In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, most businesses are switching their operations online. That's because social distancing measures have made it impossible for customers to visit physical stores. For a company to do online operations, it needs a website.
A website is a collection of inter-linked, publicly accessible web pages sharing a single domain name. Individuals, groups of people, or businesses can create websites for various purposes. When brought together, all existing websites form the World Wide Web.
Companies like Best Web Design Jamaica (https://bestwebdesignjamaica.com/) are helping businesses get their business online.
Essentially, websites of different kinds help with social distancing. They include landing pages, e-commerce sites, informational websites, business websites, and so on. Each one of these website types serves a unique purpose.
The following is how website owners in Jamaica help with social distancing:
1. Connecting Customers with Online Stores
In regular times, customers would have visited stores to buy products and not have to worry about getting sick. Worldwide lockdowns and social distancing measures have rendered that impossible. Luckily, several e-commerce on the island exist to connect customers with sellers of different products. All a customer needs is to open the website and select the product he or she wants to buy.E-commerce websites have illustrated product catalogs and comprehensive descriptions. Once a customer buys a product and pays for it, the store owner will arrange for the shipping of the product. So, the customer sits pretty waiting to receive the product.
Apart from the larger e-commerce sites, there exist smaller business-based sites that offer only a few products. Setting up an e-commerce site can help a business to get more customers with minimal overhead costs. It is also the right way of popularizing a brand with a greater online presence. Importantly, it leads to increased profits.
2. Enabling E-Learning
E-learning is one of the things that have caught up as a result of COVID-19. For six months or so, schools have remained closed in most countries across the world. That's because children attending lessons in school would negate social distancing requirements. As such, schools and universities have put lessons out on the internet for their learners.To do that, they need websites. It could be a website belonging to the school (university) or one that provides teaching and learning platforms to different users. School or university websites like Utech Jamaica offer information about available courses, requirements for application, exams, professors, and so on. However, recently, these websites have been used to connect students and lecturers.
Several universities in Jamaica provide not only online lectures but also exams. In some parts of the world, graduation ceremonies have happened virtually. Thus, by taking education online, websites have helped with social distancing in a big way.
3. Engaging and Interacting With Friend and Family
Thanks to websites, friends and family can connect no matter their location in the world. Today, various websites act as social media platforms that enable people to connect and do networking. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and so on.With the help of social media networks, people have stayed in touch while maintaining the recommended social distance. These websites not only enable people to chat, but they also provide video call services. You might not be in the same room with a loved one, but you can still see and talk with them.
For businesses, social media enable them to provide better customer service and to attract new clients. For example, enterprises are posting resources that could help businesses in turmoil.
Also, they are engaging with their customers via a Facebook poll, Instagram stories, and so on. Some have even made posts to promote brand awareness by relying on targeted hashtags. Surprisingly, businesses have seen a tremendous increase in orders made online even as in-store visits dropped.
4. Entertainment
One of the disruptions coming as a result of the pandemic has been in the entertainment industry. People can't go to the theater, attend football matches, or go to the concert. And, it's all because crowds of people are the perfect breeding grounds of COVID-19 infections. That's why governments banned such gatherings.Now, social distancing requirements have forced people to turn to the internet for their entertainment. As a result, video streaming platforms like YouTube and Netflix have seen lots of traffic especially in Jamaica. In fact, many entertainers, lacking the benefit of live audiences, have opened or revamped their YouTube channels. In the process, the artists have made money from advertising revenue.
Still, several artists have organized live converts over internet platforms like Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facetime, and so on. For something that had never been tried before, it is surprising the number of viewers they have attracted. The artists who have used this method include opera singers, recording artists, deejays, and so on.
5. Virtual Meetings
It is not easy to hold a meeting of many people with social distancing requirements. Since February 2020, meetings such as conferences and seminars have all been canceled for several reasons. First, people couldn't move outside their houses. Second, intercity travel was utterly disrupted. Third, people couldn't travel to other countries. That rendered large meetings impossible.Thanks to websites, people can meet virtually. The most popular platforms for such meetings are Zoom, Facebook Live, Google Hangouts, Facetime, and so on. One of the advantages of these platforms is the ability to accommodate as many people as possible. Thus, people have successfully held religious services, seminars, and conferences over the internet.
6. Virtual Tourism
Due to COVID-19, people have been locked in their houses physically, but websites have enabled them to tour the world. Even though it was hard to tour London, you could still access the British Museum online. Other museums that have been offering online virtual tours include Paris' Louvre and New York's Guggenheim Museum. Some museums are even offering guided virtual tours to visitors from across the world. For example, the Monticello, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson's historic home. In short, you get the full tour package without having to physically present in a particular place.Virtual tourism doesn't end with the museum tours we have mentioned above. Thanks to the efforts by Google, you can now tour five national parks in the U.S. virtually. Also, you can watch birds in the trees of the Panamanian Rainforest. Apart from national parks, live videos from zoos. As a result, it has been possible to maintain social distance while touring some of your favorite places.
