How Can I Use Internet Technology to Better My Business Profits?
If you are only now considering ways to use the internet to promote, improve or redefine your business, welcome to the party. You are a little late, but the fun and games are far from over. In fact, now might be the perfect time to join the ranks of online firms. Having experienced both boom and bust since its inception, the internet has matured considerably in recent years to become a viable medium through which companies can increase their profits. So how can your business use the internet for its own gain?
Internet millionaires, it would seem, are two a penny. Social networking sites, major online retailers and global auction firms managed to tap into the burgeoning popularity of the internet at just the right time (not necessarily at the same time, but at specific moments that may be deemed advantageous for each particular business model). Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and eBay are just a handful of sites that have reached the upper echelons of e-commerce (if social media can be accepted as part of a broader definition of online business).
While listing sites that have achieved success online provides a confidence boost for upcoming entrepreneurs, the owners of businesses that are already established in the ‘real world’ may envisage a somewhat different ideal of the web: an ideal that directly benefits their existing business models. While the next Google or Groupon will set the benchmark for online success in years to come, the internet is remarkably adept at serving the interests of more traditional businesses.
Advertising is obviously of critical importance to all companies, regardless of whether they exist online or offline. While traditional forms of marketing should not be ignored by ‘bricks and mortar’ companies, the internet is fast becoming the most effective advertising tool available to business. Most firms recognise this point. The internet can be used in so many different ways to advertise a brand, product or service that it will soon become unthinkable for any company to exist purely in the offline world.
The latest statistics suggest that 82 per cent of the UK population – some 51 million people – used the internet in 2010. This compares to just 26 per cent or 15 million users in 2000. In Europe, the penetration rate (by population) can be expressed as 58 per cent or 476 million users, while the rate is even higher in North America (78 per cent or 272 million users). A staggering 2.09 billion people – 30 per cent of the global population – are expected to use the internet in 2011.
It ought to go without saying that the internet is the place to be to tap into new business markets, but the nature of online communications is such that some companies simply do not know where to start. Continuing with the subject of advertising, firms of all sizes can avail of traditional methods of online marketing, which include placing advertisements on websites for a fixed or variable fee. This advertising model was refined by Google some years ago to enable companies to pay for advertisements that appear alongside search results for defined keywords (for example, an advertisement for a pet food store may appear next to the search results for ‘dogs’, ‘dog food’, ‘cat food’ and other such keywords). Google provides a similar service for companies whose advertisements appear on affiliated websites (typically embedded in text).
Traditional internet advertising still represents big business, but many firms have chosen to focus on other technologies. Email marketing also remains very popular and effective, but the problems of spam and spam filters have conspired to reduce its appeal.
More recently, business has sought to benefit from the rise of social media. Subtle advertising campaigns can be managed by specialist firms on sites such as Facebook and Twitter, but marketing among the masses can also backfire spectacularly. Sometimes, it is enough for a company to have a simple online presence with working email addresses and up-to-date content; after all, profits are no better stimulated than by increased customer confidence.
Businesses can also benefit more indirectly from the internet by improving computer and broadband technology. A broadband expert can recommend ways to maintain a fast, secure network that can improve productivity among staff while facilitating access for customers. An experienced broadband expert might also suggest methods of filtering online content for staff (again to improve productivity), while recommending network technologies such as hardware firewalls (to block hacking attempts) and virtual storage for more reliable data retrieval.
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