Working extra hard to assure visitors<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The world has, and will continue to, witness the
\ncollapse of many dot-coms due to the shortage of operational
\nfunds.<\/p>\n
Ads, which webmasters hope to arrive in time to color their
\nwebsites, have failed to appear. Only a few have managed to grab
\nadvertisers to spend their money on cyberspace business.<\/p>\n
Here in Indonesia, only two operators have achieved relative
\nsuccess in clutching advertisements for their screens.<\/p>\n
Detikcom (www.detik.com), for example, claims to have enjoyed
\nRp 6.5 billion in earnings from ads (over US$660,000) last year
\nalone.<\/p>\n
Kompas Cyber Media, or KCM, (www.kompas.com) earned Rp 2
\nbillion for the same period.<\/p>\n
Sadly, many websites are still bare of advertisements, a prime
\nelement of the life of such a business. Customer's fees, another
\nfinancial source, will only arrive if websites offer great value
\nfor visitors.<\/p>\n
What about offering it at a stock exchange?<\/p>\n
It's not as easy as a dream. Only sites with brighter
\nprospects, meaning a website that embraces adequate numbers of
\nadvertisers and visitors, can meet standard requirements for
\ninitial public offering.<\/p>\n
Then we come to the question of whether it's still worth
\nadvertising on the Internet.<\/p>\n
Future market<\/p>\n
Some say that I-advertising, as many put it, is quite
\neffective. Others believe that advertising in cyberspace will
\nbecome necessary in the next few years when more Indonesian
\nfamilies have their own online PCs at home and the country has a
\ncheaper and more reliable access to the net.<\/p>\n
\"We still rarely place ads for our company at other websites
\nexcept with our business partners, which is free of charge. For
\nus, it's still not effective and many people in this country
\nstill have limited access to the net. People in Indonesia also
\nseem culturally reluctant to carry out transactions (using
\ncyberspace),\" Djoenaidi, assistant vice president for consumers
\nand e-banking of Bank International Indonesia (BII)
\n(www.bii.co.id), told The Jakarta Post on Monday.<\/p>\n
But Djoenaidi firmly believes that I-advertising in Indonesia
\nwill boom in the future.<\/p>\n
According to research, the number of Indonesians who have
\ndirect access to the Internet has reached 6 million people out of
\nthe country's 210 million population.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that the 6 million web
\nusers are spendthrifts.<\/p>\n
Another important factor to take into consideration is that
\nthe number of internet subscribers via ISP is much lower than the
\n6 million figure. In other words, many Internet users browse
\nwebsites from their offices, warnet (Internet kiosks) and other
\npeople's houses!<\/p>\n
This fact reflects the reality that many Internet browsers
\nhere are not coming from a group that intends to spend and spend.<\/p>\n
\"The growth of dot-coms in Indonesia is faster than the growth
\nin Internet users,\" commented an IT observer.<\/p>\n
But there's still good news. Many marketing managers in this
\ncountry have planned a substantial budget to be spent on the
\ncompany's promotion on websites in years to come.<\/p>\n
Several indications can already be seen on the horizon.<\/p>\n
One of them is the significant growth of ads every year at
\nDetikcom and KCM.<\/p>\n
In line with the estimated boom, some advertisement agencies
\nhave started establishing a special division for I-advertising.
\nMany dot-coms have begun to realize that their business doesn't
\nonly need advanced and sophisticated technology but also requires
\na proper and accountable marketing strategy to lure visitors.<\/p>\n
A faster economic recovery in this populous country could help
\nspeed the realization of this hope.<\/p>\n
Regular clients<\/p>\n
So far, regular advertisers on the Internet here are still
\nlimited. Most of them are companies related to cyberspace and IT
\nbusinesses, like Intel Corp., IBM, Zyrex, and those in the
\ntelephone and mobile phone industry.<\/p>\n
Similar to \"foreign\" websites, most of the ads on the Internet
\nhere consist of other websites and sponsorships.<\/p>\n
Few firms, which are unrelated to IT, have started placing
\nbanner ads at certain websites in an effort to attract people to
\nvisit their homepages.<\/p>\n
So, it's totally different to \"traditional\" media like
\nnewspapers where readers can directly view products or services.<\/p>\n
\"In the Internet world, visitors have to spend extra time and
\nmoney (for telephone billing) to view a product, while in a
\nnewspaper it's instant,\" said an IT expert, who refused to be
\nnamed.<\/p>\n
Advertisers have yet to maximize multimedia usage, which could
\nprovide text, video (in the form of either animation or a movie)
\nand sound all at once.<\/p>\n
But KCM, a portal run by a company that owns Kompas daily,
\nwhich has the biggest newspaper circulation in the country, has
\ninitiated an advertising format for its website as part of its
\nefforts to woo clients.<\/p>\n
With round-the-clock news from Kompas networks, up-to-date
\narticles from its sister publications and with 40 percent of its
\nvisitors living overseas, KCM is the most appropriate website for
\nI-ads, said Andrey Andoko of KCM, which was previously called
\nKompas Online.<\/p>\n
Moreover, he added, \"I think very few Indonesians haven't
\nheard of Kompas.\"<\/p>\n
Like in other media, the rate for placing ads on the Internet
\ndiffer from one website to another.<\/p>\n
\"If you claim bigger earnings, you can raise your rate higher
\nthan your rivals. It's unfair, indeed. Thus, this type of
\nbusiness might require independent accounting to find out the
\ntruth behind the figures they release to the press,\" an IT
\nobserver said.<\/p>\n
From New York, consulting firm Booz-Allen & Hamilton suggested
\non Thursday that Internet media networks, or portals, need to
\nabandon direct marketing and banner advertisements and embrace
\nbrand-building through sponsorships, new service offerings and
\nco-branded ventures.<\/p>\n
In a press release, the firm said consumers are using Internet
\nmedia networks as destinations rather than as gateways to other
\nsites.<\/p>\n
While Internet media networks remain enormously popular with
\n60 percent of Web user sessions including site visits, portals
\nneed to adopt new business models to remain viable.<\/p>\n
Users also spend three times more time, an average of 4.5
\nhours, at Internet media networks than they spend at shopping or
\nentertainment sites.<\/p>\n
The best way for marketers to capture attention is to treat
\nInternet media networks as brand development venues, paying them
\nfor the total numbers of impressions, or images, they deliver,
\nthe consulting firm said in its report.<\/p>\n
Companies should consider sponsorships, attaching their names
\nand messages to appropriate parts of a portal site or creating
\nnew sections altogether.<\/p>\n
However, many Internet media networks still cling to an
\noutdated revenue model that relies on ad payments based in part
\non click-through rates, the report said.<\/p>\n
\"Marketers must start thinking of portals in the same way as
\nthey think of mass-circulation magazines and television networks
\n-- as major centers of commerce and content that draw huge
\naudiences,\" said study co-author and Booz-Allen & Hamilton Vice
\nPresident Horacio Rozanski.<\/p>\n
So, we all hope that ads on the Internet will soon realize the
\npredicted boom, not doom as the business still lies in its
\nvulnerable infancy.<\/p>\n
-- Jon Minofri and K. Basrie<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/working-extra-hard-to-assure-visitors-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }