Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 1996 — Doing business on the lnternet [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Doing business on the lnternet

The Internet, onee an obscure computer network connecting military installations and research labs, has become the hot ticket item in marketing today. How successful the medium will become for selling goods and services has yet to be determined but most forward-thinking eompanies aren't waiting for the comf>etition to find out. They are getting on line and making sure the world knows what they have to offer. "If statistics are anything, this is only going to grow," Internet marketeer Jeff Bloom assured participants at OHA's marketing conference.

The phenomenal growth in the number of Internet users in the past few years cannot be disputed. And there are few signs to indicate that things are slowing down. Its success is based largely on the creation of the World Wide Web, a relatively recent addition to the Internet that allows users to create sites on the Intemet that use color graphics. It also incorporates "links" that allow easy movement both within and between sites. The Web is the area that businesses around the world are focusing on to get their message out.

Bloom, owner and executive director of the company Computer Training Academy, pointed out that one of the advantages of the Web is that it levels the playing field, allowing small companies to compete more evenly with big ones. With millions of sites only a mouse eliek away, Coca-Cola is no more significant than a small home-based business. However, Bloom added that the huge number of sites on the web make it critically important that businesses make sure potential customers are aware of the company URL (Universal Resource Locator) or web location. "Include your URL with every pieee of information - business cards, brochures - you have," he advised. "You have to tell people where you are." Another important part of getting the word out Bloom noted

was the use of Internet search engines. At present there are several large engines on the Web. All use search words to quickly key in on a site or group of sites. To get into an engine a company only needs to email its URL to the engine manager and wait a eouple of weeks to have it included in their database. A recent development in Intemet marketing has been the creation of Internet "malls." At a mall - essentially a webpage listing of

an assortment of companies - businesses ean have their own sites listed, described, and linked to their home page, giving it added exposure to Intemet browsers, both in Hawai'i and around the world.

Bloom said his compariy's site has allowed him to generate new customers and serve his present customers more efficiently. Key here is the use of e-mail, another aspect of the Internet. E-mail allows Bloom and other Intemet users to communicate with eaeh other quickly and cheaply. Messages and files travel across the state, the country, and the world in seconds without long distance telephone or shipping charges. Bloom encouraged those at the conference to seriously consider creating web pages for their companies and use the Internet as a

component of their marketing efforts. He said it was not difficult to create a web site and not necessarily expensive to have one created for you. His advise on web site design: know your audience, be clear in your purpose, and keep it simple. Computer Training Academy ean be reached at 531-0575.

Hawai'i Internet "Malls" Hawaii Online http://planet-hawaii.com Pixi Net http ://www.pixi.com Lava Net http://www.lava.net

Bloom: lnternet is only going to get bigger.