Delta Business Journal

Marketing your goods and services over the Internet is becoming a huge business revolution that will affect the way we live and conduct business. It is projected that there will be over 250 million Internet users in less than four years and one billion users in less than eight. Many Delta entrepreneurs are finding the Internet to be a new source for selling their products.
Mary Jo Ayres of Leland, an education consultant, author and songwriter has found the Internet useful to her company, Natural Learning. Natural Learning specializes in providing educational presentations and materials for children in order to make the learning process easier. Started in 1991, Ayres' company teaches children to learn in a way that is natural or developmental by using songs, puppets, and active participation during concerts. Ayres publishes books and companion cassettes, and her new book, Natural Learning From A-Z was developed with the thematic approach to letters and letter sounds.
"I had a company build a web site for me and I have some of the songs from my new cassette posted on the site for people to hear. I also have the finger plays out of my new book on my site which allows teachers to see what I am doing," says Ayres. "I have all of my products there."
Ayres says that her Internet site, www.naturallearning.com, has received a lot of attention.
"My benefit so far has been networking through the educational field and then people will look at all of the information on my web site and see the other things that I do," says Ayres. "Most of the orders for my products so far have been from here the U.S., but I have had an order from New Zealand. I have also had inquiries from Venezuela and a few other places.
"I do feel that the Internet is a valuable asset to me because instead of having to send packets to all of these libraries, which would cost a lot to mail, I'm just sending it by e-mail which allows me to save a lot of money."
Courtney Phillips, of the Indianola Pecan House in Indianola which specializes in gourmet foods, canded pecan food products, and gifts made in Mississippi, says that their Internet experience has been quite positive.
"We had been hearing about people marketing their products on the Internet for some time and when I came on board we started looking into it seriously," says Phillips. "We actually went through Delta State's SBA program that helps people get started on the Internet. It was a pilot program that they were doing at the time and that really helped us out a lot."
Tim Timbs, owner of the Indianola Pecan House, says that it is an inexpensive way to get the word out to a lot of people. "We hope that this is going to be a money-making thing for us. It is very easy for people to sit at home at their computer and order things off of the Internet," he says.
According to Phillips, response from their web site at www.pecanhouse.com, has been very favorable. "We have received orders from as far away as Holland, however our season really hasn't started yet, so I expect that we'll start having a lot of response in the coming weeks," says Phillips. "I think the Internet hasn't been fully utilized yet, but the potential seems to be incredible."
James Kitching of Merigold, who owns a company called, Fun Supply, sells high-end selective fire paint ball guns and accessories through his web site on the Internet at www.tecinfo.com/~jayhawk/.
"I started doing this about a year ago and I have done really well averaging about 500 hits a day on my site," says Kitching. "I sell primarily to people in the U.S., but I have had a lot of sales in foreign countries like Norway, Sweden, Nicaragua, and other places. When you are on the web, the entire world can see you."
Kitching says that he is in the process of putting together a web site for Delta homegrown music in which people from around the world can hear samples of music by Delta musicians.
"In addition to all of this, I am starting a business that will specialize in getting web sites seen on the web. It's easy to put a web site together, however it is far more difficult to get people to access your site. You have to be listed high up in the search engines to get hits," says Kitching. "Most web site designers do a great job of designing a site, but where they are falling down is getting the pages listed because they really don't care. They will do a so-so listing on the major search engines and walk away - you really need someone to come in and fine-tune them in order to get a lot of hits and that's where I'll come in."
Kitching says that he became interested in the paint-ball business as a hobby and then started selling them, but with almost no success until he started selling on the Internet.
"It really isn't a big sport here in the Delta, but it is popular around the rest of the state and popular around the country. I only sell them on the Internet," says Kitching. "As for my experience, the Internet is the only way to go."

Selling your products on the Internet

BY ROBERT MCFARLAND, JR.

Greg Hayman, general manager for the Internet service provider, TecInfo, says that in order to correctly begin the process of marketing your services on the Internet you first have to have an Internet account.
"From there, you have to work toward getting your web site created and also you'll need to secure your domain name that you want to use for your site," says Hayman. "Once the web site is prepared and the domain is secured we can go in and get certificates for verification which allows customers to confirm who they are dealing with. This is something that runs on a secure server which utilizes encryption and that encryption will take credit card numbers and other personal or business information. Once this is achieved, people will be able to click-on and be in a secure site."
According to Hayman, using the Internet to market goods and services will soon be a large part of how all companies conduct a major part of their business. This is due to the convenience to buyers who will not have to leave their homes to shop.
"By being on the Internet customers will be able to shop 24 hours a day. The merchant just extended his store hours without having a lot of additional expense," says Hayman. "When it's 1:00 a.m. in the morning here, it's daytime or evening somewhere else and when you can market your product to 24 time zones, 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, then you have certainly increased your reach and your customer potential."
Hayman says that after your site has been developed, you will want to register the site with search engines and promote the site with banners in other locations.
"You will also want to use various other ways of marketing your site, for example, if you are a company that publishes a catalog you will want to put your web site address on this as well as anything else that you hand out - your letterhead, business cards, or even voice mail and etc.," says Hayman. "You market your site in many ways."