How To Gain Exposure on the Internet - Part 2
Last month we explored a variety of methods key in gaining exposure on the Internet. This time around we will continue our discussion with an examination of e-commerce options and strategies that will give you an edge on the competition and enable you to tap the vast commercial potential of this powerful medium.
WebAds
Most small companies seem content to utilise the Internet as another means of delivering standard marketing messaging — an electronic mock up of traditionally disseminated printed material. Perhaps they believe that their firms are too small to be concerned with extending their sites to address more complex business processes... perhaps they think the associated expense will not be offset by increased revenues... perhaps they fail to think outside of the box. Let's take a look at a possible example:
Ed's Organ Emporium
Ed had been running his small mom and pop music store for 30 years. He did a good business within the community during the 70's and 80's but the organ trade had seemed to have fallen off lately. Ed had tried to introduce synthesisers and digital samplers into his store, but his customer base was older and not inclined to go in for that new-fangled stuff. He failed to attract younger clients who thought of Ed's showroom as "that dusty old place with the cheesy organs". Being well established in this sense was a definite detriment to conducting business.
Ed thought about totally renovating his store with an updated look and modern inventory. While this idea was possessed of some merit, the costs involved were prohibitive and after all, he was still Ed — and not very popular with the younger set. One day his son-in-law convinced him that he had to get on the Internet... everybody was doing it — a sure fire way to revitalise his business! So, Ed learned how to use MS FrontPage, slapped together a web site and posted it to his new web address: www.localISP.com/~edsorganemporium. In it he included product descriptions of his current inventory, his store hours and contact information. He even had a feedback section for his clients. Ed sat back and waited for the new customers to start streaming in. He waited a long time.
KeyboardStop.com
After nearly giving up on his Internet effort, Ed ran into a musically inclined IT consultant at an organ trade show. Explaining his web difficulties, and the fact that the shop was doing more poorly than ever, Ed listened as the consultant briefly outlined a plan to effectively utilise the Internet to dramatically enhance his market position. Intrigued, Ed agreed to engage the consultant to draft a proposal detailing specifics of the scheme. After a couple of weeks, the proposal having been reviewed, Ed decided to go with the recommendations. Despite the fact that they represented a relatively substantial investment (compared with current expenditure levels on the exiting site), they seemed to make sense and Ed felt he had nothing left to try.
Getting right to work, the first thing Ed did was register his new domain name "www.KeyboardStop.com" and purchased a virtual domain server package from localISP.com. Next, he hired a reputable web design firm via the consultant to give his site a makeover. They created a web presence that reflected the leading edge, fast paced, hi-tech sales environment Ed wished existed in his shop. On the Internet, nobody knew that Ed was 62 or that he only owned a small organ shop... all they would see was this impressive site and make their own assumptions regarding its ownership.
Ed's new website design was not overtly sales oriented, but more geared toward providing valuable services to his intended clients. He had sections for new equipment reviews, online tutorials for programming synthesisers and samplers, instrument specific discussion groups and downloadable patches and samples. He contacted sheet music publishers and struck a deal by which he would digitise sheet music and pay them a royalty on every electronic download from his new sheet music section wherein customers could search for and purchase individual songs via credit card over the net. He advertised his new site on all the music related newsgroups and registered repeatedly with all the search engines.
As traffic increased on his site, Ed approached equipment manufacturers and enticed them to purchase banner advertising on his site. Next he struck a deal with the manufacturers to ship product just-in-time to the end client in order to eliminate inventory costs and associated obsolescence risk. This enabled Ed to offer new equipment at substantially discounted rates as he was in time able to close down his high rent store front and move to an office within his home. All transactions were handled over secure sockets by way of the net. As Ed's site grew, he introduced streaming video music tutorials and branched out into other lines of musical equipment...
I could go on and on but the potential of this medium should be quite obvious by now. If you can think of innovative ways to be of service to your prospective client base over the Internet, you will be seen as not only a good netizen but the natural choice when it comes to making a buying decision.
Originally published in Monitor Magazine, lan ConXions column, May, 1999, by technology columnist, Ray Richards.
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Sidebar
Article Index
- Digital New Year's Resolutions - January 2009
- Networking Basics - June 1996
- Networking Basics Part 2 - July 1996
- The Media PC - April 2005
- WiMax - Metropolitan Networks - May 2005
- Digital Rights Management - June 2005
- Digital Rights Management - Part 2 - July 2005
- Adobe Creative Suite 2 Review - August 2005
- Windows Rant, Alpha Rave - August 1998
- DEC AlphaServer Lineup - August 1998
- The Year in Retrospect, 1996-1997 - August 1997
- Bluetooth & Wireless Networking - Nov. 2000
- How to Win Government Contracts - Oct. 1999
- Mobile Phone Plans Comaprison - August 2005
- Clones Versus Brand Name PCs - June 1998
- Adobe Illustrator vs. Corel Draw - March 2000
- Illustrator vs. Draw - Part 2 - March 2000
- The Death of Customer Service - August 2000
- Customer Service Solutions - September 2001
- Data To Diamonds - February 1998
- Data To Diamonds - Part 2 - March 1998
- The End of the Internet? - December 2000
- Your Digital Legacy - March 2008
- Disaster Recovery Planning - September 1997
- Threat and Risk Assessments - October 1997
- Dr. Jeff Williams Interview - November 1997
- Jeff Williams Interview - Part 2 - December 1997
- Magma's Data Center - October 2000
- Magma's ADSL Service Interview - January 1999
- Magma's ADSL Interview - Part 2 - January 1999
- Distributed Computing - September 2001
- Distributed Computing - Part 2 - October 2001
- Gaining Internet Exposure - Part 2 - May 1999
- Enterprise Resource Planning - October 1998
- Powering ERP Applications - April 1999
- Flash Versus LiveMotion - April 2001
- FreeBalance Financials - March 1999
- Globalization - May 2001
- Barriers and Benefits of Globalization - June 2001
- Google Desktop Review - May 2006
- Graphic Design Fundamentals - February 2000
- IBM Plant & Headquarters Tour - January 1997
- IM's Effect on Society & Culture - September 2005
- Compaq Servers Review - May 1998
- Citrix Winframe Review - May 1997
- Smart Cards Overview - July 1997
- Online Anonymity - October 2008
- An Introduction to Java - December 1996
- ERP: PeopleSoft - December 1998
- Photopaint vs. Photoshop - May 2000
- Photopaint vs. Photoshop - Part 2 - June 2000
- Starting a Small Business - Admin - July 1999
- SOHO Accounting Software - August 1999
- Accpac, Simply Accounting Review - October 1999
- Rogers Rant, Quickbooks Rave - November 1999
- Intuit Quickbooks Pro Review - December 1999
- Quickbooks Pro Review - Part 2 - January 2000
- SAP R/3 Review - November 1998
- How Standards Affect Everything - March 2001
- Teleworking - Your Office at Home - April 1998
- The Ultimate Office - February 2008
- Unicenter TNG - June 1997
- Virtual Private Networking - November 1998
- Web 3.0, The Semantic Web - July 2008
- Basic Web Design Principles - February 1999
- Women in High Tech - September 1995
- Windows Driver Nightmares - January 2001
- Post Y2K Commentary - February 2001
- Bored With Technology - July 2001