On The Web, February 2005

Don't Take It From Me

In case you're skeptical of the direct influence your Web site has on your bottom line, listen to what shop owners told me recently about various roles their sites have played in their sales processes. (Names have been changed to protect the rewarded.)

John, a shop owner, says "[one customer] chose to call us because our Web site was very professional looking, and in his experience, companies with professional sites also have a similar approach to . . . business."

"We have gotten several new customers from our Web site. Two of them (large aerospace prime contractors) were looking for something unusual that we do," says Emily, a shop sales & marketing manager. "We get solid leads daily from the Web site, with new orders [nearly] every week."

John adds, "One of our main marketing elements is our use of [a special CAM] software. We target virtually all our [promotion to] users of [this] software. As a result, some of our biggest customers have [found us through] our site."

Says Emily, "What we do best is high precision machining . . . the two primes that [found us through our Web site] were looking for that."

The Internet is used by manufacturers of all types to find alternative sources. Your own Web site, like those of John and Emily, is visited often by prospects looking for promising manufacturing partners like you. It deserves your investment and your attention, because it's 2005 and it can help your business today.

Job Shop Site Of The Month

This month, OTW directs your attention to the Web site of Tech & Molded Products, Inc. (www.ttmp.com), a Pennsylvania-based tooling and plastics shop. Notice the use of space on the home page—not graphically speaking, but in the way it conveys so much in a reasonably small space. The site navigation includes links to TTMP's core competencies (engineering, tooling and molding); its quasi-mission statement at the top states many of TTMP's products and services; and there are multiple links into the "Tech In The News" page. We haven't found many other shop sites that do as good of a job balancing home page design and content as TTMP has. Also, the "Tech In The News" page is used creatively to educate prospects about the company's strengths by including new equipment additions, business awards and achievements (like ISO), and even the company's commitment to lean.

To have your site considered for Job Shop Site Of The Month, send your URL to otw@mmsonline.com.

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