Exporting Your Services

Optimizing Your Online Presence

It is becoming increasingly common for customers to assess service firms through their online presence. As a result, the quality of your website may heavily influence the customer’s perception of the quality of service you offer. It’s also important to remember that your website is a virtual office, and its performance needs to be managed as such. So a well-designed and easy-to-use website is key to communicating your quality control and professionalism. The following questions and answers can help you think through what type of online presence you want to have:

How can I use internet to assist my export initiative?
What is important about our website?
Why should marketing staff manage website content rather than technicians?
What site design features are important in service export competitiveness?
What type of content is important on our website?
How can I use internet to collaborate with business partners and customers located in different parts of the world?

How can I use internet to assist my export initiative?

There are at least three main ways you may be able to use internet to assist you in exporting:

Promoting your capabilities
- Promoting your firm’s capabilities through a well-designed corporate website.
- Enhancing your credibility as an expert through participation in selected on-line discussion groups.
- Being listed in appropriate online directories.
- Participating and/or advertising in relevant e-marketplaces.
Researching export possibilities
- Conducting efficient market research on-line.
- Collecting feedback and ideas from consumers.
Delivering your service
- Coordinating the activities of project teams and partners in different locations.
- Holding virtual meetings online with customers.
- Distance delivery of services.
- Using teleworking staff.
- Reducing operating costs through e-procurement.

What is important about our website?

Your website represents your service delivery capabilities and service quality – it is your primary online competitive tool. You need to make sure your website:

Can be found through various search engines.
Is always “up” and accessible.
Loads quickly.
Is user friendly in its navigation.
Provides immediate value to the customer.
Supports your competitive positioning.
Contains appropriate logos of your memberships or awards.
Displays your quality management certification.
Lists your portfolio of major customers or projects, including streaming video clips if appropriate.

Why should marketing staff manage website content rather than technicians?

The purpose of your website is to increase customer satisfaction, and that is a marketing function.

What site design features are important in service export competitiveness?

Domain name
Your domain name should reflect the services you provide, be easy to remember, and be unique so it is not mistaken for other domain names.

Search engines, meta tags, and directory listings
Develop an effective key word list that is represented on your site through meta tags and page titles. Search engines (i.e. Google, Yahoo!, AltaVista) will eventually record a link to your site automatically, but you can ‘request’ search engines to document your site sooner. Using related keywords within your site’s meta tags and page titles can increase the likelihood that search engine users will find your site listing. Unlike search engines, directories will not find your site on their own. You will need to register your site with directories in North America and in your target market.

Graphics and multimedia
The region in which your target audience is located can also affect your use of graphics and multimedia elements. While much progress is being made daily, certain parts of the world cannot support high bandwidth and are restricted by slow connection speeds. If your site offers audio and video streaming, ensure the user can also access text versions or can request your multimedia files in CD-ROM format.

Languages
When dealing with international audiences, consider making your site available in multiple languages.

Banner ads and sponsorships
Depending on your marketing objectives, banner ads and sponsorships could become a valuable addition to your internet strategy by providing links to your website from other high-profile sites. Banner ads are most commonly used in business-to-consumer marketing and may not be an effective method for marketing business and professional services. Make sure you understand the target demographic and the estimated number of “impressions” you will receive as a result of using this approach.

Site statistics
Regularly monitoring statistics on your site is a good way to better understand your target audience – who is visiting your site, how they found your site, and what pages they viewed will provide you with valuable insights at little or no cost.

What type of content is important on our website?

Your service offering
Your service offerings must be clear and concise. Website visitors should be able to see a description of your service offering on the home page. A link to a secondary page can provide more detailed descriptions.

Press releases/news
Develop content in a way that attracts repeat visits. Press releases, new developments, notification of events, information on business opportunities, and “free” services are a good way to keep people coming back.

Discussion groups
Setting up discussion groups on your site will give you better insights into some of the challenges faced by your customers and can provide an opportunity to introduce your solutions

Newsletters
Stay in touch with your customers and prospects by providing an online newsletter sent out by e-mail on a monthly, quarterly, or more occasional basis with links to specific pages on your website. Since the purpose of a newsletter is relationship marketing, focus less on self-promotion and more on providing information valuable to the reader. Be sure to provide subscribers with an opportunity to unsubscribe.

Linking strategy
Offer added value by linking to other sites that provide information on a given topic. The most successful websites are those that serve as a portal or gateway to other sites of interest. Set up a “reverse linking” strategy with those sites so they can drive traffic back to you.

How can I use internet to collaborate with business partners and customers located in different parts of the world?

There are many online tools available at little or no charge that can result in a savings in communication costs and a big leap in productivity. It’s like being at the same table when you’re worlds apart.

Videoconferencing
Webcams and high-speed internet connections have made it possible for businesses to hold meetings, large and small, through internet. These real-time videoconferences are especially useful for connecting project team members or for building customer relationships. Larger meetings tend to require the rental of a videoconferencing facilities, which are increasingly available in major cities around the world (often at university sites).

Webconferences
Webconferences or “webinars” enable participants to attend events without the additional cost of time and travel. They may be broadcast live and are usually available as archived files. High-speed internet is recommended.

Real-time document sharing
Some webconferencing tools (e.g., Microsoft’s NetMeeting) enable users to share documents, making it possible for one user to the see changes being made by another in real time. This is especially useful when collaboration is required on developing a presentation or in adjusting a budget on a spreadsheet.

Instant messaging
Save time and money by instant messaging your online collaborators using any of a number of applications (e.g., MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messaging, AOL Instant Messenger). Sometimes a quick answer to a question is all you need.

Newsgroups and discussion groups
Newsgroups provide an environment where subscribers can discuss topics with others sharing the same interest. They are generally available at no cost and can be set up as “invitation only” groups.