about your mission statement," she said, "they care about your products and capabilities."
Other sites delivered requests to "call for information," defeating the purpose of the Internet as an informationdelivery vehicle.
"I'm a buyer, I click, and now they're telling me to call?" she asked.
Rigano summed up her Web strategy as attracting the right traffic and creating contacts, and then converting those contacts into customers. The more complete, current information available to surfers, the better the site, she explained.
Brian Bluff, president of Utica-based Site Seeker, Inc., and his brother Eddie, vice president of sales for Site Seeker, shared their experiences with the group during question-and-answer sessions and in a later presentation. The brothers offered tips on search-engine placement and distributed a sheet of their top 10 tips for establishing a successful Internet presence.
The SBA presented two sessions during the seminar. Joseph Anderson, business-opportunity specialist for the SBA, offered advice on developing a marketing strategy for selling to government agencies; and Valerie Shoudy presented a session on getting capital for business growth.
The free seminar had the help of several organizations, such as the Central New York TDO, which sent out e-mail invitations to its clients. HSBC Bank sponsored the breakfast that preceded the seminar sessions. Allen Naples, HSBC regional president, who will soon head the bank's West Coast operations; SBA District Director Bernard J. Paprocki; and Onondaga County Executive Nicholas Pirro also spoke at the half-day event.
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