Online Business in South Africa is exploding! Even with the high costs of Internet access, more and more South Africans are using the World Wide Web to communicate, network and do business.

Considerable investment in infrastructure in Information Communication Technologies (ICT) is being implemented. As a result of the South African government investing in these technologies, the entire continent is in the process of experiencing a Digital Communications explosion. Nowhere in the world has growth in the industry been so rapid or had such an enormous impact.
This growth is reflected in the spread of Internet connections that have increased by 1,031.2% between 2000 and 2008. 5.4% of the African population now has access to the Internet and the continent accounts for 3.4% of the global Internet population. Internet access continues to grow faster than any other part of the world. New telecom infrastructure is set to boost capacity and cut tariffs, further unlocking the continent’s high-speed Internet potential and creating new growth opportunities. SEACOM, the Mauritius-registered private equity venture, has invested $650 million in fiber-optic undersea cable that now links east and southern Africa to Europe and Asia.

All of this promises to revolutionise the Online Business industry and the opportunities that are ripe for the picking by young and old, the entrepreneurs and business starters and also the existing business owners out there.

So, how does a Business owner like you, reap these very real awards?

Business websites used to be just another medium to get some extra exposure, but nowadays small, medium and large business owners are opting to use their website as their main source of income. Unlike conventional marketing, online marketing is much more cost effective and super efficient. Targeting and influencing potential consumers have never been this direct. With conventional marketing a ‘shot gun approach’ was the norm, where a large number of potential customers received a marketing message. This approach means that if the consumer is not in the market for whatever product or service is being advertised, your efforts will fall on deaf ears, so to speak.

With Online Business and marketing a ‘sniper rifle’ approach is used where marketing is directed at the user that is looking for the specific product or service that the Online Marketer is placing out there. Internet browsers search specifically for what they need at that point in time and by doing effective marketing online you will be able to ‘catch’ the user at that very moment.

Not convinced yet? I’ll tell you all about it in the coming weeks. Right now, I need to check my virtual sales for the month, at home, on my PC, because I’m connected!

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