Previous Beyond The Net Columns
Follow legalities before undertaking background checks
Today, thanks to a host of Web services, you can learn almost anything about anyone by simply filling out an online form. But beware! Just because it's easier to find this information doesn't mean it's legal.
The biggest problem is that laws vary from state to state, and it can be difficult to keep up with the slew of new laws that have been proposed to protect privacy and inform people about their own records. (continue...)
Wonder what your customers think? Search the Web
In a moment of frustration after a bad consumer experience last week, I went to a search engine and typed in the name of the company, plus the word ''complaint.'' I was astounded to find more than a thousand matches, including a few that made me feel like I had been lucky.
As a business owner, you should consider doing this kind of search about your own company on a regular basis. According to a report by the Consumer Federation of America and the National Association of Consumer Agency Administrators, the Internet is the fastest-growing area for consumer complaints. (continue...)
Outsourcing creates business advantages
From animators in the Philippines who create most of Disney's cartoons to programmers in Romania working for international banks, to translators and call centers spread around the globe, more and more work is being done outside the walls of traditional businesses.
But what has historically been the privilege of big companies is now becoming increasingly available to smaller businesses. Now they too are finding ways to outsource projects over the Internet, and businesses that don't follow suit are likely to see more savvy competitors chip away at their profits. (continue...)
Many
companies' instant messaging systems not secure
How
private are your Instant Messages? The first time I saw two
people sitting side by side in cubicles using an Instant Messaging
program to chat, I was puzzled. Why would they type messages
when they could so easily turn around and talk to each other?
Then I realized it was the only way to have a ''private'' conversation in an environment where casual comments are easily overheard by all of the people sitting around you. But are all those Instant Messages people are sending around the office really private? (continue...)
Integrating online, offline sales can augment success
In 1999, when Abby Adlerman launched an art company with a catalog as the primary sales tool and the Web as just a supportive element, many people thought she was crazy.
''In 1999 everybody in the Bay Area was building websites,'' said Marketing Manager Leslie Duncan from the company's San Francisco headquarters. ''When she came out and said she was going to build a catalog company there were probably a lot of guffaws in the room.''
But a few years of tough times on the Web, a carefully-integrated online and offline strategy, and two solid rounds of funding that brought in $10 million in an era when money seemed to have dried up may give Adlerman the last laugh. (continue...)
Coral reef foundation looks toward heavens to understand the sea
Can the latest technology help us learn more about the oldest parts of the ocean?
Next time you think you can't possibly handle the challenges of a new project in your business or nonprofit, consider the Planetary Coral Reef Foundation, and its innovative effort to harness a satellite to study the health of one of the world's most ancient habitats -- the ocean's coral reefs. (continue...)
E-commerce reunites immigrants with homeland
El Salvador's largest daily newspaper, El Diario de Hoy, receives about 80 percent of its website traffic from outside the country; most of the visits are from expatriates who want to know what is happening in their homeland.
To fully appreciate this statistic, you need to know that a fourth of the Salvadorans in the world live outside of El Salvador. Some six million people reside in this small country; the other two million have migrated to the United States, Australia and elsewhere. (continue...)
Be prepared to update site in emergency
The Web provides a powerful vehicle for businesses and nonprofit organizations to present their side of any story, and get the word out quickly when tragic events, bad press and other crises arise.
But don't wait for an emergency to find out if you're prepared to add new information to your website quickly, and don't fool yourself into thinking that just because you don't manage a daily Internet newspaper you don't have to worry about speedy updates. (continue...)
Digital dollars move faster than paper ones
Money makes the world go 'round, but digital money moves faster and goes more places. For the last couple of years, VISA América Latina has been experimenting with computer chips on credit cards that are linked to cellphones.
To demonstrate the power of this combination, VISA has been trying these cards out in the Dominican Republic where it chose a challenging market segment -- parents and teenagers. To help you appreciate the changes happening as companies like VISA find new ways to connect people to each other and their money, this is the type of scenario that technology is making possible: (continue...)
