Grafx Factory's goal is to provide small and large companies, as well as private individuals, with the online presence and quality content they need, eliminating all communication barriers, enabling companies to build trust with International consumers and investors and to truly launch themselves into the Global Market.

We have been quietly designing websites and graphics since 1998. We started in Vancouver, Canada with a few personal projects. We then did some websites connected to the music industry. Since then, we have moved around the world and gained a great deal of valuable knowledge regarding doing business internationally, especially online.

What we've found is that, outside of North America, internet utilization by companies and individuals is low. Sure, a lot of people worldwide use the internet to find information, but it's a little known fact that these same companies and people do not have an online presence of their own, especially in Asia. Why is that?

According to The Asia Foundation, Internet penetration is still quite low among small businesses in Asia. This is mainly due to lack of skills and knowledge on the part of small business owners. These statistics include Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka and the Philippines, as shown in the graph below. Although this is the case, many Asian businesses claim that the driving force behind their desire to launch a website is tackling the Global Market. The questions is: Of what quality will that website and its content be and will it help or hurt their Global Image?

Since we first started to design websites, we noticed that there are a great deal of people out there who want a professional presence on the internet but have run into roadblocks. At one time it might have been the expense of acquiring a domain name and getting set up for e-commerce that stopped them. Another was a lack of knowledge regarding how to get started with something other than a free, unprofessional, website-hosting option. One trend we kept seeing over the years was that a lot of companies out there were fearful of launching a website because they and their employees were not native speakers of English. This caused some to seriously hesitate or altogether delay launching an online presence. Others went ahead and launched websites but ran into many problems. Most of these problems were a result of not being able to communicate effectively with consumers accessing their website. Which caused them, ultimately, to fail.

While it is true that the ability to speak and write English does not make an individual or company any less worthy of doing business or communicating with the world, it is equally true that Internet users hesitate or simply refuse to do business with companies and small businesses that display a less-than-professional website or promotional materials. Their reasoning is this: if a legitimate company is going to put up a website or send out a newsletter, they should at least have the foresight and professionalism to do it properly. They want to see Company Profiles and Products and Services Descriptions that are 100% clear.

If your company wants to promote goods and services to the International market, don't make the mistake of thinking it will be easy. The very consumers and investors that your company is trying to attract are judging your company based on its online presence. They expect your company to work to get their hard-earned money. If your company isn't willing to do so, you'll crash and burn. The ability to provide visitors with a website that is clear, informative, easy to navigate and user-friendly shows consumers that your company is willing to make the investment to do so.

What if your company doesn't have a website? This is another problem that many businesses face. International consumers and investors expect any legitimate company nowadays to have a website. It's an easy way of making your company known to the whole world, using very little capital. Internet users will wonder why, if your company is legitimate, your company does not have an Internet presence. Very few consumers are willing to do business with a company that is virtually unknown.

Grafx Factory understands that launching your company's initial online presence can be a daunting task. Which is why we are here to help you. When your company is ready to take that step, feel free to contact us and discuss what your website design needs are.