 The
power of the Internet – and its value
for your money
As we all know, the internet
is the lowest cost system ever developed to
communicate to audiences of hundreds of millions
of people all over the world. Even one simple
Web site is usually less than the price of an
ad in a business telephone directory. A Web
site is also able to offer much more information
and visuals than a telephone directory –
not to mention a sense of interactivity.
The internet is a much faster
medium than your every day newspaper. A block
of text or story can be added to a Web site
instantly at any time of the day and more impressively
anywhere around the world. Unlike other limited
mediums such as radio and television, the internet
allows the reader full freedom to pick and choose
stories or advertising in which he or she is
most interested – where in television
for example you are forced to view your programs
sequentially.
The power of editing content
on the internet is becoming much easier these
days, instead of waiting around for a printing
press to roll over. Information can be sent
or viewed by any interested reader anywhere
in the world within seconds. There are several
ways people can communicate via the internet,
email being the more obvious one, but other
types include message board facilities, posting
forums or online chat sites.
On the business aspect of things,
an online publication can offer an advertiser
something that is not available in any other
medium: ads that link directly, to another web
page full of compelling reasons to buy the advertised
product or service. Even if only a fraction
of one percent of all people who see a web ad
click on it, that is still an infinitely higher
percentage than can click on a magazine ad or
TV spot for additional information. Even if
few readers click on an individual online ad
and buy right now, a web ad still has the same
branding and general exposure effect as advertising
in another type of medium. If the cost of an
online ad is similar to the cost of one in another
medium, it represents a better value because
of the ability it gives an advertiser to give
an interested person an entire web site full
of information right away, only one click removed
from the online publication in which that ad
is running.
Ecommerce has had its ups and
downs, but it is likely to stay upwards for
the future. Putting up a catalog web site is
far less expensive than printing and mailing
paper catalogs, and the web site can have "instant"
ordering and credit card acceptance built right
into it, whereas a paper catalog can generate
only phone orders that require live operators
to process the forms, fold them, place in an
envelope, and mailing them. An online catalog,
just like an online news source, has the advantage
over its paper counterpart of instant update
capability. If a supplier's price changes, the
price to customers can change nearly immediately.
A blurb for an overstocked item can be placed
on a web site's front page to boost sales today,
and email can alert valued customers to special
values or sales faster and cheaper than postal
mail or any kind of mass media advertising.
Businesses all over the world
can use the Internet as an advertising medium
– even if they don’t sell directly
online. A restaurant, for example, can post
its entire menu on its web site, right down
to daily specials, at less cost than any other
method of putting detailed information about
the establishment into prospective customers'
hands. A local business such as a restaurant
may be "wasting" the international
potential of the Internet; there may be only
a few thousand internet users within a reasonable
distance of that establishment. But that localization
factor doesn't really matter. If a reasonable
percentage of nearby internet users see the
restaurant's site and come in to eat, the site
will more than pay for itself. As a bonus for
a local business, a web site will draw trade
from out-of-towners because of its international
reach.
From a business point of view,
the question for even the smallest local business
owner isn't, "Can I afford a web site?"
but, "How can I make an effective web site
without spending too much money?” Actually,
companies of all sizes should be asking themselves,
"How can I make the most effective use
of the internet without spending too much money?"
First understand what the internet can and cannot
do for your business. There are only three kinds
of commercial internet activity. You can use
the internet to a) provide news or information,
b) sell goods or services online, or c) promote
your business offline.
So whatever the reason, by doing
a little research, understanding your marketing
objectives, working out your “value for
money” expenses, you can effectively make
use of the power of the internet, and ultimately
produce lucrative results.
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