As newspapers across the country are reducing print and going to a more internet dependent form of providing their services and advertising to the public, so are the Yellow Pages industries. Because indications are that print will eventually fade away entirely for these two industries, your business needs to be establishing a web presence now, more than ever before.

Using email and having a website are not just big city ways of doing business anymore. They are becoming the standard in attracting and retaining customers. Added to these are the various social mediums to get your business message out in public view: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter – to name a few. The majority of consumers already do their research online before making a decision to purchase an item during the holidays, and many actually complete their purchases online. It won’t be long before consumers depend on the internet throughout the year as much as they do during the holidays. Can your business really afford not to catch up with the internet this next year?

Many know the name Kodak. It’s synonymous with pictures and memories. What most don’t know is this once dominating company in photography was predicted by MSN MoneyCentral to be one of a few that may never see the year 2020. So, what happened to this once great company? In short they were oblivious to the need to keep up with the advances in digital photography. The leader of the photography industry, fell way short and lagged behind most companies when it came to the development and perfection of the digital camera and the software technology backing it. In the beginning, they were correct in their statements that film was a much better quality. Where they were completely wrong in was their attitude that digital would never be better than film. It took nearly 12 years, but Eastman Kodak has recently announced they will no longer continue producing Kodachrome film. Thus ends an era in photography and catapults the new era of digital photography even further into the forefront.

Unfortunately for Kodak and its employees, they waited far too long to recognize the signs of changes coming. One can also jump the gun, and abandon working models in business and marketing too soon. While there has been impressive growth in the use of Internet and Phone Application technology by both consumer and business, use of other forms of media are only slightly decreasing. Indicating there is an overlap of usage still between traditional print, TV and radio and the Internet in consumers determining their purchases. Similar to film, it will take some time before market demand will make print and other non-digital forms of marketing pretty much irrelevant. A mix of traditional marketing and digital marketing is going to be needed until there is a significant downward trend in the traditional.

While the future success of your business will depend highly on an online presence, there’s a double edged sword in going online with your business. On one side, you will gain a world-wide presence becoming accessible to anyone anywhere in the world. On the other side, you will need to compete with the world in terms of image and content to attract people to your website. Simply putting up a website without rich, search-able content and using sub-standard design is no longer sufficient. Calls to action are a must. Interaction, high quality Flash, video and photos are more often than not the standard, than just options to consider. But you can’t just throw these things in for the sake of having them there. Above all, the website has to be user-friendly and easy to navigate with a clear hierarchy in terms of purpose of the website.

With all the many factors included in designing and developing a website, it would be time consuming and in most cases difficult to accomplish on your own. The designers and developers with Polaris Marketing Consulting are a great resource to you. We allow you to keep doing what you do best and provide you with an effective and appealing website for your business to be able to feel confident in moving forward. We offer free quotes and initial consultation to determine your needs and requirements.