According to Theriault (2017), a website is a necessity for entrepreneurs, small businesses, home-based businesses, and anybody selling products of services. Regardless of any other marketing methods, websites enable potential customers to find a business through Google search or learn more about your business after they have seen marketing tools such as advertisements. Therefore, websites are key to create and develop new customers.

There are many reasons why websites are fantastic for businesses, below are a few:

• Gain credibility for your business (more and more consumers use the internet to search for products that they want. By having a website, Kontor will gain credibility with professional looking webpages that maintain the Kontor brand and images, as well as following the colour pallet and being consistent. Consumers will automatically think that the Kontor brand is more professional and will credit the business, to make future purchasing decision),
• Websites save money (Websites are one of the lowest costing forms of marketing when it comes to advertising, therefore, it is vital that Kontor exploits this to raise awareness of the brand to gain potential consumers. Furthermore, websites have a reach of billions of users, therefore, for the same price, Kontor will be able to reach people on a national scale),
• Keeps customers informed (websites are much easier to update and change in relation to print. This means that consumers will get the most up-to-date information which is a part of good customer service. Furthermore, this can inform consumers when new products are out, therefore, they will feel unique as they have this information and be inclined to purchase Kontor’s products before anyone else),
• Always accessible (website are available to access 24/7/365. Therefore it doesn’t matter what time it is, or whether its a Sunday, it will always be there for the convenience of the consumer. This would enhance Kontor’s reputation, and also increase credibility),
• Target a wider market (a Kontor website will provide an alternative location to sell the products in the collection. A website (eCommerce) is a positive method to sell products to a wider market and even sell globally),
• Medium to showcase work (a Kontor website would enable easy access to potential consumers to see the full range of the collection all in one place, without them having to do any extra work. A website acts as a catalogue of information, however, saves them money and time),
• Improves customer service (by including an FAQ page (frequently asked questions), adding articles or uploading newsletters keep customers up-to-date and provides them with a valued service which increases Kontor’s professional image and further credibility) (Kaz, 2017).

I felt like it was vital to produce a mock up of a webpage to showcase Kontor’s ability to give consumers what they want, in a professional and aesthetically pleasing manner. Please see below of the final mock up of the home page:

Above you can see the homepage. This is the page that consumers will see as soon as they open up the Kontor website. It offers various important features such as the menu bar, a slideshow of pictures and pages, email subscription, links to social media, search function, login user, shopping basket, and language selection. These features are vital to enable consumer engagement, better Kontor’s marketing approach, and increase credibility and professionalism.

As well as creating a mock up of the home page, I decided to create another page from the menu bar in order to demonstrate how the branding (including colour pallets and typography) are consistent, as well as including further vital information, increasing the professional look, therefore adding to Kontor’s brand identity.

Above you will see the ‘collection’ webpage, where it advertises all 6 products that are for sale in the Kontor collection. If you click on the images, it will take you to a separate webpage giving specific details about cost, size, material, weight etc. for the consumers to help aid their purchasing decisions, as well as an option to add to their basket. One of the obvious differences on this webpage is the additional general and legal information at the bottom. The ‘how can we help’ section is purely for the consumers. It is part of Kontor’s branding guidelines in customer service; Kontor aims to give excellent customer service to customers to increase the brand image and identity, therefore, by having additional information like show above, will be respected and appreciated by the consumers if they had a question. Furthermore, legal information such as privacy policy and terms & conditions are their to keep the Kontor collection safe. They are all separate links to each document, therefore consumers are able to read this if they wish, and Kontor will stay safe against any legal action.  Moreover, Kontor’s registered information is at the bottom of the webpage. This conveys a professional sense to consumers are they can check whether Kontor is a registered business. This further increases the credibility of the business, along with brand image and identity.

Bibliography:

Kaz (2017) 8 reasons why your business NEEDS a professional website! Kaz Design Works. Available from http://www.kazdesignworks.ca/8reasons.html [accessed 12 December 2017].

Theriault, M. (2017) Key Steps To Building Your First Small Business Website. Forbes. Available from https://www.forbes.com/sites/allbusiness/2013/12/10/key-steps-to-building-your-small-business-website/#72e3f4b16625 [accessed 12 December 2017].