CCG: Interview with the World Journal

Featured are Thomas Wong, Stephanie Ann Cota, and Andreas Ramos.

Figure 1: Featured are Thomas Wong, Stephanie Ann Cota, and Andreas Ramos.

Silicon Valley Technology, B4

June 10, 2004. World Journal. Nancy Kao reporting from San Jose - ActuSoftware, a startup company boosts revenue by 100%.

Web marketing is best for small- to medium- size companies that do not have a lot of marketing resources. This view is supported by Thomas Wong, author of the new edition of "101 Ways to Boost Your Web Traffic," now available in the US and India. "Those companies can competive quite effectively with more established companies if they leverage strategic Web marketing techniques," said Wong.

According to ComScore Media Metrix, the global Internet population is now 800 million. The US tops the list, while China is a distinct second with 50 million users in 2003, and expected to grow to 100 million users soon. "The Internet is still an expanding medium," said Wong. This explains why his book is now in its 3rd Edition. The book is also published in India and will be released in Russia soon.

Web marketing is a component of eCommerce. After the dotcom bust, eCommerce was shunned by the media. But Andreas Ramos, author of a new book entitled Insider's Guide to SEO and CTO of Creative Consultants Group, expressed that SEO will be a hot topic in eCommerce. It's also one of the most popular Web marketing techniques.

SEO is an acroynm for "Search Engine Optimization." It's a technique that has helped such companies as ActuSoftware to market online. It's effective because you can track the marketing results and get instant feedback.

Ramos said statistics released by US Department of Commerce shows that eCommerce revenue has quadrupled since the fourth quarter of 1999. It grew 100% last year, reaching 15 billion dollars and accounts for 5% of the retail revenue in the US. Businesses are also hiring more people in the past six months. This shows that eCommerce is coming back.

Stephanie Cota, CEO of CCG, emphasized that traditional eCommerce is limited to online product searches and ordering. It's a passive way of doing business. However, SEO can help to release the full power of eCommerce. In particular, it can help to reduce the cost of doing business, improve market share, and reach out globally. Some popular services associated with SEO include Yahoo! Overture and Google Adwords. Each service is unique, and businesses should test them to see which would work better for them.