International Wood Products¡¦ Easy Website Start

International Wood Products¡¦ Easy Start To A Website

esolutions Web Launchpad is the easy way to build a business website. By keeping things simple, esolutions make professional website design, creation, growth and hosting a simple exercise.

The package offers:
„X a professional looking website
„X somewhere to host it
„X software that allows owners to make changes to keep the site up-to-date
„X the ability to capture accurate information about visitors.

International Wood Products
International Wood Products (IWP) is a New Zealand based company that globally promotes timber products from New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, South Africa and South East Asia. The company was formed two years ago when directors Geoff Smith and Glenn Scoble amalgamated their trading operations - Strategic Alliances Ltd and Radiata Pine New Zealand Ltd. Their esolutions website - www.nzpine.com - has been operating since February 2001.

The nature of the industry and the global focus of the operation means IWP has market representatives in Queensland and Western Australia, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Employees communicate with directors, colleagues, customers and suppliers primarily by email and telephone. To cope with such a high level of email and phone communication channels have to be fast and efficient.

IWP¡¦s need for a website
Geoff and Glenn knew they needed a quicker Internet connection, but they also needed a way of communicating with their customers globally.

IWP had been capturing numerous enquiries through the New Zealand Pine Manufacturers Association site. This indicated to Geoff and Glenn the need to develop their own site to capture these enquiries direct.

Web Launchpad - a website made easy
¡§Because we are constantly online, we opted for Telecom¡¦s JetStream package which sped up our Internet connection, allowing us to send and receive emails considerably faster. We then became aware of esolutions¡¦ Web Launchpad package which allowed us to affordably ease into the Internet,¡¨ says Geoff.

¡§One of the main benefits for us was how easy it was to set up a website using Web Launchpad. In addition, it was great timing for us as we were

building a new system - being able to take advantage of the software meant integration with our new system was smooth.¡¨

Once the decision was made, the rest was plain sailing. Using Web Launchpad¡¦s application booklet as a guide, Glenn and Geoff simply filled in their company and website information and posted it back to esolutions. ¡§The process was really speedy. Within a week of esolutions receiving our submission, our site was up and running.¡¨

An added bonus was that Geoff was in Auckland for business the week the esolutions team worked on IWP¡¦s project. ¡§It was great to sit down with the esolutions team and discuss any areas or issues that needed resolution. We have only tailored slightly the layout esolutions offered. We will tailor it again as our needs develop.¡¨

Website presents a united front for IWP
¡§We¡¦ve found our website has brought immediate benefits to IWP. The IWP network is now seen as one body, which means we have a coherent appearance - despite our geographical spread¡¨, Geoff says.

¡§Market representatives can now refer customers to the Internet, rather than giving them brochures which incur significant design, print and distribution costs each time information needs updating¡¨.

¡§Customers can not only find out about our products, services, people and latest news by visiting www.nzpine.com, but can now send enquiries to us directly. With such a direct approach our response time is considerably less.¡¨

Keeping the website up-to-date with the business
As part of the Web Launchpad package, IWP were supplied with all the necessary software and instruction needed to update the site. ¡§We have already changed our site by adding new and updating existing information,¡¨ says Geoff.

Promotion of the site, including listings on major search engines, is also part of esolutions package. ¡§We¡¦ve included our web address on all outbound emails and have setup a link from New Zealand Pine Manufacturers Association¡¦s website to ours.¡¨

The future for www.nzpine.com
¡§At this stage, our primary focus is to broaden the scope of information on the site for potential and existing customers. It¡¦s too early to say where the Internet will take us and what the impact on the business will be. Promotion and expansion of our website will develop as our business develops,¡¨ says Geoff.

¡§While our website is an entry-level website, it¡¦s very simple and very cost effective.¡¨

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