In addition to the look and feel of the web site, there are also a number of tools and elements that can be incorporated into a web site's design that will help you provide your visitors with a better web experience.  Still others will help you run your business better.  We can help you choose and implement those which best meets your needs based upon the priorities that you set.

Some of the main web enhancement categories are outlined on this page.  To get more information on any of these topics or to discuss an enhancement not seen here, please call us at 404.847.9585 or click here.  For information specific to e-commerce, please visit our E-Commerce Section.

» Business Process Integration

These consist of a number of features that will allow you to integrate web sales into your accounting software, track inventory of items sold over the web, allow customers to self-manage membership or subscription data via a database link, etc.  These are typically custom built by us and will conform to your business' exact needs.  For information on our database development capabilities, click here

» Include Syndicated News & Related Content

This primarily consists of systems that provide live news or other content customized for your users that will keep them coming back to your site.  Examples include Moreover Technologies, Big News Network, MSNBC and others.

» Include Streaming Media

While not practical for all companies, this allows you to put seminars, sales pitches, presentations, etc. online for your customers or prospects to view.  Typical playback is via Windows Media Player, RealPlayer, or QuickTime.

» Create an Online Community

Often, your users or customers can benefit by being able to exchange information on your web site using what are commonly known as bulletin boards or discussion forums.  The topics of the forums can be pre-set by you, or you can allow users to create their own topics.  You can also choose to moderate the flow of discussion or let it flow freely.  You can exercise control by require using registration and log-in and canceling users that may abuse the forum.

» Create E-Mail Marketing Lists

Not to be confused with spam (unsolicited e-mail), these are e-mails that users choose to sign up for, such as a periodic newsletters, notifications of special sales, e-coupons, etc.  These are often excellent marketing and communication tools, as your target audience is already predisposed towards your company or organization.

» Track Your Site Performance

There are several packages available that let you track the visitors to your site.  The level of detail varies, but most allow you to know the site each visitor came from, how long they looked at each page, the "click stream" while in your site (i.e., the pages they looked at and the order that they looked at them), where they exited your site, whether or not they're repeat visitors, traffic by hour - the list is almost endless.  This information can then be analyzed and put to use in refining your site to improve customer satisfaction, increase repeat visits, etc.  A good example of this type of software is WebTrends.

» Include Live Customer Service

This service allows web site visitors to communicate directly with a live representative, most often through a chat type interface.  Examples include service offerings from companies such as LivePerson.

» Expanded Search Capabilities

This service allows users to ask questions in conversational  sentences, obtain search results even if the keywords are misspelled, and base searches on various methodologies. 

» Personalization Systems

This allows web sites the ability to customize content based upon demonstrated preferences or on demographic or geographic information.  A typical example would be a system that detects and responds to shopper behavior patterns while visitors are on-line to increase browse-to-buy conversion rates and reduce shopping cart abandonment.  These are often included in shopping cart systems such as those provided by Miva, LaGarde Storefront and others.

» Marketing Measurement Systems for E-Commerce

These tools allow businesses to maximize the value of their existing customers and acquire new ones.  Many will track return on investment for specific online promotions, analyze success of marketing campaigns, measure customer buying behavior, and help increase cross-selling and up-selling.  (Cross-selling is getting existing customers to buy different products or services; up-selling is selling more of a product or service to an existing customer.)  These features are now included with many shopping cart systems, either as standard features or as add-ons.

» Include an Online Calendar

Especially good for membership organizations and companies that have a large schedule of events to publicize.

» Include a Site Recommendation Link

Allows your users to recommend your site to a friend or colleague.

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