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Whichever route you take, don’t skimp on the e-mail. Your clients today are probably connected to their Blackberries or iPhones most hours of the day, and are probably multi-tasking as corporations try to squeeze more work out of fewer bodies. By offering a way for buyers to choose how they want to communicate with you, you’re making it that much easier to do business with you.

Once the contact information is taken care of, it’s time to decide what else to list on your site. When the Internet was still fairly new, simply putting up an equipment list was probably enough. However, unfortunately, many buyers today know next to nothing about how print works. They don’t necessarily care what machines you own, or how many of them. What they care about are applications.

Instead of, or in addition to, an equipment list—which, it should be noted, should always be completely up-to-date if you do list one—offer a variety of case studies and capabilities. Get quotes from clients who loved your work, and get their permission to have pictures of the job along with it. Talk in a generic way about the types of projects you can do, from direct mail to variable data, to large-format signs and billboards.

Buyers today are looking for solutions to problems. By demonstrating that you have the knowledge and expertise to help them, they will be more likely to gravitate to your shop over any other alternative.

Finally, your Web site doesn’t have to be static blocks of text. This is your chance to show potential customers your shop’s personality and expertise. Things like Flash videos, or using YouTube, give your site more visual interest, and give buyers a reason to keep coming back.

“On May 20, we launched the Keiger Direct Web site (www.keigerdirect.com) which incorporates several YouTube videos on the demos page to show how mail goes through the United States Postal Service system,” said Leslie Berry, variable information project manager, Keiger Direct, a division of Keiger Printing Co. Inc. “We also utilize YouTube by linking to videos of interest on Keiger Printing Co.’s Web site, www.keiger.com.”

Web-to-Print

So, now you have a Web site, and it’s live for all to see. What’s next?

For printers, the next step is to implement some kind of Web-to-print solution. “Web-to-print is NOT a competitive advantage—it is expected. Customers are very comfortable shopping on the Web and it only makes sense that they expect to be able to order print jobs as well,” said Stephen McWilliam, executive vice president, avanti.

“Printers need to create personalized Web experiences for their customers within their Web-to-print initiatives in order to differentiate themselves from their competition. The customer is fully engaged in their experience because personalization equals ownership, and ownership, with a real-time proof increases value,” said Ed Ickowski, director of business development & sales, DirectSmile.com.