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WHAT IS INTERNET MARKETING?
As its name suggests, Internet marketing is the marketing of products and services through the Internet. The Internet now allows consumers to shop for their products entirely online, in the comfort of their own homes. This is a fast expanding trend and if your company has yet to establish an online presence, you are leaving a lot of money at the table.
MARKET STATISTICS
According to the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), there were 1.4 million broadband subscriptions at the 2nd quarter of 2008, representing a penetration rate of 16.6% of local households (Q2 2007: 1.1 million). The figure for Internet dial-up subscriptions was 4.0 million (Q2 2007: 3.9 million).
On a global scale, according to Internet World Stats, there were 1.5 billion Internet users as at 30 June 2008 and a global penetration rate of 21.9%. This means that more than one out of five people in the world have used the Internet. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, total e-commerce sales for the 1st three quarters of 2008 in the United States alone was estimated at US$102 billion. With such astounding figures, it is no longer a luxury but a necessity for businesses to be on the Internet.
WHY INTERNET MARKETING?
Whether your business is local, regional or global, your prospects are using the Internet to search for the products and services that your company provides, every single day. The question is, “Are they finding you or your competitors?”
The impact of the Internet on businesses is best summed up by Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and one of the richest men in the world, who said, “If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.”
“If your business is not on the Internet, then your business will be out of business.”
Bill Gates
There are numerous advantages of having an Internet presence:
• It expands your market globally as well as locally.
• It allows interactive customer relationship.
• It instils confidence in your customers that they are dealing with a company that is on the cutting edge of information technology.
• The ability to showcase one’s company online reduces the cost of printing, preparing and mailing sales literature.
• It will remain on line for customers to view 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.
• The website will attract targeted buyers, i.e. customers who are already interested in the products and services, and are using the Internet to locate a merchant.
• Establishing a website will give a company an advantage over competitors who do not have an Internet presence, and will allow better competition with those who do.
• E-commerce provides increased speeds of communication, the delivery time is expedited and that makes the whole transaction from start to finish more efficient.
• It gives business owners the ability to inform customers of any changes to marketing and promotional materials as often and as frequently.
THE BASICS OF SETTING UP A WEBSITE
The basic steps in establishing an online presence is to register a domain name, set up your website and get it hosted. You may want to also add an online payment processor so that your customers can pay you with their credit cards and other methods of payment, such as PayPal.
Before investing in a website/e-commerce project, there are several key considerations:
a) Define Objectives
The complexity of a website depends on what you want the website to achieve. You have to define the marketing objectives, communication objectives, type of target audience, preferred positioning, unique selling proposition, online services, types of functions, e-commerce capability, amongst others. As a precaution, you may wish to start with a basic website and add more online functions as your e-business picks up.
b) Quality of Website Content
Content is very important in attracting web visitors. Hence, the information must “speak” to your intended target audience in an effective way. The basic and more common contents in corporate websites are Company Background, Products & Services, Customer Support, PDF documents, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), Press Releases, E-newsletter Subscription, Sitemap, Feedback Form, Latest News, Events & Promotions.
Proper categorization of content is crucial so that visitors are not lost in the website. Cross-selling of information in the form of small banners is also another factor that will keep the visitor within your web pages.
c) Attractive Website Design
Aesthetic appeal is of utmost importance. However, it is also imperative to incorporate a company’s corporate identity (logos, colour, font type) to reinforce branding. Navigation should also be user-friendly. Multimedia features are an icing on the cake and must be relevant to the target audience, but they are not compulsory elements. To maximise a visitor’s web experience, a website must also have quick download.
d) Promoting Your Website
You need to make sure that your website does not drown in the already cluttered web space. Make sure to include your website’s URL in all A&P materials, business card, e-mail signatures, and letterhead.
You may also opt to have reciprocal links with other complementary sites such as your partners’ and suppliers’ sites. This will help increase traffic to your website. You may also submit your website to various search engines to ease a visitor’s search for your website.
e) Implementing Backroom Processes
For e-commerce, you will require back-end staff to process orders, track payments, manage inventory, handle e-mail enquiries and complaints. A clear and concise backroom process will aid in smooth daily operations. The staff should also be aware of the latest Internet trends and services that may improve your operations. Positions in search-engines must also be monitored closely so that your investment is maximised. The content and design of the website have to be modified when the need arises.
f) Choosing a Technical Vendor
Choose your technical vendors carefully. Get your research done and gather a basic understanding of e-commerce capabilities and limitations so that you will be able to make an informed decision. Once you are clear on your e-commerce needs, talk to a couple on vendors. Shortlist a few and request for a proposal based on your requirements. You would also need to do your part in terms of providing as information from web strategy to content ideas.
g) Hosting and Domain Names
There are two ways to host your website – on your web server or use the services of a host. When selecting, the main factors are the link speed and capacity. Backup is also very important so that your website has minimal downtime. Web hosting is global and is not just confined to companies in your country. You may consider hosting a copy of your website in US, if your main customer base is there.
