Democrat Gazette Spotlights AMS’ Web Sales Client Assistance

Tuesday, Nov 4, 2008

BY LAURIE WHALEN
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

Manufacturers have two core problems when it comes to promoting their businesses online.

“They have limited visibility and they don’t use any techniques to drive sales,” said Joe McCoy, a project manager and teacher with Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions in Fayetteville.

But the federal- and state funded group that assists small and medium-size manufacturers said that it’s these types of businesses that need the Internet since that’s where sales and marketing opportunities
exist, according to a recent Manufacturing Solutions survey.

A survey of 43 businesses by The Website Marketing Improvement Opportunities for Arkansas manufacturers revealed that simple changes such as “indexing” Web pages on search engines like Google or Yahoo can increase national exposure about 90 percent.

McCoy, who teaches a class titled Website Marketing to Improve Sales Leads, said indexing
is critical for online visibility.

“If you go to a library for information in a book and they don’t carry that book, then you can’t get the information,” he said.

It’s the same with search engines. A Google search will not retrieve the text of Web pages that aren’t indexed, he said. Classes are held in Fayetteville and Little Rock.

Another Web site feature that helps manufacturers promote sales is a “call to action,” or a way for a potential customer to order the product or request more information. Manufacturers rarely employ
effective online sales techniques, McCoy said. Instead, they’re better at distributing technical information.

But “the more people take action, the more people tend to buy,” said McCoy, who is writing a book about improving manufacturers’ online presence that will be released this spring.

Roger Ball, chief operating officer of Little Rock’s Century Industry Inc., said that since the summer, when improvements to the company’s Web site were made, the maker of folding attic ladders is seeing more traffic online.

“We knew there’s a certain market segment that we’re unable to reach,” Ball said. Now, we’re giving “consumers an opportunity to make it easier to procure or answer basic questions.”

The change cost the business, which employs about 85 people, around $20,000. Ball said Century
Industry’s 2007 gross sales were between $8 million and $12 million.

“The entire economy is going to e-commerce, and it’s a very inexpensive way to market to consumers all over the world,” Ball said.

Arkansas is home to about 4,500 manufacturers that produce 18 percent of the state’s gross domestic product, according to the Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions Web site.

But the state’s manufacturing employment has fallen from a peak of 246,000 jobs in January 1995.
The sector contracted 26 percent over the last 18 years, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Statewide, manufacturers employed 181,000 people in September compared with 220,700 in September 1990.

Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions offers help beyond improving manufacturers’ Web presence, which it’s done since 2006, the year the group first offered its Web site marketing classes.

The group also offers programs and assistance for “quality” management systems; and environmental, health and safety and general technical and management guidance. It is an affiliate of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension Partnership that operates within a nationwide network of centers in 350 locations.

The Arkansas Science & Technology Authority started Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions in 1995.

In Little Rock, Arkansas Manufacturing Solutions has offices at the Arkansas Science & TechnologyAuthority, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and Winrock International.

Other locations are at Southern University Tech in Camden, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville,and Arkansas State University in Jonesboro.
Online visit www.mfgsolutions.org.