TV industry should embrace technology
When I first started working on the Internet in 1994, I had one of those ''aha'' moments while sitting in my parked car one afternoon because I didn't want to miss the end of an interview on National Public Radio.
The guest said someday we would be able to watch television and listen to the radio anytime, anywhere -- not just at the hour programs are broadcast. It was the irony that I was stuck in my car while I listened that helped me appreciate how much technology would change media in the future. (continue...)
Make your site accessible to all
Take a fresh look at your website today, study the design and interface, the colors and images, and then imagine what it would be like if you couldn't actually see it.
Internet users who are blind or have limited vision use synthetic speech synthesizers to ''read'' websites and refreshable Braille displays that translate Web content. But if you don't design your site to be accessible to these special programs, users may not be able to understand the information on your Web pages. (continue...)
Web cameras: From novelty to security
Around the world, Web cams are pointed at everything from fish tanks to college dorm rooms to the steps of a church in Poland, but some of the most practical uses of digital cameras connected to the Internet these days are business systems. (continue..)
Affiliate programs can generate new revenue streams
From virtual computer stores to ads for matchmaking sites, affiliate programs are gaining attention because they are helping companies develop new revenue streams and make up for slashed advertising budgets. (continue..)
Virtual meetings take boredom out of boardroom
The next time you are attending a meeting with a well-known keynote speaker, look closely. The person at the front of the room may not really be there. You may be looking at a virtual image brought to you over the Internet. (continue..)
Move beyond banner ads
A lizard scurries across the screen at Lycos.com, an animated ad for the SUV hot on its trail. Two basketball players and a runner sprint through Sporting News.com, selling peanuts as they carry a flag across the home page. A spinning tire races around a page on AOL, directing viewers to Nascar.com. (continue..)
Coordinate services both online and off
I first learned about Walgreens' exceptional online customer service from my mother.
She used the site to print out a history of all of the prescriptions she has received from different doctors in the last few years -- a potentially life-saving record she couldn't have found anywhere else. (continue..)
More domain names will make your site much easier to find
Can your customers find your website?
I am amazed when I type a business name into a browser and don't find the site I'm looking for. I must confess, sometimes it's because I've typed it wrong, or assumed they were using their full name when they were using some alternative. I eventually find what I'm looking for, but don't count on all your visitors to be as persistent as I am.(continue..)
Humble start vital to dot-com's success
Too much funding can kill a company.
Just consider Latpro.com, an online job site that specializes in helping bilingual professionals. What has always impressed me is that founder Eric Shannon says he's still in business today, in part, because he didn't get millions in venture capital when he started five years ago. (continue..)
Outsourcing over Internet offers unique challenges
Lots of people are talking about the value of outsourcing these days, meaning hiring an outside company to do projects that you don't have the time or expertise to do within your own company.
With the advent of the Internet, outsourcing has become even easier and has led more companies to look for help overseas, where skilled labor is often cheaper.
But there are many challenges to working with people over the Net, especially if they are in another time zone, so I'm always on the lookout for smart ways to manage these kinds of relationships. (continue..)
Discovering your Web niche can build sales
Now that you can find almost anything on the Internet, specialists are enjoying greater credibility, and in many cases, better sales.
This
is great news for small businesses, but it also serves as
a lesson to medium and large businesses.
Consider
Patrick Piens, who owns a successful music store in Belgium
where he sells a wide variety of instruments and accessories.
When he took his business online, he did more than just create
an e-commerce store, he created several different sites, one
for his general store, and many others dedicated to specific
products, brands and audiences. (continue..)
Brick and Mortars should add clicks
Dot bombs, IPO failures, bankrupt paper millionaires.
Those were the headlines of 2001. But as the Internet crash slows to fender-bender pace, many of the real winners on the Web are being overlooked. (continue..)