How the Internet Changed Business :: essays research papers

How the Internet has Changed Small Business Forever Ten days ago, the Internet as we know it hit screens. It was 1995 when Explorer and Netscape emerged as the lead-in browsers for Internet users. Of course, a lot has changed since the days when it took several minutes to charge one net page. Today, URLs are as common as auditory sensition events for most businesses.During the last decade, weve been to the top of the worldduring the dot-com thunder of the late 1990sand back down again, when it all fell away a few years later. But with the bad came the good The Web forever changed the business world. The following small-business owners are shining examples of how Web-based technologies can be a business mortals best friend.1. E-mailBecause it changed the way we transfer in businessPhoenix-based PMP Tools ( http//www.pmptools.com ) provides test materials for project managers studying for professional corroboration exams. Test takers can find prep courses, review books and st udy tools on the site, which employs 11 people. Brent Knapp, the sites founder, started publicizing PMP Tools by card information in Yahoo Groups chat forums and by buying lists from Hoovers and Forbes for marketing mailings. His results were decent, but not perfect. He got a 3 percent rejoinder from what was then a $3,000 monthly project that took three days to complete.We washed-out time designing the mailing and printing it. And then we all sat around stuffing envelopes and calling companies to get the right contact person to mail it out to, he says. Last year, Knapp decided e-mail major power be a better option. At the very least, he would remedy $2,950 per month and three days of manpower the template and automation tools he uses take all the legwork out of creating a newsletter. He saw results about immediately. Now Knapp sends a daily newsletter to about 12,000 people, a number that has climbed 10 percent each month. The newsletter contains a project focusing review, crossword puzzle and product promotion. Sales have gone by means of the roof since it launched, topping $1 million last year. The company withal benefits from e-mail in another way employee contact and customer service. We literally have no incoming callsever, says Knapp. Everything99 percent of what we dois handled via e-mail. the great unwashed dont want to call in. People dont want to wait on hold. We have a one-hour e-mail policy, so our customers get an immediate response.