A domain name is an address that you can purchase through MYNIC Berhad. It administers the name space for the following domains – .com.my (for commercial organisations/activities), .net.my (for network-related organisations/activities), .org.my (for organisations/activities which do not qualify for other categories), .edu.my (for Malaysian educational organisations only), .gov.my (for Malaysian government organisations only), .mil.my (for Malaysian military organisations only) and .name.my (for Malaysian individual’s personal use only).
Domain names may also feature your company’s name or combination of alphabets, if it is available. By registering your own domain name, you can move from one web host or ISP to another without losing your website address.
If you have a global business and prefer to have a .com, .net or .biz domain name, you can register it at a low cost at websites such as GoDaddy (www.godaddy.com). It is highly recommended for Malaysian companies to register both .com and .com.my domain names to protect their identity.
ONLINE ADVERTISING
Many companies just set up and publish their websites and expect that people will be able to find them. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Just like a physical shop, you’ll need to put in some advertising and marketing efforts to let your potential customers know about your products and services.
Search Engines
The Internet has become the number one source of information. In the past, people used to go to the libraries to do their research but advancements in technology have made extensive research possible with the click of a button. Now, when people are looking for some information, all they do is to go to a search engine and type in the keywords they are seeking information on. More importantly for SMEs, people also go online to search for products and services that they require.
To capture this Internet savvy market, SMEs can optimize their websites so that whenever certain keywords are searched for, their websites will appear among the top in the list of results. The most popular search engines are Google, Yahoo and MSN.
How to Get High Rankings on the Search Engines (Search Engine Optimization)
Among the ways to gain favour with the search engines are to:
• Feature the keywords of your business in the title tags of your website.
• Keep your website updated regularly and constantly add new relevant content.
• Have as many as possible links to your site by exchanging links with other websites. One of the requirements to have a high ranking in search engines is to have many links that are pointing to your website.
Pay Per Click
Unlike traditional advertising, which incurs a fixed rate regardless of whether anyone sees your ad, pay per click advertising campaigns on the Internet offers a more cost effective way to advertise. The beauty of Pay Per Click advertising is that unlike traditional advertising, you only pay whenever someone clicks on your ad and is led directed to your website. From a mere few sen per click, you can be listed under the sponsored listings of the search engines for the keywords chosen. It is so powerful that you can even select the regions that you want you ads to be shown. For example, if your product is suitable only for the local market, you can choose to show your ads only to Malaysian internet users. Among the most popular pay per click campaigns are offered by Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is very popular as it is a low cost method of marketing After all, it’s virtually free to send out emails to your prospects. It pays to have a mechanism to collect your website visitors’ names and email addresses the first time they visit your website. You can offer them an incentive to leave their details, such as a free report, newsletter or even product updates. Make it clear that you respect their privacy and will not share their details with third parties.
By having a database of your customers’ email addresses, you are now in a position to contact them via email. Keep in touch with them to gain their confidence and to establish a relationship with them. You can let your customers know of any new product launches or sales promotions and this will lead to more sales for your company. Be careful not to send emails to those who are not in your opt-in list as this will be considered spam.
INTRODUCING WEB 2.0
According to Wikipedia, Web 2.0 is a trend in World Wide Web technology, and web design, a second generation of web-based communities and hosted services such as social-networking sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies, which aim to facilitate creativity, collaboration, and sharing among users.
Blogging
What is a blog? A blog, which is short for weblog, is an online journal that is made up of short, frequent posts. Blogs are extremely simple to create and it takes only a few minutes to set one up. Among the free blog services are Blogger (www.blogger.com) and WordPress (www.wordpress.com). Blogs are becoming increasingly popular not just for personal purposes but also for business and other purposes. For example, in our recent general election, many candidates set up their own blogs to keep their supporters updated on the latest news.
In the corporate arena, many business leaders and CEOs have set up their own blogs to have a closer rapport with their customers. Among them are Jonathan Schwartz, CEO and President of Sun Microsystems, who maintains a blog to offer insights to the company and its products. If you are the CEO or MD of a local SME, perhaps you’d also like to consider setting up your own blog to build a relationship with your customers.
Social Networking
The top three social networking sites are MySpace (www.myspace.com), Facebook (www.facebook.com) and Bebo (www.bebo.com). MySpace is popular with people in the entertainment industry, such as singers and musicians, while Facebook is popular with individuals and businesses. Members of Facebook can create their own groups to share special interests, which is a very powerful business tool. Bebo has been described as “MySpace meets Facebook” and is very popular in the UK. Another emerging social networking site is LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com), which is a useful tool for professional and business networking.
Online Videos
The leading site for online videos is YouTube (www.youtube.com), where members can upload their own videos, for the viewing pleasure of Internet users worldwide. The most popular videos on YouTube get millions of views. Hence, you can also consider creating videos and posting them on YouTube as an effective marketing tool for your company. Other video sharing sites you may want to consider are Google Video, Dailymotion and MSN Video. Posting videos with the right keywords online is a very effective technique to get ranked highly in the search engines and very quickly too. The best thing is that they’re all free!
THE WAY FORWARD
Without doubt, the Internet has a major role to play in SMEs’ overall business operations. The above is only meant to serve as a brief introduction to the Internet marketing techniques that can be implemented by SMEs. It would be advisable to seek the assistance of the Internet marketing experts for best results.
