Creating a web page and site

Advantages.  Tell and sell your story 168 hours a week, to 100 million prospects on the web.  Unlike junk mail or cold calls, you talk only to people who come asking, delivering them about 20 pages per penny.  In full color.  And in song if you like.  Your business takes purchases and reservations without human delay, while you are away or asleep.  A web site serves your customers at the lowest possible margin.  And it doesn't have to change the way you do the rest of your business.

Disadvantages.  Weaving web sites is more tedious than darning socks.  Web design software is expensive and changing constantly, and the learning curve is steep.  As with any publication medium, setup costs can be huge; a top commerce site takes millions to develop, and can lose millions more, before you realize it was bad idea.  There is enormous competition for customers, so there is a premium on quality of information and manner of presentation.  Once you've got your web site up, your competitors see exactly what you're doing, without them ever leaving home.  Finally, many people prefer the reassurance of dealing with live human beings, not through a computer, the least reliable appliance in the home.  Today's web can seem like just a click better than the telephone menu.
What's right for your business.  Here are three questions you should be asking yourself:
1. Will a web site help us keep customers?  Very important.  Some customers will consider your efforts to be an enhancement in your ability to serve them round-the-clock.  Others will see you as too concerned about attracting new customers, or will use your early lead as a springboard to compare your products and prices with other vendors on the web.  Chances are they'll do that sooner or later, so you may want to have a web site as a defensive position.  And if your web site is successful, you should constantly be asking yourself how to retain your online customers.
2. Will a web site attract new customers?  Yes, it will.  The bigger question is "how many?"  And what kind of customers?  Big?  Small?  Friendly?  Dispute generators?  Your physical location, and the novelty of your product, are important factors in your decision to go on the web.  If you have a unique product, thus serve a potentially large area, you're in a sweet spot.  If you run a business with walk-in traffic, a dry cleaners or hair cutters for example, it might be better to think twice about a web site, unless you can cost-effectively differentiate your service from your competitors, using the web medium.  But think again, maybe your customer wants to know when her suit is dry cleaned?
3. Can we reduce our margin?  Chances are yes, if you do it right.  Maintenance of an online catalog or price list can be a natural outgrowth of work you are already doing, so theoretically you won't quite have to pay for it twice.  But it will not be a carbon copy.  There are many logistic issues in maintaining online catalogs.  Unlike a static document, a web commerce site interacts with the user, hopefully driving sales opportunities at every reasonable moment.  Another thing that makes the web different is that people come to your site for a variety of reasons, sometimes looking for answers and help.  The ethic of the web is give and you might receive.  Therefore, you should budget to provide free information, and this will be contained in multiple information pages acting as gateways to your site, for both search engines and clients.
How does a web site fit into our existing practices?  If you have expert knowledge of your product and market, you are already at an advantage.  Translating your message into the web requires design skills, but having a message is number one.  If you are already taking telephone orders, a web site is a no-brainer as far as integration.  Provided, of course, that orders can be processed quickly.  The web community is not a patient one.