The Internet is Not Everything to Everyone
When the webmaster's full-time attention is on publications on
the Internet, and all full-time efforts are to increase public
distribution of data posted in these publications, it is
difficult not to over-concentrate. I believe most webmasters are
aware of the existence of obsolescent post office mail
advertising, or snail mail, but I do not believe much
advertising effort is currently being channeled into anything
except Internet related sources. Even magazines are now ezines
and "personal contact" means e-mail. We still see individuals,
sometimes dressed in weird costumes, standing alongside the road
in a downtown area, waving a sign about a grand opening, or
grand closing, or special car wash, or some such. But I have
never seen anyone standing alongside the road waving a sign
advertising a new website. "That isn't the way Internet sites
are promoted". But why not? There is no law stating physical
business sites must be promoted physically, and cyberspace sites
promoted only in cyberspace.
Many, many people now have an electronic door that can be
knocked on via email or notices in search engines or bannered in
popular programs or on popular sites. But those same people
still have a physical presence that can be reached. The
excitement of all the new "dot.coms" is subsiding, but not
necessarily the products they presented to an eager public.
While many of the flood of e-businesses were little more than
electronic pyramid letters, the online sales of durable goods
has not decreased substantially with the expiration of the many
get-rich-quick schemes. Like the days of the California Gold
Rush many dot.coms did not pan out - but many e-businesses
became online catalogs of what people had formerly driven their
cars to a store to view, and satisfied customers of such
catalogs are not going to readily relinquish the convenience of
online shopping. However, non-satisfied customers of online
shopping, and those yet to test the World of Internet shopping,
are not likely to learn about it from the Internet. Literally
millions of people have been hearing about the wonders and
convenience of the Internet - but the only place they can find
out about the Internet is from the Internet. And there is a lot
of garbage on that Internet, as well as useful websites. The
Internet is not really a very good atmosphere for presenting
legitimate offers and products of value - unless the customer
already knows their value and knows the location where they can
be found. Separating the wheat from the chaff on the Internet
requires someone well versed in Internet procedure. It is truly
a "boot-strap" operation for someone to learn anything very
useful from the Internet until they have already learned quite a
bit from that Internet. Everywhere the uninitiated turn in
cyberspace they encounter more confusion and deception.
Constructing and presenting useful e-business websites for
skilled users is not going to reach or impress millions of
potential customers who are not, and probably never will be,
skilled users of browsers, email programs, and the Internet in
general. However, these same users can read the signs being
waved alongside the road, and follow the directions of pitchmen
and women on TV. This does not mean that webmasters need put on
a chicken suit and dance along sidewalks waving a sign promoting
their website. In fact just such a sign is not like providing
the customer with a street address. Practically everyone can
find a location with a street address. But a large number of
people interested in whatever the sign might address, still have
not the knowledge or sufficient interest in the Internet to be
able to find a URL that may be shown them. The URL could be in a
regular magazine or newspaper, or shown on TV or listed on a
radio show, and still be in a mysterious, unattainable location
for many, many people.
This leads to an unavoidable conclusion. Many products presented
on the Internet are not available to a large proportion of the
population. And the only way to make these products available to
them is with person-to-person contact. Tell a friend about a
desirable product and show them how to reach it online. Convince
others to tell a friend about a desirable product and show them
how to reach it online. This cannot be done online. No amount of
website information and instructions will have a noticeable
effect. The product catalogs need to be online but the
information on how to reach them cannot be presented only
online. The webmaster needs to physically meet the public and
not depend on achieving success by just sitting at the computer
and becoming proficient in programming.