Tag Archives: internet

E-Commerce, Management, money, Traffic

How Much more does your Youngest Employee Know about the Internet than You ?

What does it mean having a presence on the internet, can you buy a office and move your staff in. Well the answer to the question is yes. For internetholics it has been well known that you can buy virtual love to real estate on line. This can take several forms, Second life for example allows you to interact with an array of potential customers, build a virtual office, hire staff. You might well be thinking now this is great, this is just what I need, low overheads, no sloppy staff, work from wherever I choose. But there is a problem. While there are virtual millionaires on second life. Their virtual business supports a real life business and vice-a-versa.

So what does this mean, well there will be any number of businesses out there who have dipped there toe in the internet water to see what is on offer. If you really want to make that website pay for itself along with your internet connection and computers there are a number of things you will have to do.

First it is about getting as many links as possible pointing to your website. This is done by interacting and commenting in communities. Web 2.0 now offers users the chance to do traditional business but with new technology. The problem with this is that is not very well understood in general by people over 35. So the boss of your local taxi company, accountant etc does not really know what a blog is, or a virtual business etc. Now if they do not know, how can anyone expect it to be taken seriously in the company ranks. Of course you will have your office junior who will have a virtual girlfriend, do virtual sports, already spend a large percentage of his money on the internet and related hardware etc. While the rest of the your staff will struggle with an email attachment that the virus scanner has disallowed because it was told that it is possible for a photo to have a virus in it. Yes it is possible but in the whole of my 12 year IT career I have never come across it. Given that almost 50+ percent of photos on the internet are JPEGS. It is a threat but a low threat and one that we can live with. One cannot really compare it to the risk of not getting your work done for the client and the time it would involve to check every photo.

So a balanced sensible approached is needed for work and business security so it can work at an optimum. No longer can staff say “Oh I do not understand” when a web page fails to load and the message on the screen reads your internet connection is on available at this time due to maintenance work. Involving your company on the internet is fundamentally about involving your employees. We do seminars about web 2.0 but it has to come from the top down. I suggest that smaller companies get the youngest employees to tell them what they know about the internet. This will serve two purposes one you see just what the internet can do, and two you will have a starting point to building an online presence for your company.

brand, business, E-Commerce, service

Do You Trust The Internet?

Yesterday I came across to two glaring examples of misinformation. One was on the News vine site where someone had posted a story about presidential hopeful Obama. Without wanting to focus on the story as it has been removed It was quite clearly unfounded. But it does show how important it is that we remember the old motto believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see. Of course a web 2.0 social community will provide some form of control and editorship in place of where you may have a lone blog spouting misinformation.  
That is the problem in general with speculation, rumour and the internet. There is an awfully lot of information out there that probably is not correct but we have no idea how much. The number of dodgy e-commerce businesses that I have seen is really amazing. All sold by promises that they can never hope to achieve. If something sounds too good to be true it probably is on the internet. If there is none of the usual tracking methods such as feedback, users comments, transaction history then be very suspicious.
Ask a Question, Marketing, sales, work connexions

Would You Like To Spend Less Money On Advertising?

How much do you spend on advertising? How much would you like to spend?

Have you ever considered what may happen if your employees kept either internal or external blogs? Do you think you could generate a whole wealth of material for marketing from the activity that blogging represents?

Not only that but you can also use the comments, with one post you are doing market research, advertising your business, and generating marketing material. (think about the possibilities this suggests) and if that is not enough to lower your advertising costs, consider for a moment what could happen if your company engages in matters that concerns its business, for example: local community events, debates about skilled workers, legislation, online or offline you will generate a profile and a talking point about your company. Try it… it is also worth considering to engage a PR Company to help you along the way.

business, Marketing, sales, Websites, work connexions

Generation X & Y the Internet Consumers

When we started this business, we made a strategic decision to concentrate on the Isle of Man. The very fact that it is an Island led us to the thought that e-commerce for its residents would be important. As the islanders here have 41 miles of sea in front of them the market is limited. To anybody wanting to increase their business e-commerce would seem to be a very logical way forward. Additionally the Isle of Man government is pushing e-commerce as one of its development strategies.

The reality is quite different. Many small businesses only depend upon the Island for making a living. Being that the community is quite small everybody knows what everybody else is doing. We have spent quite a bit of time and money on informing people on the changing use of the web. I am quite certain that within the next 18 months web 2.0 is going to play a more central role for all businesses. If I was to sum it up in a few words. It would be like this. If you want to reach generation X and before (under 35’s) then you have got to be thinking internet and web 2.0. If your market is above that generation then more traditional forms of advertising would apply. What do we have to do to increase our market? Inform the generation above X.