In the previous blog article "W2P = Web to Print or Web to Promote?" We discussed about treating "web to print" and "web to promotion" as independent topics.

It is observed that genuine (organic) traffic comes to your website through popular search engines like Google and Bing. These kinds of visitors are genuine, and there is no direct cost per visit.

What exactly is W2P (web to print) - Is it a platform to promote your printing business or is a way to manage your printing business using the web?

It is high time that instead of treating webtoprint technology as an additional promotional tool, we start understanding its real application (online printing) and learn about its benefits - generating additional business by automating time-consuming tasks!

An online web to print shop is all about expansion and reaching out to newer customers and prospects. As a 24x7 online print shop, your portal should be geared-up to receive and fulfil orders from any part of the world.

The core of any Online Printing services is an instant online Quote to the client based on his selection of the product that he wants to print, the quantity, the finishing items, and the courier charges with taxes.

Standard Web-to-print solutions have been developed by different vendors keeping in mind digital asset management and Print shop management for digital and offset printing companies. Although different printers focus on different printing products, for e.g.: few focus on office stationery like Business Cards, Letter Heads, and Envelopes, others focus on promotional materials like CD Surface Printing, Brochure/Flyer Printing, and so on.

What do I need to check when I select Web-to-Print solutions?

After the launch and success story of www.vistaprint.com, www.printing.com, www.iprint.com, and especially after a lot of buzz for Web2print, all digital and offset printers started fearing for their survival. This fear led them to copy others blindly, and invest huge amounts just to survive without understanding the online model of printing.

After the announcement of web to print technology and the recent awareness initiatives about web to print enabled storefronts, most digital and offset printers still consider it as a highly technical tool. It is an assumption that it is required only when you want to cater to a large no, of retail customers, or for reaching out to customer beyond your local geographical area.

In the previous article Web to Print! Is it a tool for running an Online Print Store? Or a tool to engage existing customers? Part 1 we highlighted the fact that web2 print is not only facilitates an Online Printing company or print storefront but more knowledge and understanding of this technology can help you retain existing customer also.

As a user of the web to print shop management system, it technically makes no difference if you use hosted or dedicated solutions. Of course, there is a vast difference in the one-time capital investment and regular maintenance cost, which is beneficial to vendors selling web to print solutions.

For a printing company, catering to Corporate and Retail customers is like balancing “two sides of a coin.” Both of them need printing although the process of ordering, the volume, turnaround time, payment terms, printing quality, frequency of orders and delivery, and other factors differ and need separate processes.