Sydney Jones here again,

A recent research study co-sponsored by Google and ThomasNet found that buyers of industrial equipment look to the Web for research and acquisition.

The survey contacted 900 industrial purchasers and suppliers found that buyers use the Internet over offline sources like distributor's catalogs; trade publications; and sales reps.

The important numbers are as follows:

Overall, the conclusion was that the Web presence and marketing of industrial equipment falls far short of demand.

"Although this study is directed, at industrial and manufacturing sites, it's would be easy to apply the results to most business-to-business sites," according to Allen Haslinger, Director, Strategic Services at Honeycomb Creative Solutions. "Overall, most business sites can do a better job of communicating their marketing message, promoting their product or service, and most importantly, initiating contact with the business prospect.

The study also found that 68 percent of industrial sellers plan to increase spending on their web sites and 78 percent will redesign their sites in the next year.

According to Haslinger, the real message to business people is, "your competition is beginning to recognize the power and potential of web sites, and search marketing to drive traffic, solicit leads and ultimately acquire new customers. Just because you have a web site, doesn't mean that you shouldn't be reviewing its effectiveness."

At Honeycomb Creative Solutions we work with clients on all their design projects. From ads to annual reports, brochures to web sites, Honeycomb Creative designs and creates marketing materials that provide value to an organization. We treat web projects like marketing problems which means that we design and build web sites from your client's perspective.